planetside

Well, part of me is somewhat disappointed in the lack of features found in the built-in Navi unit of my '03 TL-S. In fact, my Garmin StreetPilot III (SPIII) is FAR more robust than the Acura Navi, but then again, Garmin has been doing this for a long time. (If you'd like to know exactly the differences, let me know and I'll spend time doing a detailed write-up).

So my questions, because I'm either a) too lazy to read the manual in detail, and b) I've skimmed the manual and didn't see anything regarding these questions of mine:

Why does the Navi unit NOT display all street names? Even at maximum zoom in, a lot of streets simply are not labeled. Is there an undocumented feature to turn on ALL street names?

Is there any way for the unit to display in real-time the street number? I know you can find this out by touching your icon on the screen, but seeing "8500 Miramar Road" and it counting up or down on the numbers in real-time is an extremely cool feature of the SPIII.

Upcoming intersections -- the Acura Navi won't tell you what's coming up as you're traveling on your current street. Nice feature found in the SPIII.

How are map updates obtained?

Finally, can anyone point me to a resource that explains exactly the specifications of our Navi unit (e.g. screen resolution, number of parallel channels, etc.)

Yeah, I know -- our Navi unit has some cool things about it (e.g. its integration into our climate control, etc.), but I just can't help feeling like it's not the robust GPS it really should've been.

Danny

Doogie20

Since I have an older version of the Navi unit I'm not sure how much I can help with all your questions. However, the Navi on my '99 show upcoming streets on the bottom center of the screen. I've never noticed but I suppose you have to be a minmal distance before it kicks in. Regarding updates, these are available from your dealer. I think the fee is in the $75 to $100 range. There are also numerous threads on all the acura forum sites discussing ways to share Navi files with other users. My age precludes from being that techno savy. Maybe this is something you're comfortable with. Sounds like the Garmin is state of the art. Still, despite some problems I have with my unit, overall it's been a great option.

vperkins2

No undocumented "label all streets" feature that I know of. And I'm pretty sure none of us users would know why all streets aren't labeled. Maybe it eats up too much display. Who knows?

Nope.

Yikes! I thought the Navi was talkative as it is! You want it to talk more?

Visit the vendor website (www.acura.com) and purchase the latest DVD for $150.00.

If it aint in the manual then I guess you could always contact Alpine (I think that's who makes our Navi units).

Good luck,

V.

planetside

V,

Naw, I don't mean -saying- the upcoming intersection or cross street when auto-routing. I mean when in passive map mode (i.e. not auto-routing), it'll -display- your current street and then also the upcoming intersection. I guess the answer is "no" but a cool GPS feature I've come to enjoy is the display showing, "Approaching Aquarius Drive" as I'm going down Bootes Avenue, to use an example.

Danny