I'm pretty sure that I want a TSX... but I'm having a hard time deciding on Nav...

It seems that a Nav equipped car is harder to bargain on, so in effect you end up paying more than 2K for it, as you sacrifice alot of your 'discount' to get it.

On the other hand, I'm a hopeless techno-gadget junkie, and I really want everything that I couldn't afford to have in the Porsche I'm replacing. And it just looks sweet with that 8" display in the dash.

I also understand that Nav makes hooking up XM Radio a bit harder... Hmmmm.

What do you think about Nav?

Thanks!

 

Personally, it wasn't worth it to me. I prefered the cleaner look of the non-NAV and had trouble justifying the $2K extra for what I would consider an automated map worth $600. Better yet, I bought a detailed street map (book) for $20 and swiped a copy of the yellow pages.

But then, this kind of option is a personal one. Play with it, and see if it's something you really want. If not, don't get it as it won't really add to the resale of the car.

 

Not worth it.

 

I too am a gadget freak, but Nav wasn't worth it for me.

I have a Blackberry and can access maps and directions on the Internet if I really need to, making Nav kinda unnecessary. I don't often drive around unfamiliar places and when I do, I look up address/direction info before I go.

P.S. Check other posts regarding XM with Nav... I think I read about a fix for that coming soon.

 

I've said this before, I'll probably say it again:

Navi is like a cell phone. It's kind of handy, but it IS NOT absolutely necessary. If you spend the money to have one, you will find ways to use it in order to justify your purchase. So, almost everyone you talk to who has navi will tell you that it's worth it. People who don't have it might give you an impartial opinion. I actually wanted it, but it wasn't worth it to me at that price. Only you can make the decision for yourself whether you can blow the $2k on it.

 

I wasn't going to get the NAV but couldn't find a CG/ebony/AT anywhere without the NAV. Went ahead and got it and dont regret it a bit. Voice commands are nice too.

 

It's not worth it to me because I don't go out of town too often and I'm already familiar with most places in town. My $300 PDA and $24 map software do just a good of a job finding routes when I'm away from home plus I can use it while in a rental or someone else's car.

So...$2000 just seemed like a lot to me to pay for something I don't use all that often. However if I lived in a concrete jungle like NYC or DC, I would've gotten the Navi.

Disclaimer: I am not saying my PDA is better than the Navi...it isn't as fast, doesn't have 7 million points of interest (tho the basics are there: Wendy's, OSU Stadium, gas stations, hospitals, havne't tried ATMs yet), doesn't understand a word i say to it, can't control my HVAC and doesn't display the CD track time.

It does play my MP3z though.

 

I bought a TL-S in the spring and after a month I was wishing I had bought the Nav. When I knew I was going to get a TSX that I would get the Nav. Its just a toy, is it worth it? Thats up to you. Some people would say its stupid to buy a Hi-def TV, a $1500 computer when you can buy one for $500, $800 grill when you can get one for $200 or a $2000 watch when you can buy one for $100. So its all what you want and can afford.

 

I always say to myself that this is a pointless waste of money. Then I get horribly lost in an unexplored towns, or dangerous area at night. It's times like those that I wish I had navi. IF the TSX didn't have navi, I wouldn't be interested in buying it right now. I don't want to get lost again.

 

knowing the area where you live has little to do with not needing navi. in fact i have lived in colorado springs 10 years. i know the town like the back of my hand. this morning i looked up a starbucks to see when they opened because i was on my way out of town to a meeting and had to leave at 6:00 am
i didnt want to bother wasting what little time i had to stop in if they were closed. so i used the nav to locate the one closest to where i would be driving out of town and called them to verify their hours.
i have taken several trips in my TSX and in fact will br driving 558 miles to MO tuesday. i can honestly tell you being able to make a motel reservation while in route and find a resaturant to eat at while on the road the Navi is worth every penny.
once in my old 2001 TL i used the navi to detour me off of I-15 between california and vegas. about 1/2 way there we hit a 20 mile long traffic jamb. i hit the detour button and was routed through some po dunk town to the north and down a dirt road and avoided would would have been at least a 2 hour traffic jamb in all of 20 minutes using the detour the navi plotted out.
even if you had an atlas you would have never known this alternate route existed. you would have had to have a detailed map of the area to know it even existed.
its times like this that you wonder how you ever got along without it.

not only that if your a gadget freak the Navi is a definite MUST HAVE. everyone i know who has a TSX and didnt get it kinda wishes they got it after seeing how it responds to voice commands and obeys your every command. totally cool factor is worth the 2k IMO.

 

Thanks for everyone's replies! It's nice to hear some real world experience with the unit.

Does the voice activation control anything besides the nav, like the stereo or climate controls?

I guess my decision will end up being based on what kind of a price I can get vs. a non-nav car, and if my wife doesn't kill me.

 

I love my navi. I am really into tech toys and the navi was a must for me. I use the voice rec all the time. Its safer than using the controls on the radio or using the nav screen the do things. If you can afford it I'd do it. Also keep in mind, more and more cars come with navi so when you try to trade in/sell your car more people will want it because it will be more of a standard feature and you'll get more $$ for your car. I think I read somewhere that navi increases a cars value by $500-1000USD

 

I am a tech junky. I had a internal debate on whether or not to get the Navi. When I thought about the number of times I have dialed information (411) from my cell phone, and that I would have the convenience of looking up business numbers in the Navi...it was a no brainer for me. I find myself in unfamiliar areas quite often, so when I am able to search a restaurant or a gas station, etc., I am thankful that I made the right decision and opted for it. Also, it is nice to be able get around heavy traffic when choosing alternate routes from the Navi. I personally like the simplicity that the Navi offers to the interior of the TSX. I think that the simple Navi screen isn't as busy as the Non-Navi interior...don't get me wrong, either way the TSX is a great car. As for getting a better discount with a Non-Navi...I'm not too sure about that because I got a little more than $1500 off and tons of accessories thrown in and I have read about some good deals that other members were able to negotiate. Good luck in your decision.

 

It's like this: If you have the extra money and it doesn't mean that much to you, it's definitely worth it.

If not, it's not.

 

Both.

Then you have no choice... you'll curse yourself every time you drive the car if you don't get it.

Santa Rosa Steve

 

Take a hard look at both nav and non-nav interiors before making up your mind. The non-nav is classic Honda: big radio buttons, big dials, easy to read, easy to control your car's many functions. The nav is an excellent system, but it replaces some of your manual controls with touch screen controls. How do you feel about that? I decided I liked the dedicated buttons and dials better.
I am also cheap, and it wasn't worth $2k to me.

 

real men don't need maps. if I'm going somewhere I've never been before... I check mapquest and memorize the directions.

 

I'm a huge techno junkie but did not get a NAV system. I regretted it for 1 sec. and then realized I had $2000 in my pocket.

IMO, dont' get the NAV and spend the 2k on something cool, laptop + mp3 player + digital camara. I'd rather download mapquest directions to my PDA, or get a GPS receiver for your new laptop and you can take it everywhere.

That's a considerable amount of money for something you can 1) only use in your car, 2) only need when you are lost. Otherwise it just looks pretty.

 

Personal experience..my job requires me to travel to different locations. Not having to lookup, print, and follow a printout from mapquest is beneficial. Not only that, being able to find side streets to avoid traffic in Los Angeles area is great, like what I did today.

Your mileage may vary...if you live elsewhere, and don't do much "exploration" driving, then the nav is not for you.

 

I did that today too... except I didn't have to pay $2,000.

 

That's good to hear. If I can wrangle a deal like that, I'm going for the Nav. I agree that the Nav-equipped dash is much cleaner looking.

Well, only 5 months until my Boxster lease is up, and hopefully by then I can stash enough extra cash away to pay for the Nav with my downpayment.

I'm totally psyched about the voice controls... that's just too cool.

 

I got a non-nav because I personally thought the controls were much better with real buttons. Also, the nav will become technologically obsolete years before I plan to give up the car, and Honda hasn't been treating nav as a replaceable module that can be upgraded over time (yes, I know they'll be revising the data DVD every couple of years at $200 a hit).

However, some nav features are handy. I got these by buying a Garmin iQue PDA/Nav for a total cost of about $600 after extra memory and auto mounting kits. It's a smaller screen (about 4 in diagonal), but the mapping, routing, voice output navigation, and points of interest are excellent. Data entry is much better with the stylus and handwriting input, and if you use it as a PDA you can route to any address in the calendar or address book. A big value is that it's portable and we use it in two cars interchangeably.

 

trolldrengi,
I just got my TSX with Navi from Montclaire Acura at Verona at NJ today.
I told to the manager Tommy Wang, and he is the nicest person I told to in Acura dealership around NJ. I got 1500 off MSRP + Protection Package throw in. tell him Frank with Silver TSX send you in.
Have fun. I think that is the best deal around town in NJ ao far
I saw the Voice Command, and I love it.. Once you use the Navi.. You will Not go back. It just becomes one of your daily commute, like rerouting from traffice jam is the most beneficial function for Navi.

Other Dealership I told to recently..
Park AVE $1000 Off only.
Springfield less than $1000 only.
Brunswick Acura $600 off MSRP
Bridgewater $800 off.

Good Luck

 

Helloha -- I once bought a car at that dealership, and while I liked my salesman a lot, the overall experience wasn't great. In particular, the manager that you mention was a bit of a pisser. After I had made it clear exactly what car I wanted, and continued to make it clear, he wasted a bit of time trying to talk me into taking something totally different. I was buying a TL-S with Nav. I had spent a lot of time with the salesman and had everything all worked out, then he came in and tried to talk me into taking a regular TL -- "really basically the same car," he was trying to convince me. When that didn't work, he started trying to get me to take a car without Nav. It was only when I gave up being polite and let him know how annoying this was that he gave it up.

I'd still recommend the place. But I expect more intelligence and respect from a manager than what he showed. I'm willing to write it off to just a bad day for him, or whatever.

 

I didnt get it and dont regret it because of the 2k price tag.
I bought my TSX almost 6 months ago and now that income tax season is coming up im going to use some of my refund money to start my mobile pc project. Which after calculations and doing my own labor will come in at less than 2k and actually do more than the stock navi. Not to mention be a pc, with wifi, emulators, full dvd playback, navigation, mp3, mobile internet.
Shyt i think prices are dropping so much and its becoming an easier project you could prolly get this done professionally for less than 2k.
Ill keep you guys posted on my project coming soon.
AKay

 

Thanks for the specific info, helloha,

I did my test drive at Brunswick Acura (now Open Road)... Which is where my friend bought his NSX in 1995. I'll definitely check out Montclair Acura, as it's not all that far from me.

The Navi is a tough-sell on my wife... And she's reminding me I could be spending the 2K on performance parts from Comptech...

Or a Plasma TV!
Thanks!

 

i think it all comes down to whether or not u have the money to burn. everyone needs navi in one point in their driving career or another. it is very rare that you have someone that only drives a select few days for every day of his/her life. of course, if whatever you do requires constant commuting to diff places, then navi is a must have. if your not that sort of person, anvi is good to have as well. but then again, if u are the second kind of guy who doesn't go to diff palces everyday, it just a matter of whether or not u got the money to burn. personally i can't live without navi. peace

 

With money to burn, I'd buy a better car first.

My personal take on it is if you need to visit new places everyday, i.e. real estate or sales, the Nav system is worth it. Otherwise, for occansional use, get the Garmin iQue or StreetPilot. It's not as convienient to use, but provides the same core functionality of GPS, mapping, routing, voice prompting and POI database. It has the advantage of being able to be moved to a rental car on trips (where you WILL need it), used outdoors etc. The iQue also functions as PalmOS PDA and plays mp3s.

 

the tsx, which we are talking about, is already a great car. everyone is entitled to their own opinion of course, but i don't think using an extra 2k to find a better car will do much, prices aren't that close together on varying models. the ique u mention also has shit battery life, quite worthless if your ona long tripa dn it jsut poops out on u. plus u have to constantly load the fdifferent maps into the mem card from your computer, pay for extra maps, and the screen is much smaller and unclear. if u really want navi, get factory installed. anything else in attempt to save a bit of money will just lead to aggravation and regrets.

 

$2k alone doesn't get you a better car, but it's a good part of the way towards a TL or G35. If I had $2k "to burn", I could justify another $3k to upgrade to a better car.

The iQue has a car mount available which runs off 12V power, and also has another speaker to amplify the voice prompting. It comes standard with maps for NA. I would also argue that Garmin, as a dedicated GPS company, will keep their maps more up to date than Acura, and their maps cost less than the $200 that Acura charges. I can get a couple of major cities into the 8Mb on my eTrex - considering that 1Gb SD cards are available, I don't think you will need to reload maps very often. You are slamming something you obviously don't know much about.

I agree that the screen doesn't compare to onboard Nav, which is why I recommend the Nav if you are using it very often. The voice activation for Nav, radio and ACC is also very cool.

I use my cheap monochrome eTrex, which not nearly as good as the iQue, but it serves the core functionality of Navigation, and I have neither aggrevation or regerts. YMMV.

 

Half the use is the real-time map. It's hard and even dangerous to use the trip planner without pulling over if you don't have a passenger to help, so sometimes I use the real-time map to make quick judgments (e.g. missed the turn, so will another turn take me the same way or do I have to turn around?).

The trip planner is useful for a guy like me: I don't pay attention to where I'm going unless I'm the driver, so there are lots of common hangouts I might not know how to find on my own. However, it would be more useful if you could control the whole thing by voice, including typing.

I use the voice control feature when alone, but they're hard to use with company because it's hard to get everyone to shut up for 10 seconds straight.

 

I never thought I needed the Nav. I figured it was a waste of $2K. And if I did get it, I thought I would probably find myself compelled to use it just so I can justify its cost.

Truth be told, I only decided to get Nav purely for the "cool" factor, to show off to friends, to elevate the element of luxury in this little car... "hey check it out, a four-banger with a 6-speed, dual exhausts, and a voice-recognition touchscreen Nav system, how often do you see something like that?" And to this day, everytime someone sits inside my car for the first time, there's always some comment always succeeded by a compliment about the curious LCD screen in the middle of the dash. A conversation piece at the very least.

Six months later, after the novelty of this overpriced gadget has long worn off, I'm surprised to find myself still using it, and using it often and effectively. No longer trying to justify its cost and not because of habit, I actually really use it. It seems that the Nav has naturally graduated from a gimmicky techno-plaything into an essential tool that makes life easier for me. It has become a very welcome convenience and something I have grown to rely on mainly because I live and work in a major metropolitan area.

So the decision is really simple. If you live, work, or just frequent a major city, get the Nav because it will make your life easier whether you need it to or not. If you travel state to state often by car, it is almost a must. However, if you spend all of your time relatively stagnant in local suburbia, or in even more rural areas, save yourself the $2K and ommit the Nav.

One final anecdote: the best part about Nav is when my gf visits and I give her the car to use when I'm at work. She has no clue about how to get around the city and where certain stores and establishments are. So I've taken the liberty to save various points of interest on the Nav system for her to access and find her way. Furthermore, she has even taken the initiative and learned to use it in order to find other desired destinations. I never had to stay on the phone and give her directions for anything and this was key because such a situation can potentially lead to arguments if she happens to get lost and it becomes my fault. With the Nav and its quick re-routing feature, she'll never get lost and even if she does, she can't blame me. If you ask me, this alone makes it worth the $2K.

 

I struggled with this decision when I purchased my Accord. I actually went to the dealership with the intent to purchase an Accord with NAVI. After playing with it a bit I realized that I didn't really need it. Sure it's a fun toy to play with, but is it really worth the extra $2,000+? I didn't think so. I did not purchase my Accord 6MT w/Navi and i'm happy I didn't (Although turning it into a in dash DVD player is pretty cool).

 

kite, beleive me, i do know what i'm talking about. i have gone through many of those handheld navi peices, including pharos and another one that escapes my mind, goes with PDAs though. i have also used the garmin III streetpilot. yes they work and all, but eventually it becomes a pain in the ass. you yourself say it "u can have a speaker amplify it" "plug it into a cigarette lighter" "mount it on your dashboard" blah blah blah. if people can deal with the constant loading of maps, chaning, and tiny ass screen, go for it. you will probably spend more money getting your navi PDA to be practical instead of being stingy and not buying navi. i am not saying there aren't people that don't need it out there, but for those of you considering it, its really worth the extra 2k. i don't have a tsx myself, but my cousin has a 2001 MDX, and it has the exact same type fo navi, its great and user friendly.

masmole is also suporting what i'm saying: if your not a commuter to a varied amount of palces, navi still come sin handy for when u gotta pick people up, navigate yourself through cities when u go out for a night, go on the occasional long distance trip, and need to find a hotel/mall/point of interest. like he aslo says, people are always curious as to what the nice sized lcd screen on your console is all about, it just adds to the prestige and technological feel that the tsx has to offer.

 

I regret not getting it. I can certainly live without it but I would rather have it.

 

Yes its worth it! (But then, my opinion my be a wee bit biased as I'm the flight software engineer for the GPS IIR satellites ;-)

 

Hmmm... iQue $413 + car nav kit $65 + 512Mb SD $130 = $608.

Same:
- GPS
- mapping
- POI database
- voice prompting

Cons:
- screen is a lot smaller
- no voice activation (incl. ACC and radio)
- less integrated into the car

Pros:
- likely better maps and more up to date
- can be used outside and in different cars (esp. rentals)
- Palm PDA
- plays mp3

By no means is it better than the onboard nav. It's not about being stingy - some people may find the trade-off worth the cost savings (and some may not). I have not discounted either choice, but present alternatives based on facts and suggestions for situations where someone might choose one over another.

 

ok, heres my clearcut opinion: for all pratical purposes, factory navi is better and less agravating. i think many will agree

 

Yup, I agree, but that wasn't the question. The question was is the worth $2k (plus any lost discounts)?

I presented an cheaper alternative which I have acknowledged is less usable, but a choice nonetheless. You then dimissed it based on misinformation. I have posted the correct information for others to make an informed purchasing decision.

 

kite we both and many others have already talked about this. its a forum, i am sure the guy who made this thread already got the answer hes looking for. your alternative is a bit of a pain in the ass, but 12-1300 dollars cheaper, i admit it. but, lets think. what will a little over a grand do for u in terms of looking for a better car? unless u like buying body kits and other accessories like that, yes, navi is worth the extra money. then again it doesn't matter what me or kite think, go to the dealership and test it out yourself.

cheers