Alin10123

Hi guys,
I was test driving at the dealer this week and noticed something wierd about the voice navigation. The salesman was introducing the voice activation feature and he brought me into "setup" then "voice menu" then he told me to press the voice button and talk. I asked him if i had to go into the menu to say commands everytime i wanted to do something and he said yes. I dont really see the point of the voice activation if you have to go through 3 menus by hand just for the system to recognize your voice. Not only that, but he said that you had to pick the specific command before hand inside the voice menu and then hit the voice button and say the command to activate the command. Does anyone know what he's talking about? Am i crazy? or do you guys also find it pointless to have to go through 3 menu screens before being able to use voice commands?
Or.... was the salesman totally wrong and you are able to shout out commands at anytime that you want to just by pushing the voice button in any screen? and the demo car just wasn't set up yet?

thanks
Aaron

darth62

Aaron,

it really depends on the command. Some of them won't work from the menu screen and you need to get into the Map screen. But, once you start getting used to the system, it really couldn't be much easier to use.

D.

larchmont

Simple answer:

Even though I didn't understand everything you said, the answer to your question is:

HE DIDN'T KNOW WHAT HE WAS TALKING ABOUT.

Ozzman

You have to be in the right category (AC, Radio, etc.) sometimes for the Voice controls to work, but don't let that deter you from getting the Nav (like that larch - nav, not navi?). I rarely use the voice commands, as I personally find it easier to use the "manual" controls, but I love the navigation. When a friend tells me their address, no more mapquest. I find it easily. I've found it will even give you easier routes to places you already drive. If you can afford the nav, get it. The TSX is a great car with or without the navigation, but if its within your budget, get the navigation.

7eighteen

what????? In my experience, I've found you can use any voice command while your in any screen.It doesn't make a difference. Your dealer doesn't know what the hell he is talking about...Get the Nav......I can't live without it

GeorgeTSX

Here is a list of NAV commands and when you can use them...

http://www.reidpix.com/tsxnav/navidoc.asp

No. You can't use ANY voice command at ANY time.

jdibella

I think the NAV Is the biggest waste of money, unless you travel for business. I mean come on, A friend tells you there address and you need to find it.. you really use your NAV? That is ridiculous. Also, i'm not impressed with the Voice Activiation. I thought the same one was used as the Accord but I guess not. That would make no sense that you have to go into a menu first and then do voice activation. Waste of $$ IMO.

GeorgeTSX

Uhh.. yeah if some one gives me an address to a place I am unfamiliar with yes I do use the Nav. This has been discussed to death already and I don't feel like repeating here. Do a search. here is one for starters...

http://www.acura-tsx.com/forums/show...=&threadid=479

In any case those of use who actually have the Nav have found it very much worth having.

Nobody said you had to go into a menu first before you used voice navigation. But there are some commands you can only use on certain screens. The voice navigation works extremely well. I have even tried to trick it with a fake accent and most of the time it can understand me.

If you don't think it is worth getting then don't get it. Simple as that. That is why it is an OPTION.

dnl2ba

The voice activation hasn't been terribly useful for me, but I imagine once I learn more of the voice commands, I'll use some voice and some buttons.

jdibella, there are plenty of times when a friend or coworker says, "Hey, let's go eat at XYZ," where XYZ is some restaurant I've never heard of. Plus, I dunno about you, but I have plenty of friends who're awful with directions, plus I don't know every major city street / area, so "on that street off of Santa Cruz, in Menlo Park" doesn't normally help much. With the navi, I can usually just enter the name of the place and it'll find it if it's not a total hole in the wall.

Also useful if you want to go somewhere you normally know how to get to, but don't know what the best route from your current location is (say you deviated from your normal route). Say you know how to get from 1) your place to one friend's house and how to get from 2) your place to the other friend's house, but you don't know the best route from one friend's house to the other friend's house.

I just wish there were more hands-on AC controls, because I find myself fiddling with the AC pretty often. Once you're used to physical controls, you don't have to look at them (safer than looking at the screen) and you can adjust them very quickly (faster than voice).

GeorgeTSX, thanks, I bookmarked that. It's too bad that you can't use any voice command at any time, but from what I've read in my studies (I just graduated with my degree in human-computer interaction), increasing the scope of possible things the user could say potentially just leads to more misinterpretations of what the user said.

GeorgeTSX

Yes. I have also found quicker ways to get around town that I might not have thought of before. Or ways to get around closed roads or to avoid traffic. It is great to be driving with it when it is giving you directions to a destination and then take an alternate route because of traffic or whatever and then have it automatically reroute and show you how to get there from your current location.

Another nice feature. Say your driving somewhere through a unfamiliar area. You spot an interesting store or place but don't have time to stop. You can just say "Register current location" and it will save it for you and then you can get directions back to it later.

For people who like to travel and drive around the Navi is freaking great. I knew it was cool when I took my first test drive, but I didn't realize how useful it would be until driving with it for the past 4 months or so.

dnl2ba

The salesman who sold me my car demoed it for me. He had a mild/moderate Vietnamese accent (if I had to guess) and he just couldn't get it to work. Poor guy.

idx

Sorry bella, the Nav is just plain useful. Even on local routes that you always drive. I notice that sometimes I'm used to taking an old backroad for no other reason that "I'm used to it", but the Nav suggests another route so I take it for fun. Sometimes its faster, sometimes it isn't.

And the voice activitation is pretty good. No, all commands aren't available from anywhere, but you can typically get to that point via one button or one voice command. Its not as cumbersome as the salesman suggested. (map: push the map button or say "show map". push menu or say "show menu". push setup or say "setup" .. turn on the radio or say "radio play" etc...)

-r

Alin10123

One last question,
When i use the Navi, DOes it only take street addresses? Or it takes numbers to? for isntance... the mercedes Navi i cannot input "123 Main St."
It wil only take in "Main St." and if Main St. is 15 miles long, it will take you to the beginning of Main St. Which is a real pain in the butt. Being able to put the "123" part in would be much more convenient. It will actually get you much closer.

thanks

larchmont

Don't really understand the question, but I think the answer is "Yes, it takes numbers."

Here's the deal: Nav asks you to put in the street, THEN the street number.

BTW if you don't know the street number, you still have to put something in. The Nav tells you the range of possible numbers.

idx

Yep, you input the actual numbers. Typically if the location has existed for a few years then it knows. Otherwise you'll have to put something else in.

If it does accept the exact address it typically has you "at the house" about 2 houses early. Not sure if its an issue with the map DB, GPS or if its just preparing you to turn pretty soon.

BTW, just heard that the voice Nav that the Toyo 4runner has lets you play blackjack via voice commands. ("dealer is showing x", what do you want to do? "hit me") Sounded pretty cool.. Maybe future firmware upgrades will give us more features.

(( although the 4runner also seemes to be HDD-based .. wish the tsx did that vs the DVDrom))


-r

MSB128

Naptown reporting....

I have found the Nav to be incredibly useful. I'm pretty good with directions, but going somewhere I'm not too familiar with, it totally eliminates scanning the street signs looking for your next turn--really helpful at night.

I've used countless number of times to call up restaurants and get reservations. Frequently, I've had friends in the car and we just decide to head over to a restaurant. I just put in the name, it spits out the phone number, I call 'em up and save time if there's too long a wait.

As far as voice activation, it's been pretty good. There are some commands you can't use while in certain screens (e.g. changing discs while displaying the map), but things like changing temps seems to work in all screens.

Keep in mind though that track and volume controls are available on the steering wheel, so those are always available.

I don't really travel around all that often. I'm pretty good with directions. With that being said, though, I have found the Nav to be a great option. I'm really glad that I got it. It's just hard to go back to other cars without it.

Naptown out.

jdibella

Well, I do apoligize about my first post in this thread. I live in Florida, a smaller city north of Daytona Beach so I guess I have no use for it, but those of you in California could find very good use for it.

I test drove the Accord yesterday and the salesman showed me the Nav and it's pretty cool. Tells you when to turn and so fourth. Nice feature, but not for me.

magic_man

This is my second Acura with Nav. The last one did not have my city in the database with much detail. I lived in a town with an interstate and about 4 roads according to it! However, that wasn't important in my decision to go with Nav. I was more interested in how it behaved on my road trips. I was more interested in it's assistance in getting to an airport on time when I need to avoid an accident I see ahead on the highway. It isn't that I want the Nav to know about places I already know how to get around, it's that I want the Nav to know about places I DON'T know how to get around. It's worth every penny to me every time I go on a road trip and find my way to a destination without having to delay my journey intermittently to look over directions or read a map. It also helps that I'm a total gadget fiend so the gadgetry of the Nav is icing on the cake! One more thing, the voice activation is VERY useful when you want to turn the radio on, direct tune a station, or start playing a CD while you're in the middle of a series of turns or on a narrow road with heavy traffic requiring you to keep BOTH hands on the wheel. Safety first, you know!