Received this reply from HERE regarding the RDX map update. FYI.

 

“Not now, maybe in a couple of months or so.”

Yeah, we said quarterly. Then we said yearly. We are shootin’ for every eighteen months now. We are waiting for them to stop changing roads.

 

Cut them some slack, they just released an update with AA after only a year delay. I owned an Acura 25 years ago and it was great, so I知 sure they値l release a map update any day now. Acura #1, best overall package!

 

Hey, I'm the sarcasm guy. Cut it out!

 

Use Android auto, never need to worry about map update

 

Unless you wander into places that don't have cell phone service. ( Yes, they exist ).

Really, it's more about POI updates than roads. How many times can they move a Subway sandwich shop in one year, anyway?

Although "spaghetti works" interchanges can be an interesting challenge, and even more so if your Nav is giving you bad advice.

 

That's disappointing. The nav system is pretty bad. I expected better from a GPS system in 2019. I wonder sometimes if it was worth springing for the Tech package, or if I should just be using Google Maps instead.

 

Why do any of you care about Navi, I’ve been using CarPlay with waze since I got the car... I dont think I even tried Navi once.

 

You can always download a map in advance and you don't need cell service.

In Google maps
Click on the hamburger (the three lines)
Scroll down to "offline maps"
Click on "select your own map"
Scroll around until the area you want is in the box
Click download

You obviously won't get traffic, but you will get turn-by-turn guidance.

 

This is true, but it requires advance planning...

 

I like having nav in the car for three reasons; peace of mind for when the phone might not be working for whatever reason, freeing up my phone for other purposes (wife/kid), and lower data usage. And I don't think it's unreasonable to expect the nav to work just as well as Google Maps considering how much it cost.

 

Plus, I like having the map right there even if I am not navigating to anyplace where time is important. The in-car map’s graphics are better and don’t require me to hook up my phone.

Plus, I paid for the stuff in the car, andnit should work.

 

I gave up on having the built in navigation to use. Their maps are outdated and give me longer routes, I wish Acura made a model similar to advance model minus the navigation. Apple car play with google maps is better.

 

Kinda sorta. I just download a map for whatever region I'm in (or going to) even if I have no intention of using the offline maps.

 

My first Acura NAVI used CDs and they had very few local roads and only covered a small portion of the country. Still it was nice to look over and see the map as you went along.
(It did have "breadcrumb mode" !!)

I really have no issues with the current 2019 RDX map. Since the update came along that allows zooming, it's actually very nice. The 3D buildings give it a polished look when you're in a city, and I generally don't use the guidance system - but the few times I did it worked fine.

From time to time I use CarPlay and Waze for things like speed traps and such, but it sucks to be listening to tunes and have it blurt out "WATCH OUT! OBJECT IN ROAD AHEAD!". It's a bit jarring.

But really, I don't know why the NAVI gets such bad reviews.

 

1. Roads are out of date. We are looking to downsize, and there is a Toll Brothers development that went up about three years ago and only had a few units left. Road was not on Acura nav, so I used google maps, and the street address was there, even though that unit is not completed.

2. The traffic information is so unreliable as to be useless.

3. You can’t mute and unmute the system, you need to play with the volume controls.

The DVD unit in the car I bought in 2007 also got easily out of date, true, and I had to buy the DVDs for each update. But I knew that going in, they never said free quarterly OTA updates, then said yearly, and now almost a year and a half later, nothing.

Traffic info was consistently better.

Map control was far better. I could zoom in and out from the get-go, and change the scale by voice as well. There was a mute/unmute icon on the screen, and that could be done by voice too.

The car I bought in 2018 did not have as good a nav system as the one I bought in 2007 except for screen resolution.

That is why this nav is disappointing. And it should all be able to be fixed with a software update.

 

Hey MD!

I have yet to run into a road that was not there in my area, but then again, I don't get around much any more!

As for traffic info, well, that's probably a good point but if I really need traffic info I go to Waze.

I guess what I'm expecting from the NAVI is less than what modern folks expect from a NAVI. Me? I'm still thinking of my old 99 TL and its CD based system. I also remember when traffic info first appeared it was a payable option (SIRIUS I think?), so again, I never got to the point where I relied on it because I never paid for it before.

Now that it's free, I don't tend to complain about it. As I said, if it's bad, I go to Waze.

 

I too use Waze, or google maps when I absolutely, positively, have to get there.

But, just today as an example, we are driving down to Stew Leonards, and I am on a major road, the Sprain parkway. All roads are green, then the Sprain goes gray, and stays that way. Lesser roads around are green. I know, I can see, other Acuras, MBs, Audis, and BMWs on the road, yet HERE shows no data. Traffic info comes and goes haphazardly. I can have TI on my road, but not a nearby road, or one on that road but not my equally important one. It takes quite a few minutes for any TI to show up at all.

 

Map data is always a tricky thing. Fixed installs are always dependent on annual map updates. Traffic is only as good as the data it gets from local sources and Waze beats the competition here hands down. Virtually every manufacturer uses HERE for map data, but each company makes their own interface and algorithm for calculating routes.

Here, Acura seems to have taken a few steps backwards. My 2013 TSX (with the latest map update) has routing and map data far closer to Google maps than the routing and maps in the RDX. The last time I test drove the RDX, I mapped a route. I then mapped the same origin and destination on my TSX and Google. The TSX/Google took me very similar and logical ways. The RDX directed me on a very convoluted route.

 

"We are expecting more announcements for Acura map updates to be released in December or January..."
More announcements? Have there ever been any announcements to begin with? Is that what we need....announcements?
Look, I have a 5 year old Garmin I use in my LR because it lacks Nav. I get several updates a year on a device I paid about $160 for, and those updates are free...and seem very updated. I live in Reno where there is a fair bit of growth going on (is anyone left in California?) and new developments are on it.
The RDX is what, about 1.5 years old from its first release? Has there even been one update ever? Of course I think we mostly agree with the superiority of Waze and Google maps, but that doesn't excuse the static state of the built in Nav. I have only used the native Nav a couple times and I have to say, I was surprised how poor it was. The graphics look old and bland, the routing made no sense, the voice command for directions was even weaker than I would have expected.
I guess thankfully it seems the big issues with carplay are resolved, and the AA folks are now going strong so there are good other choices, but like the ESPN football segment "C'mon man"...Acura...HERE....whoever...C'mon man. Garmin kicks your butt...Apple puts out an update about every couple weeks...Do Something! C'mon man! It's a software world now when it comes to new cars. Rant over....