I just filled out the JDPower NAV survey. I have to admit, our
nav kicks ass. Almost all the 'don't haves' were 'definitely have no interest in'.

On my 'things I dislike most' about the nav:
1) Sparse road coverage of some areas
2) Can't look for a exit number of roads
3) Strange database catagory lookups sometimes

Something that would be really nice for me would be lookup
by latitude / longitude. (Nice for hiking points that start at strange spots).

The question of 'how much would you pay' was interesting to think on. For me $2K was the sweet spot.
$1000 was 'definitely would', $3000 was 'probably wouldn't'.

 

That's why I didn't get stock NAV, I put the Alpine NVE-851A in my Jeep and it kicked BMw's, and MB's, and JAG's, Nav Systems Asses.

Now it is time to do the aftermarket Nav. in the CL

 

I wouldn't buy a Nav system unless it costed in the 1k range. Jeez for that money I could have a kick ass computer.

 

The database is my biggest problem with it. If you don't know the exact name or category of a business it can be very time consuming. I think it should give preference to nearby matches. For example, if I'm looking for the closest Staples, I don't want to see a place 2000 miles away just because I don't know the full, exact, legal name of Staples.

 

Actually, I do belive that you can get lat & lon. readinds. Will play with it tomorrow if I remember and see if I can find it...

 

Weel that is what the Alpine does it picks the closes places to you buy business name. Or type of food, gas station, store, anything at all it picks the closest one. It was a bit pricey $3,300 for everything I think was the final price. But def. worth it in the NE and with all the travelling I was doing.

 

Yep, I was just mumbling something like that yesterday. With the name of the same outfit 8-hour driving time away.

I have used the search feature to start with a general category, then used the locate type distance, and that works.

I don't see why they couldn't have a sort-by-nearest option for ALL searches (as per your comment)...

I have noticed the "look-ahead" caching feature can hurt it -- it will store roads, etc when scrolling ahead. And if you search in the area of the cached data the response is OK. IF you ever are on the road *and* search to see what is ahead, try scrolling backwards, and at a particular point it waits, and waits, and waits. It needs an intelligent caching feature to help with ALL kinds of look-ups

Highest wish list of many – be able to have the unit identify “controlled road crossing” ie --. Intersections with 4-way stops and/or traffic lights. When traveling in unknown areas (where the tool is most valuable) it would be nice to be able to determine if your going to be making a left from some road where the left turn means 0..60 in 3 seconds and the right turn sends you 2-miles to the first place where you can double-back and/or detour via U-turn and left turn combo...

 

I liked the idea of a navi, but there were some negatives for me:
1) not very good coverage for my area
2) I only drive 8 miles to work
3) I thought it was missing many features that the aftermarket units have
4) If your cls gets totaled, the book value of the nav is only $400, where as I can get insurance on aftermarket equipment for pennies a year and cover the entire system.
5) This is my fun car and not my main traveling vehicle
6) Upgrades are limited.

What I am looking into is getting pop-out screens for both my cars, and transfer the nav unit between them depending on what I am driving. I can also hook up the dvd player in my car, without having to worry about screwing up the factory nav.

And if better nav options come out, I just sell the old unit, buy a new one and hook it up to the pop-out screens.

 

I wish I could limit the searches by State.
There's nothing quite like pushing all those annoying touch-screen buttons only to find that the nav system wants to send you 2196 miles to your destination.

 

Don't forget the ocassional bogus routing that puts an extra 3 or 4 miles on the trip when you obviously could drive right down the block. Sometimes the Navi will send you on a trip to your destination that is clearly way out of the way which is fine if you are in a foreign city where you don't know any better. But at least build some kind of knowledge database or something that remembers my preference to always take the freeway or it's ok to us a few small roads, etc. It should learn my driving habits. The shortest route and quickest route functions don't seem to work very well for me. I would gladly pay $1k more for this additional feature plus if you throw in a better database lookup search algorithm.