Ashburner

Just a question... Has anyone had the experience of comparing the Navi's of say a CL-S and a G35?

I know that Acura has been praised for having one ove the best Navi systems in the market and I am wishing I would have gotten it. My next car may be a G35 Coupe in a year or so and I want to know how the Navi stacks up against the awesome system in the Acura.

They are both DVD based, correct?

Thanks,

-Ash

Scooter

i believe they take loads of factors into consideration, such as ease of use, ease of reading, how many discs, etc.

the Infiniti takes some getting used to b/c it's 3D, but it's awesome once u get it!!!

EZZ

I think the Infiniti Nav is better than the Acura one. Go check it out. Instead of a 2d view, it has a 3d birds eye view and VERY easy to use.

bone_stock

I think Acura's navi USED to be the best, but Lexus and Infiniti have moved passed Acura IMHO. In the car business it is change with the times, or die. It's about time Acura changed their current navi! Yes, they are all DVD based.

kensteele

Ain't that the truth. You can't be the best forever.

Tom2

Actually, you have the option of 3D. If you prefer, you can view an "overhead" 2D map, just like the Acura Navi.

Tom2

This is so true! Acura WAS the best out there just a couple of years ago. But they've been overtaken by Toyota and Nissan.

I'm still wondering why BMW/M-B/Audi still use shitty old CD-based Navi systems. Their systems are MUCH slower and MUCH more complicated to use. Hell, the Audi systems don't even have a conventional Navi screen yet (unless they just changed their systems recently).

I guess Navigation isn't a big deal in Germany.

HellaWhat

You guys are comparing apples and oranges....

It's like my idiot roomate that feels his 02 Camry is better than the current 02 Accord. He, like the rest of the uninformed feel that all things are equal when the years are the same (03 Acura vs. 03 Infiniti) and forget that one car is a previous design being compared to an all-new design.

I dont think it's fair to compare the Acura NAVI vs the current Infiniti one. It is fair to compare it against the Lexus one of past as well as the ones that I were/are in the Mercedes ML series of SUV's as they were introduced roughly at the same time and didn't have cool features liek 3D

Tom2

Who gives a shit about the past? If you are in the market for an '03 vehicle and want Navi, you're only gonna care about what is OFFERED NOW!

Besides, you can't fairly compare Navi systems using your theory either, because not all car companies had Navi options at the same time and not all car companies upgrade their Navi systems at the same time either.

You have to compare what is available NOW.

Scooter

then in that case, how can u compare the CL-S interior to the interior of any car dating back to the late '90's????

tapwr3000

I don't know about infiniti navi, never seen one before
but, Acura navi is AWESOME if you ask me. I went to test drive TL-s and fall in love with their navi system within minutes, too but the sales was a jackass, and my dad decided to go to nissan instead. anyways, acura's navi compare to my dad's lincoln navigator's navi........its awesome. lincoln navi sukkkkkkkkk

HellaWhat

Uhhhhhh I'm not comparing the interior, am I?

Late 90's... uhhh 1999? That to me is fairly close to a 2001, 2002, 2003...

Tom2 articulated the point I tried to present... who gives a FAWK what a previous car had? Or for that matter what another car has? If the navi or an interior of a previous/competitor really has something that u think is better and u want, you are gonna get that. Why bother with moot points if u happen to have the inferior navi? Like ours, it was great for it's time, but it's time has come.

peiqinglong

I wonder if the 3-d view thing is based on the DVD itself? Because obviously the DVD must contain drawings of the 3-d view in order for the navi to display it right...unless the brain of the navi in the Infiniti is super superior and fast and is able to calculate view, distance, and other stuff when in 3-d mode with 2-d information from the disk. It would seem more cheaper for the automakers to include all those on the DVD since the DVD can hold gigs of information and allow the brain to bring off the information from the disk. If this is the case, then it would be nice if Acura put out a 2-d/3-d view navi DVD on their next release.

HellaWhat

think of it this way... our (up to the 03 model, since I haven't used or seen one and can't comment on this) is essentially the same one that was in the 1999 TL. The only difference is we've moved from a PCMCIA based storage unit to a DVD based one. With a few bits of harware changes, there's nothing fundamentally different from this one and the current models. This NAVI is probably the product of 1997-1998 development and production. cause if you take a look at our map, it's nothing more than a X,Y coordinate on a flat plane. Whereas if you look at the new Infiniti one that has an isometric view, you could probably say that the 3d feature is part of the DVD, but not entirely there. the advancement of current hardware and CPU proccessing power is probably to be accredited more for this advance than just the DVD alone. The DVD probably holds all the image of the maps whereas the actual Navigation unit holds the logic portion that will convert the signal(s) from the saetllites into coordinates to be plotted on the map. If Nissian and whomever made this Navi started development of this unit say in 2000 or 2001, they'd have the advantage of evaluating the the Honda/Acura/Alpine unit and be able to utilize hardware and software that wasn't avaliable back then and making a better NAVI.

peiqinglong

I wonder if to upgrade our Navi systems would be easy as either swaping out the CPU (probably costly) or an add-on to the existing navi in a form of a plugin.

DJF

The 3-D idea is cool, but before I can make a comment or evaluation I'd like to see if it's just a plaything and only for the immediate streets or if it applies to a wide view. The thing I like about the 2-D mode is that it's simple and I can zoom way out to see where I am relative to the freeway I can't find. I'm sure if the 3-D is a success, all cars will probably adopt it.

duy

iTrader: (1)

My bro's gf has a new Pathfinder w/Navi with the 3D viewing. The only problem is that when the car is in D, you can't mess with any of the functions of the Navi. Is this the same as the Infiniti? When he sat in my car, he actually liked my Navi better since its operable while the car is in motion and he said there are much more features. Correct me if I'm wrong since I've never seen the Infiniti Navi.

HellaWhat

It's a safety feature that the designers implemented so u don't mess with the thing while driving... the Lexi are this way too... I'm SOOOO Glad the Acura's aren't

peiqinglong

That would suck. I hear the safety feature all it is a wire that detects if your in "P" or if you have your e-brake up. My friend has the Alpine monitor and it has that feature too, but the installer bypassed it so he can drive around with the full features.

Ashburner

My Inlaws I30t was like that... Can't use it if in motion.

So my next question is, does anyone know of a way to disable that function on the Nissan/Infinities?

-Ash

Tom2

Yes, there is an easy fix if you want to defeat this safety feature.

By the way, as far as I know, you can still do everything except manually enter a destination while the car is moving. I know the new Lexus Navi works that way, and I think the new Infiniti system is very similar.

If you want to learn how to disable it, just do a search on a Lexus forum. There are plenty of instructions.

6DUDE9

From what I have heard, Acura's Navi includes all the states and Infiniti's Navi only includes a few.

Tom2

Not true. The Infiniti Navi is DVD based and covers the entire U.S. (except Alaska and Hawaii).

I'm pretty sure that their DVD is from Navtech, the same as Acura, so the coverage should be exactly the same as long as they're updated each year.