XM NavTraffic

S

SevenMaryThree

New member
Just realized ( after five months ) that my '11 LTD w / Nav has the XM NavTraffic subscription.

The XM website doesn't have a lot of information on this feature, but it looks to be *really* limited in functionality. My question - How do you use it???

Do the flow / accident alerts just automatically appear on the nav screen when you are "in market," or is there something I need to do? Are there any audio prompts / warnings?

So far I am pretty disappointed with the factory navigation. The google navigation on my Droid blows away the factory nav. I've lost confidence in it and haven't used it since the first month. Might as well have taken that money and set it on fire.
 
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You don't have to do anything. As you said, it just updates on its own when you're in a coverage area.

I found it a little helpful in the DC area, but out here in KC, the traffic nav is worthless to me. As others have mentioned, the info on it is often hours old and not as up-to-the-minute as google.
 
NavTraffic is based on the local DOT feeds, which isn't available for many roads. Google is "crowdsourced" - meaning any smart phone running their app in the background reports anonymous speed data back to the mothership, and they graph that. That's how they get coverage on roads with no DOT monitoring, although their data quality depends on the density of smartphones in the area.

In the DC area, VA has the most current data, usually about an hour or more old ( == useless). MD is probably 3 hours old on average (== super useless). DC does not really report their traffic data - just assume it's bad, watch for sink holes, flying manhole covers etc.

At least our nav units don't have a preference for routes with NavTraffic coverage until you enable the "avoid traffic" feature. My Garmin always seemed to guide me to the nearest traffic jam when it could when that feature was turned on.

Since my Garmin is portable, I found it actually fairly good in places like San Fran, LA, and around Seattle. Less so in NJ/NY but still better than MD.
 
SevenMaryThree said:
Just realized ( after five months ) that my '11 LTD w / Nav has the XM NavTraffic subscription.

The XM website doesn't have a lot of information on this feature, but it looks to be *really* limited in functionality. My question - How do you use it???

Do the flow / accident alerts just automatically appear on the nav screen when you are "in market," or is there something I need to do? Are there any audio prompts / warnings?

So far I am pretty disappointed with the factory navigation. The google navigation on my Droid blows away the factory nav. I've lost confidence in it and haven't used it since the first month. Might as well have taken that money and set it on fire.
Click to expand...

In regards to Nav Traffic, you will see alerts on the screen. Also, if you are navigating to a destination (say home, using NAV - I know most ppl won't turn nav on to go home but if you do..) It will provide you audio alerts on the route such as "Slow traffic ahead, xx miles long. Or ROAD construction, xx miles ahead on the route". I've found the NAV to be pretty functional (perhaps a little slow on the menus) but it works extremely well for me. Overall, I, personally, have been very pleased with it. It has yet to guide me wrong. Granted, I live in a major city (DFW) so results in rural areas may vary.
 
Living in Southern California you can really appreciate the NavTraffic. I agree in many parts of the country limited traffic info would make tbe feature practically worthless.

I can understand your frustrations with the Nav. Before buying the 4Runner I had several vehicles with factory nav, and had also used aftermarket and my phone as a replacement. I had come to the conclusion that I preferred my phone for nav, however Finding a Limited without nav at the time wasn't possible.

Since then I have come around on the stock nav. The greatest feature is that it automatically comes on, gets and maintains a fix. When using my phone, I have to take it out of my pocket, plug in the charger, and go to the app. Many times my phone will lose it's GPS signal and I will have to exit the app and re-enter. While this may seem like a small gripe, when you drive as much as I do, you appreciate the convenience factor.

When I first bought my truck, I would set up the phone nav to compare to NavTraffic and I noticed the delay. It may be just me, but the NavTraffic data has improved over the last year and seems to be more up to date.
 
I live in SoCal as well and the NavTraffic is pretty close to Google traffic for all the major freeways. Works great for on the fly re-routing which is so critical in LA driving! I like it.

Dennis.
 
Agree with the others from SoCal. In our area the XM NavTraffic works very well and it has not let me down once. For $3/month subscription, it's definitely worth it.
 
snow&surf said:
Agree with the others from SoCal. In our area the XM NavTraffic works very well and it has not let me down once. For $3/month subscription, it's definitely worth it.
Click to expand...

You have an option to only subscribe to the XM traffic?!

I thought it comes with the full XM subscription!!

Also, anyone figure out how to have the screen auto dim at night?
I always have to dim/brighten up the contrast and brightness depending on the time of day.

Thanks
 
Mine dims automatically. Hit the display button and look at top. Is day mode on or off? At night day mode should be off. Also, make sure the dash wheel (the little wheel
Left of steering wheel on dash) isnt locked all the way up. You can feel the "click" when locked. It shouldnt be locked. That will force nav to stay bright. Mines "white" bg during the day and "black" bg at night.
 
when I hit the display button, all I get is the "OFF DISPLAY" button.
I don't have a "day" button. Also, the manual says something about the switch you mentioned.
Is there a way you can take a picture of which switch I need to double check?

Thanks
 
It's the dimmer "roller" on the left hand side of the steering wheel. It controls how bright/dark of your speedo and all the other stuff on the dash. If you roll it all the way up past the "click", the screen will stay bright both day and night. Roll it back down past the "click" and it'll auto adjust.
 
I will try that tonight .... Thank you !!!

BTW - are you at all ticked off that the new 2012 4runner will have the entuned stereo.. I'm beating my self up for it, cause I just got mine, i couldn've waited 6 months if I knew :ybrick:
 
DannyLlama said:
I will try that tonight .... Thank you !!!

BTW - are you at all ticked off that the new 2012 4runner will have the entuned stereo.. I'm beating my self up for it, cause I just got mine, i couldn've waited 6 months if I knew :ybrick:
Click to expand...

IDK that I'm really "beating myself up" per say. I bought mine in 2010. Entune seems like it "could" be cool - depends how well its executed. I'm also not big on the fact that the first 3 years are free, then you have to pay. I don't like subscription based services on my truck. I didn't even bother renewing my SOS, cuz honestly, I don't think I'll use it. (Triple A + iPhone = winning!)

The good news at least for 2012 is that all trims finally get a decent head unit, bluetooth, usb and XM as standard. For the 4runner price point, that's how it SHOULD be. I'd be more pissed if I was a 2011 owner who just bought only to find out the USB/XM/Bluetooth is standard on 2012. DOH.

Sorry about the thead hijack OP. If you have any more questions on your post, feel free to ask.
 
Bringing this thread back. My Chrysler Nav system is what I am used to, which shows a nice green highlite on your route when the traffic is flowing...then changes to yellow and red as you get more screwed with traffic.

I'm operating under the assumption that the Toyota system doesn't show you alerts until there is actually traffic? I have the XM subscription at the moment. I need some traffic to test this thing!
 
LI4runner said:
Bringing this thread back. My Chrysler Nav system is what I am used to, which shows a nice green highlite on your route when the traffic is flowing...then changes to yellow and red as you get more screwed with traffic.

I'm operating under the assumption that the Toyota system doesn't show you alerts until there is actually traffic? I have the XM subscription at the moment. I need some traffic to test this thing!
Click to expand...

I think the newer entune NAV ones don't get the traffic updates from XM, but rather from the data connection...I noticed in order for the traffic highlights to appear I have to establish a connection with my phone; ie. by pressing the traffic messages button on the entune app screen and loading it up, then switching back to the navigation map screen. It still works to this day and my trial XM has expired a long time ago.
 
eddiebx said:
I think the newer entune NAV ones don't get the traffic updates from XM, but rather from the data connection...I noticed in order for the traffic highlights to appear I have to establish a connection with my phone; ie. by pressing the traffic messages button on the entune app screen and loading it up, then switching back to the navigation map screen. It still works to this day and my trial XM has expired a long time ago.
Click to expand...

That appears to be the case. I connected my phone for the first time today (iPhone) and the traffic details showed up. Guess I'm impartial to using data vs. paying XM for traffic subscription. Though between streaming Pandora and all the other data, I guess I won't upgrade to an iphone 5 anytime soon in risk of losing the unlimited data plan. VZ bastids.
 
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