mik3vl

so i bought my 2010 orange 3.9 disc right after i read dmz's review of it. it arrived today via free 2 day fedex from navteq. I was disappointed in their packaging as it looked like a free aol disc was being sent to me instead something more what you would get from buying a movie dvd, not a big concern but it did look tacky for a $185 disc.

i immediately put it into my car as soon as i got it to test it out but so far, i have not had the same wow factor with nav update as dmz did.

I did not notice any new buttons show up in the menu options and any other major change. if there was to be a major change, i would assume navteq would let everybody know. and if there is really something new that makes using your TL's nav that much better, they their advertising department needs to kick it up a notch.

so for my first test, i tried looking for a nearby "mcdonald" as a test since i know most of the nearby mcdonald locations, but it still gave me a slew of random places a couple hundred miles away instead of the ones close to my house just like the old navi dvd did (it also gave me other random listings that did not even resemble the word mcdonald except for the first m letter).

for my text test, i tried looking for a restaurant that opened early 2009 and it did not show up either so the map is not that updated for 2010 in my opinion. i checked the system info on the nav display and it says it's only updated till 05/2009 so everything after that or even a little before that date probably didn't make it into the navi update (roads, restaurants, shopping, etc) so this is more like a early 2009 update if anything than a 2010 update. this makes sense since it's being released now, but still a little disappointing.

so in conclusion for the system/road updates, I still had to be very accurate with what i wanted in order for the nav to give me a list of what i really wanted. so i don't know if it's a major improvement in that area. it would be nice if it was more user friendly in terms of giving you better relevant results rather than other possible results that are 1000 miles away. they should have included an option to limit the search radius to like 100 miles.

searching speeds and calculating seemed similar to me, but i have never really had to wait for a route re-calculation when i have went off course. so it has always been fairly speedy to me. and the system still lagged in certain areas like it used to.

i seem to have had a really different experience than dmz, maybe my older nav disc was newer? (3.5 orange) or the navi in my area works differently than dmz's area

I personally think that this is a fairly general update, there were definitely a more noticeable amount of POI's that showed up as well as some other various icons (meaning that newer nearby locations are updated as they should be for an update), but nothing major that i have found more useful than my older nav disc.

but, i didn't try it out for that long so i'll update in a couple more days if i notice anything different.

on a side note, it may be on the pricey side for an update, but i figure it is a car, and cars are probably worth that much money for updated places, and who knows, it might help you out sometime. at least having an updated restaurant list enables you to see more places in your neighborhood, sometimes i will just point to a group of restaurant icons when i am driving my TL and look around there for something new, i've had good experiences with that since i get to try something new in the area.

so should you buy it? if you want updated maps, POIs, and maybe a slightly updated system, then definitely! $185 for your car? why not! if you really don't use it besides as an address reference point (like if you have a data plan on your cell), then this would more likely be a slight convenience type of upgrade and i'd suggest you use that $185 and get another upgrade for your TL.

------

now...if anyone can give me a answer to whether or not 04-06 TL's can speak street names. i would assume no since i've looked all over the menu for that option and I also have the latest nav update, but at least one other person with an '05 says their navi can, so i'm hopeful. it would just be nice to know if that's a possibility and be able to compare it to a non-street speaking acura navi.

princelybug

iTrader: (16)

Thanks for the review.

mik3vl

my opinion of this new update is still the same. seems like a regular update rather than something new (which is should be given it costs as much an a new copy of a microsoft 7 os)

one thing that i have noticed but not yet verified with the old nav disc is that i cannot touch the screen to look around on the map, instead i have to use the small silver knob. i am for certain that i was able to navigate on the map screen using just the touch screen, i'm not sure if this feature is now disables, if it's an option, or what. anyone have a clue?

iboon04

iTrader: (5)

^ i dont think you can do that

DMZ

mik3vl,

I never said this new disk was like getting ultimate below job. Is it absolutley perfect perfect, of course not. But as a side by side comparison to the original 3.3F disk it replaced, I find it a 100% improvement overall.

When I do a search for "McDonald's", not "mcdonald" a list pops up with the closest first, followed by the 2nd closest, then the 3rd, etc. and so far it seems to be extremely accurate, as one has to be when entering a business name you're searching for.

The '04/5/6 Nav system only appears to speak street names that are numbered
(ie "Turn Right Onto Ninty-Five North").
.
.