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What I like about America. [A politics-free thread]

What I like about America. [A politics-free thread]

Old Feb 27th 2017, 4:38 pm
  #106  
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Default Re: What I like about America. [A politics-free thread]

The Nav in cars generally get better reception, it's just there when you need it. Most have sensors that can tell how far you have traveled even without a GPS signal, for instance going through a tunnel.
My navigation, the turn instructions come up on the dash and on the nav unit. The voice recognition works a little better than the phone.
If you want android auto or apple car play, generally you need to buy a car with nav because of the bigger screen requirements.
Also some people just look at the monthly payment number.

I use both my phone and my in-car nav. I like just having the Nav there when I need it. A comparison would be , why bother with an audio unit on your car when you can just play music from your phone. Convenience is sometimes worth paying for.
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Old Feb 27th 2017, 5:20 pm
  #107  
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Default Re: What I like about America. [A politics-free thread]

Originally Posted by Hiro11
Serious question: why do people get built in navigation in their car? It's generally enormously expensive, the interface is always about seven years out of date and in car systems doesn't work as well as free phone apps. Also, screen technology evolves so rapidly that after two years in-car screens look terrible. I rented a '17 Mustang last week with the latest Ford / Microsoft Sync stuff and the navigation was complete crap.
It's a good question, but I don't think the answer is as simple as you suggest. I've bought a few new cars with 'factory' nav's, and they were without question Utterly Crap in many aspects of their job. Looking up places was pathetic (whoever created their database of places didn't understand the concept of 'normalization', for sure). But - once you had found your place (which I would often use my phone for!), the actual 'turn by turn' directions were better, and - the bigger benefit - the visual presentation far superior, not only due to larger screen size but also, I simply find the built-ins to have a more useful visualization of the route.

Just last year, I bought another car (Lexus RX350). I bought it used (2013 model) so I could not pick and choose as much, and it was impossible to find one that did not have the built in nav. So as much as I didn't 'want' it, I got it. Now I'm glad I did. Why ...?

The lookup is still as pathetic as ever. But the screen is massive, and the turn-by-turn is pretty good. But what I like most is, to run my in-dash Nav in 'overview' mode (zoomed way out, showing a 20-100 mile radius, giving me a great sense of 'how far am I from ...', or just 'where am I". I then use my phone (Waze or Google Maps) for actual directions. Waze and Google are now both very good at telling me how to get where I want to go (live traffic aware) but you get absolutely no sense of 'where you are'. Driving across the desert from Phoenix to San Francisco, for example, all you see is your car on a long straight line. I look at my in-dash nav, and can zoom out and see that I'm 100 miles from ... someplace I may want to get lunch or gas. The phone apps let you zoom out too, but they seem obsessed with zooming back in almost immediately, and they require a good deal of fiddling to do this. I also enjoy comparing the routing decisions ... nice to get a second opinion.

I've tried Android Auto and it is pretty slick; almost good enough to ignore the built-ins. Most cars now come with a 'big screen' regardless of whether you choose the Nav or not, especially since backup cameras are a legal requirement (if now now, soon to come; every Honda has a backup cam).

If I were in the market for a brand new car, I would ignore the built-in Nav (assuming it had a decent screen regardless) and opt for Android Auto, but - I would take a small fraction of that $2,000 plus that I saved on the Nav, and spend it on a big-screen TomTom or Garmin or whatever, so I had a dedicated unit. I travel so much, I can't rely on the phone having data at certain strategic times (I've stepped into the car in some restaurant parking lot, only to find no data at the very moment I want to plan my route ... ).

I will also note that I use my phone GPS almost all the time, regardless of whether I know the route or not, because by doing so you 'learn' the nuances of the GPS (and of course with Waze, you get such snippets as 'police reported ahead...' ). I quite often ignore it's directions, and compare my routes to it's routes. This gives you a decent insight into how 'good' it's routing is.

Last edited by Steerpike; Feb 27th 2017 at 5:24 pm.
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Old Feb 27th 2017, 5:24 pm
  #108  
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Default Re: What I like about America. [A politics-free thread]

Originally Posted by SultanOfSwing
I don't know. Perhaps in the earlier days of navigation technology when phones didn't have GPS it was more useful but now with Google Maps and Navigation you get real time traffic and up to date roads as and when you need it. If you have bluetooth, you can have the turn instructions play through the speakers as well (well, provided you have the stereo on 'bluetooth' mode in my car anyway).
This is what I do in my car. I can have Google Maps speaking directions and it quite nicely reduces the volume of Spotify/Sirius when it happens.
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Old Feb 27th 2017, 5:25 pm
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Default Re: What I like about America. [A politics-free thread]

Originally Posted by tom169
This is what I do in my car. I can have Google Maps speaking directions and it quite nicely reduces the volume of Spotify/Sirius when it happens.
Usually right at the start of the good part
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Old Feb 27th 2017, 5:27 pm
  #110  
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Default Re: What I like about America. [A politics-free thread]

Originally Posted by SultanOfSwing
Usually right at the start of the good part
Window down, arm out with a farmers tan, tunes on.... "Turn left"
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Old Feb 27th 2017, 5:28 pm
  #111  
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Default Re: What I like about America. [A politics-free thread]

Originally Posted by Steerpike
It's a good question, but I don't think the answer is as simple as you suggest. I've bought a few new cars with 'factory' nav's, and they were without question Utterly Crap in many aspects of their job. Looking up places was pathetic (whoever created their database of places didn't understand the concept of 'normalization', for sure). But - once you had found your place (which I would often use my phone for!), the actual 'turn by turn' directions were better, and - the bigger benefit - the visual presentation far superior, not only due to larger screen size but also, I simply find the built-ins to have a more useful visualization of the route.

Just last year, I bought another car (Lexus RX350). I bought it used (2013 model) so I could not pick and choose as much, and it was impossible to find one that did not have the built in nav. So as much as I didn't 'want' it, I got it. Now I'm glad I did. Why ...?

The lookup is still as pathetic as ever. But the screen is massive, and the turn-by-turn is pretty good. But what I like most is, to run my in-dash Nav in 'overview' mode (zoomed way out, showing a 20-100 mile radius, giving me a great sense of 'how far am I from ...', or just 'where am I". I then use my phone (Waze or Google Maps) for actual directions. Waze and Google are now both very good at telling me how to get where I want to go (live traffic aware) but you get absolutely no sense of 'where you are'. Driving across the desert from Phoenix to San Francisco, for example, all you see is your car on a long straight line. I look at my in-dash nav, and can zoom out and see that I'm 100 miles from ... someplace I may want to get lunch or gas. The phone apps let you zoom out too, but they seem obsessed with zooming back in almost immediately, and they require a good deal of fiddling to do this. I also enjoy comparing the routing decisions ... nice to get a second opinion.

I've tried Android Auto and it is pretty slick; almost good enough to ignore the built-ins. Most cars now come with a 'big screen' regardless of whether you choose the Nav or not, especially since backup cameras are a legal requirement (if now now, soon to come; every Honda has a backup cam).

If I were in the market for a brand new car, I would ignore the built-in Nav (assuming it had a decent screen regardless) and opt for Android Auto, but - I would take a small fraction of that $2,000 plus that I saved on the Nav, and spend it on a big-screen TomTom or Garmin or whatever, so I had a dedicated unit. I travel so much, I can't rely on the phone having data at certain strategic times (I've stepped into the car in some restaurant parking lot, only to find no data at the very moment I want to plan my route ... ).

I will also note that I use my phone GPS almost all the time, regardless of whether I know the route or not, because by doing so you 'learn' the nuances of the GPS (and of course with Waze, you get such snippets as 'police reported ahead...' ). I quite often ignore it's directions, and compare my routes to it's routes. This gives you a decent insight into how 'good' it's routing is.
Sometimes you end up with the Nav option if you want a higher spec car. For example you may want heated seats and the only package option with heated seats includes the Nav.

That may have been the case with your Lexus
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Old Feb 27th 2017, 5:31 pm
  #112  
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Default Re: What I like about America. [A politics-free thread]

One other thing I forgot, if I use waze, I have to have my phone plugged in because it eats the battery. This may be better on newer phones.

I normally just keep my phone in my pocket. No need to get it out with bluetooth in the car and built in nav. I hardly ever leave my phone in the car by mistake.
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Old Feb 27th 2017, 5:56 pm
  #113  
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Default Re: What I like about America. [A politics-free thread]

Originally Posted by Hiro11
Serious question: why do people get built in navigation in their car? It's generally enormously expensive, the interface is always about seven years out of date and in car systems doesn't work as well as free phone apps. Also, screen technology evolves so rapidly that after two years in-car screens look terrible. I rented a '17 Mustang last week with the latest Ford / Microsoft Sync stuff and the navigation was complete crap.
Don't a lot of cars have it built in as base these days, making it hard to figure out how much it is? Was for the folks.

We were looking at cars, got one that didn't have it, but the models that did, didn't seem like any real cost.

You're right though, they are terrible. We have a TomTom, as a back up to the phone because reception is terrible in places we drive when up in Maine and neither work that well in Boston and the tunnels make it a nightmare. The free, open source maps aren't that great up there either and I don't have the space to keep Google maps for the whole area for off line.
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Old Feb 27th 2017, 6:03 pm
  #114  
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Default Re: What I like about America. [A politics-free thread]

I think the map updates are over priced for car navs, generally they want to charge between $130 and $200 for an update.
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Old Feb 27th 2017, 6:41 pm
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Default Re: What I like about America. [A politics-free thread]

I run Waze both ways on my commute as it tells me the best way to go and informs my wife when I'm going to arrive. I launch the app, it predicts where I'm going and I'm off.
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Old Feb 27th 2017, 8:13 pm
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Default Re: What I like about America. [A politics-free thread]

Originally Posted by Bob
Don't a lot of cars have it built in as base these days, making it hard to figure out how much it is? Was for the folks.

We were looking at cars, got one that didn't have it, but the models that did, didn't seem like any real cost.

You're right though, they are terrible. We have a TomTom, as a back up to the phone because reception is terrible in places we drive when up in Maine and neither work that well in Boston and the tunnels make it a nightmare. The free, open source maps aren't that great up there either and I don't have the space to keep Google maps for the whole area for off line.
It seems like different vendors like to package options differently. IIRC, BMW let you choose the grade of leather on the gear stick fob, while Acura bundle most features into just a few levels - no cherry picking.

But regardless, I do see the integrated nav's going the way of the dinosaur pretty soon, especially with the advent of Android Auto (and Apple's equivalent - car play). They clearly aren't good at doing the task at hand! I looked at a honda recently and it had a nice big screen, even without the nav option.
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Old Feb 27th 2017, 8:29 pm
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Default Re: What I like about America. [A politics-free thread]

Originally Posted by tom169
.... My wife is fantastic with the roads here, but likes to give directions by landmarks. Can be a bit frustrating at times.
It is in a country without pubs.
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Old Feb 27th 2017, 8:30 pm
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Default Re: What I like about America. [A politics-free thread]

Originally Posted by Pulaski
It is in a country without pubs.
Word.

I get the whole navigating by landmarks thing though, we used to do it all the time back home. Trouble is, some landmarks have a habit of not being there anymore 10 years later

I used to be able to sort of navigate by pylons too.
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Old Feb 27th 2017, 8:56 pm
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Default Re: What I like about America. [A politics-free thread]

Originally Posted by Steerpike
It seems like different vendors like to package options differently. IIRC, BMW let you choose the grade of leather on the gear stick fob, while Acura bundle most features into just a few levels - no cherry picking.

But regardless, I do see the integrated nav's going the way of the dinosaur pretty soon, especially with the advent of Android Auto (and Apple's equivalent - car play). They clearly aren't good at doing the task at hand! I looked at a honda recently and it had a nice big screen, even without the nav option.
If you want adaptive cruise control or Lane Keep Assist on the Honda, you get Nav included.
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Old Feb 27th 2017, 8:57 pm
  #120  
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Default Re: What I like about America. [A politics-free thread]

Originally Posted by SultanOfSwing
Word.

I get the whole navigating by landmarks thing though, we used to do it all the time back home. Trouble is, some landmarks have a habit of not being there anymore 10 years later

I used to be able to sort of navigate by pylons too.
What about using sign posts to navigate or is that a silly idea?
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