Do you trust your Nav?

[SgnDen]

So I sold my top-of-the line BMW E60 with it's heads-up display and Nav system of course. That system used to routinely re-route me as it "saw" traffic issues (which are a constant at rush-hour in Denver).

In my new LE with the JBL system and Nav, I have selected the right things that supposedly will automatically re-route and detect traffic issues. However, it has yet to recommend a change in course while driving the 40 - 55 mins to work every day (and home). In fact, I just happened to turn on the radio yesterday as they announced a massive wreck that had the highway completely locked-up....made me glance down at the highway as I went over the overpass and sure as he*l it was frozen. Not a peep from the nav...not before or AFTER I passed that exit to take a diff route. In fact, it kept trying to send me BACK to get on 36 (the nightmare highway). :ak472:

Anybody get re-routed by the mighty Nav in these things (accurately)?

Thanks...

 

[Bourbonator]

I have the LE without the JBL, so I use the entune nav. Everyone slams it for some reason, but I find it useful. If my phone is connected via bluetooth with internet, I get traffic reroutes on my commute from Orange County to LA. Unfortunately, I haven't tested them because the alternative freeways are usually just as congested.

 

[Okki]

2010 LE here (pre-Entune). I only got the traffic updates when I had it added to the Sirius subscription. Once I dropped that, the traffic reroute was gone.

Okki

 

[veloindy]

My reroutes are working AOK, I don't have the JBL.

 

[rbrownlie]

I have the same concern as the OP. Compared to my BMW M3 nav in dynamic routing mode, the eTune nav in my 4R TE rarely, if ever, reroutes me around traffic. I have set the nav up to reroute and am sure to connect to the traffic app through my phone. It also fails to identify traffic situations, which I am sure is the reason why it fails to reroute.

 

[SgnDen]

2010 LE here (pre-Entune). I only got the traffic updates when I had it added to the Sirius subscription. Once I dropped that, the traffic reroute was gone.

Okki

I am on the 90-day "free" trial period with XM. I'll bet I need to call them and ask about the traffic feature...then have some 10 year old phone sales person try to slime me into a contract.

Can NOT stand XM...really craptastic orgainzation, sadly. But maybe that's the issue.

I'll poke around online and see if I can get any decent G2.

 

[Barry694]

Traffic updates

A lot of GPS traffic updates are not instant. They are only posted periodically throughout the day. I found on my other vehicle I had to go to the screen and actually call up the updates screen. You are right XM is terrible. When my 90 days where up I dropped it. Lousy sound quality from XM as well. You can stream from your phone or if you do not want to do that copy the music from your computer to a flash drive and plug into the USB slot.

 

[Natey]

I just took a trip to San Diego from Santa Cruz and the 4runner's NAV (12 LE) definitely tried to take the long way home. I actually ended up just turning the damn thing off after battling with it for miles and miles. NO, for the last time, I don't want to go through Salinas!!
My old 99 dollar TomTom was much easier to work with and had better maps.

 

[SgnDen]

I just took a trip to San Diego from Santa Cruz and the 4runner's NAV (12 LE) definitely tried to take the long way home. I actually ended up just turning the damn thing off after battling with it for miles and miles. NO, for the last time, I don't want to go through Salinas!!
My old 99 dollar TomTom was much easier to work with and had better maps.

Ha! Yeah, I know the feeling. I know you can go-in and select "avoid highways" (or de-select highways and toll roads). I used to gripe about the nav in my E60 BMW for something that was in an $80k car it was a POS. However, it DID reroute ALL the time as it sent traffic info. Problem there was that during rush hour when you really needed it, the conditions changed substantially over the hour commute so it could send you back-and-forth a bit when I KNEW the best way.

This thing...that I went out of my to order on my '13 LE...is really a HUGE disappointment. Yeah, I'll take my Garmin any day over this so far. Very frustrated by the lack of traffic accuracy and no re-routing (I still think I am missing somehting there).

How many times did you say OUT LOUD " I do NOT want to go through Salinas!!"? :redbrick:

 

[H2O_Doc]

The problems discussed here are a big part of why I ditched the Entune nav for Waze (great for me in the DC area) and to a lesser extent Navigon.

 

[Dongbeiren]

I never use the live traffic function.

But I had other problems with the JBL unit. It almost never gives the correct arrival time when i was driving back to wyoming. Especially when it " thinks" private roads are involved. In big cities like Denver, it works better. It gives me weird route sometimes, like when there's a shorter and faster road, it'll actually pick a longer and slower one....

 

[TheOnlyQP]

I have the JBL nav in my TE. I haven't used the reroute feature in traffic yet but the nav seems to work better than the one In my wife's CX-9. I just bought this truck a couple weeks ago and I'm taking it in to have the XM antenna checked. Horrid sound quality and I only get reception about 50% of the time.

 

[H2O_Doc]

I very seldom have XM reception problems, so it may well be worth checking that antenna.

 

[Barry694]

Nav routing

I know the feeling. I live in DE presently and go to New England periodically and the nav routes me through NYC via the GW Bridge and the cross Bronx expressway. To get around this I route myself to Nyack, NY, up north of the city and then put in the route to my destination in New England. A pain in the butt, but with so many exits and highway changes it is the only way I can make sure I do not miss my turnoffs.

 

[adam2562]

mine recently took me another crazy route home that was an extra 40miles.. but in reality we probably got there 30min less than we would have if we sat in bay traffic on a sunday.

 

[gray street]

Yes most of the time. If I'm going far away I'll double check it with Google maps though.

 

[Natey]

Here's another example:
We have family on Kauai and whenever we visit them we rent a 4X4, usually a Wrangler. Last time we had a few extra bucks, so we sprung for a 4runner instead of the Jeep. This is actually what kicked off my obsession with 5th gen 4runners. That thing took us ANYwhere the Wranger would go, but in AC'd comfort.
Anyway, the Toyota's NAV left a lot to be desired. It kept sending us onto all the main roads and into all the tourist traffic, even though there are tons of backroads on the island. It never got us lost, but it also never really directed us anywhere except the main roads/tourist attractions.

The TomTom in my suitcase directed us to surf spots out in the middle of the sugarcane fields that took me literally YEARS to find on my own. I didn't know whether to be happy or PISSED. haha

 

[b4runner]

I have the JBL with traffic updates. In SF Bay Area it works fine. Traffic problems show up and it asks me if I want to reroute. I usually say "no" and reroute myself because I know better than the GPS, but I like getting the updates and they've saved me some time. That said, there was one time that I said "yes" to the reroute, and it put me on side streets that had worse traffic than the freeway (It seems as though the system assumes that because side streets aren't traffic-monitored, they don't have any problems). My conclusion: I like having the traffic updates and they're accurate, but I'm less impressed with the reroute capability.

 

[homeyclaus]

Ours has the odd habits of:

a) navigating us directly to the nearest traffic jam
b) trying to get us home from Kentucky to Northern VA ... via Maryland
c) and it seems to think WV "county highways" are actually navigable

Point (c) is debatable in a 4Runner, but every time the wife flips on the nav, I doze off, and get awakened by a wife confronted with a steep shale wall and the statement of "the pavement ended half an hour ago. Now what?" I thank myself for NOT buying a Prius, do the Chinese fire drill, and drop it into 4 low.

I wonder if the custom WV pinstripes are under warranty because the nav said it was okay to drive?

Basically, the Nav is dumb enough to be called re****ed by a kid with Down's Syndrome. It can't hold a candle to my 2005 vintage Garmin.

 

[1engineer]

Ours has the odd habits of:

a) navigating us directly to the nearest traffic jam
b) trying to get us home from Kentucky to Northern VA ... via Maryland
c) and it seems to think WV "county highways" are actually navigable

Point (c) is debatable in a 4Runner, but every time the wife flips on the nav, I doze off, and get awakened by a wife confronted with a steep shale wall and the statement of "the pavement ended half an hour ago. Now what?" I thank myself for NOT buying a Prius, do the Chinese fire drill, and drop it into 4 low.

I wonder if the custom WV pinstripes are under warranty because the nav said it was okay to drive?

Basically, the Nav is dumb enough to be called re****ed by a kid with Down's Syndrome. It can't hold a candle to my 2005 vintage Garmin.

Alright alright that's enough about our WV roads. I mean we just oiled the dirt down on my street this past spring so c'mon! BTW since this is an election year we are putting new pavement on all 46 miles of our 4 lane highways. You gotta admit though we have the coolest bridge in the US with the New River Gorge Bridge. I rode under it last weekend.