TL_Penguin

I just picked up my TL last week (Abyss Blue, 5AT w/Navi). My wife drives a Lexus Rx 330 with Navi that we’ve had for about a year now. A few people at work asked me which system I prefer, so I started a list of pros and cons of each system. I figured you all might get some type of benefit, so here is my summary of the differences between the Acura navi and the Lexus navi:

Points of Interest: The Lexus system only has about 2 million POIs v the 7 million in the Acura. I heard the newer Lexus DVD (the one that came out last fall which I don’t have) has about 5 million. Advantage: Acura

Screen Size: Acura 8”, Lexus 7.5”. Advantage: Acura

Screen Resolution: The resolution on the Acura is terrible when compared to the Lexus. The screen on the Acura looks almost “blurry” after driving the Lexus. When the scale is set to 1/8 mile, I’m able to see the names of more streets in the Lexus and the icons look much clearer, even though the screen is smaller. Advantage: Lexus

Distance to Next Turn: Both systems will announce the distance to the next turn, but the Lexus screen displays an arrow along with the distance to your next turn in the upper right corner of the screen. If the next turn is 10 miles away (driving on the Interstate), I have to change screens in the Acura to find this out. If I switch to the split screen, then I can see the next three turns, but I lose half of the screen. I much prefer the little arrow in the corner. Advantage: Lexus

Voice Control: Acura has it, my Lexus doesn’t. I don’t use it very often when entering a destination, except for “go home”. Small advantage: Acura.

Input while moving: It is very annoying to have to come to a complete stop so my wife can enter the next destination, or have to sit in the car for a couple of minutes before starting on our way, while one of us enters our destination into the system. Big advantage: Acura

Auto Daylight Saving Time: Once you indicate “yes” to the Daylight Savings Time question, (according to the manual) the clock will automatically change in the Acura. In the Lexus, I have to manually turn it off in October and manually turn it back on in April. Advantage: Acura.

System Boot up: Once I turn on the car, the “O.K.” button comes on the screen within 2 seconds in the Lexus, while I must wait approximately 20 seconds in the Acura: Advantage: Lexus

Time it takes to calculate a route: I haven’t actually timed either one with a stop watch, but the Lexus system is much faster than the Acura. It’s not even close and very noticeable. With the Acura, it’s like going back to a 56k modem after having broadband for a year. Big advantage: Lexus.

Number of routes to destination: The Acura will calculate 5 while the Lexus does 3. Most of the time, I noticed that more than one of the routes are the same, so I don’t really get five different choices. Small advantage: Acura

Current Location: The Acura has the ability to display your altitude, the Lexus doesn’t. Here in Colorado with mountains, we can be over 14,000. It’s a cool feature. I probably would use it much if I lived in Kansas. Advantage: Acura

One Touch Destination: The Lexus has the ability to store five “one touch” locations, in addition to “home.” I can use the voice command to say “go home”, but I cannot use it to say “go to work” or “go to John’s house.” Advantage: Lexus

Change screen colors: The Lexus system allows you to change the screen colors, the Acura system only allows you to change the color of the “boxes.” Advantage: Lexus

Choice of voice: The Acura system gives you a choice of a male or female voice. You are stuck with the female voice in the Lexus. Advantage: Acura

Joystick: With the Acura system, you can use the joystick as well as touch the screen to input commands. The Lexus system does not have the joystick. This gives you the option of not touching the screen as often, so it won’t get dirty as quickly. Advantage: Acura

Keyboard: The Acura system gives you a choice of the QWERTY keyboard (like a typewriter) or the ABCDEF keyboard. I much prefer the QWERTY keyboard as I can find the letters quicker. The Lexus only has the ABCDEF keyboard. Advantage: Acura

Day/Night Screen: The Lexus system is connected to a light sensor, so if I’m driving with my headlights on (Fog conditions), the screen will still be in the Day mode. The Acura system is connected to the headlight switch. When the lights are on, the screen is in the night mode. I know you can simply press the “max” button, but the point is I don’t have to press any buttons in the Lexus. Advantage: Lexus.

Scale: The Lexus allows you to choose from the following choices less than one mile: ½, ¼, 1/8, 1/16, and 1/32. The Acura only allows ½, 1/8, 1/20. Advantage: Lexus

Accuracy of current position: In the past week since I’ve had the Acura, the navi has placed me on the wrong road 5 times. Usually on an adjacent road parallel to the one I’m currently on. At one point, the navi was off by approximately 4 miles and had me on the wrong Interstate heading NE instead of E. It took between 5 and 10 minutes before it eventually corrected itself. I have never experienced that with the Lexus. I don’t know if this is a fluke or not. Advantage (potentially Big Advantage): Lexus.

As you can see, there are many differences between the two systems, some big, some small. I’m sure there are many other differences, but this is a list I came up with quickly. The biggest advantage of the Lexus is its speed, while the biggest advantage of the Acura is its ability to enter changes while driving. Again, I’ve only had the Acura for less than a week, so I’m not as familiar with every possible feature.

GaleForce

My navi is pretty fast. It stops at 25% maybe for a few seconds, and then jumps to 100%. Certainally not 20 seconds. Other than that, good write up!

Aquineas

Hmm.. the TL does this too, but it only does this within one mile. Also, at anytime you can hit the "voice" button and it will tell you how far until your next turn (albeit verbally).

This works, but it's not quite perfect. It will change the time based on your position, but in my experience it's about 100 miles off..

OMG this is sooo annoying.

I suspect that Alpine used a slower CPU than whatever the Lexus uses. This would explain the boot-up difference, too.

Wow, I didn't know it did this.. Where is this? I was also wondering how to get the exact Long and Lat like i can in my wife's Accord.

Dutchml

One day out of the blue my nav had me running across roads and lakes and through uncharted tundra. Don't know why it happened, but had to go into screen #4 and "adjust vehicle position".

rets

TL Penguin, this comparison is quite interesting and detailed. Thanks...

mastertl

Could the wrong position be due to the bad calibration in your TL? My TL works just fine, but i wouldnt know why its not diplaying the right routes

neuronbob

TL Penguin, thanks for this VERY detailed comparo. I haven't studied other navi systems well and don't know how Acura's stacks up to others. After owning the car for nine months, I'm used to the system's quirks.

The disclaimer screen is the Devil. I HATE it. I hope a future rev of the navi system shortens the time before it appears, or does away with it altogether.

TL_Penguin

If you touch your current location or say "display current location," the Acura system will display both the Lat, Log, and your altitude. Pretty cool feature.

fuque

As the former owner of a 2002 IS-300 SportCross, let me comment on some of your comments:

IMHO, this is the single biggest advantage of the Acura system. Last fall, while waiting for a suitable TL to arrive at a local dealership, we checked out the IS-300. When we found out the nav still has this asinine "feature," we immediately removed the IS from further consideration. It's such a blatant CYA move on Toyota's part it's disgusting; I'm glad Honda isn't as big of a corporate pussy as Toyota is!

Except the Acura's system is dumb - it doesn't know that AZ does not observe daylight savings time, so whenever I drive between CA and AZ during DST my clock is wrong.

Except the IS, which ONLY has a joystick control (no touch screen, presumably because it's too far away for the driver to reach).

The Lexus system has done this to me, as well. It also screwed me royally once on a summer road trip because a) it has "avoid toll roads" enabled by default, which I didn't notice, b) so it routed me through some cockamamie backroads in Kansas in order to avoid the toll portions of I-44 in Oklahoma, and c) the map database was out of date, so the roads it routed me on didn't exist. Couple that with a position error, and we wound up so lost we had to stop at a convenience store and buy a paper road map. That's pretty goddamn embarrassing.

alvon

The Acura Navi actually has finer scale than what you have listed. Press and hold the zoom button, it will zoon (in and out) with a much finer scale.

TL_Penguin

Thanks for pointing that out. I'm still learning.

One other difference between the two systems: When the system is "speaking" its directions, the Acura system will reduce the volume of the radio, while the Lexus system speaks "over" the radio at a preset volume. If I have the volume turned up or have the windows open, then I cannot here the voice command very well. If the volume is turned down (say I just finished a phone conversation), then the lady's voice is too loud. Advantage: Acura

aGenKa

so would you guys say the navi is worth getting? seems like people are having a lot of problems with it like lagging, inaccuarcy, long boot up time. i was set to get the navi before i read all the comments

Rocketsfan

You can use the voice recognition feature and say "Display Current Location" and it will show you the info. I believe that is the command...

aGenKa

and does tinting your windows have any effect on the navi?

mastertl

there was a thread back a while that mentioned the material you use on your windows will affect your reception of navigation and XM. i'll try to dig it up, but you can make a search and im sure it will come up

Furio

I just say "Display Current Location" with voice recognition and the system should display address (if applicable), lattitude & longitude, and altitude.

JPSMAN

The navigation system is certainly worth getting if you think you will need/enjoy the option. Expensive? Yes, but it can quickly pay for itself when you are in a unknown metro area and are trying to make sense of the local roads. Plus, it is a fun toy to play with.

In regards to comparison to others. I find the 04 Acura Nav system to be far superior to the 02 BMW system that I am also familiar with. I know there are 2 years of improved technology there, but the Acura system was a huge improvement from what I was familiar with. I haven't used a 04 BMW system but would be interested to see how they are doing.

Shoofin

Nice comparo, TL_Penguin. The thing I like about the TL's Navi is the fact that you can enter the information while driving. There are a few cars that enable you to enter the information while moving, I forgot which other cars do it. The one thing I don't like is the clarity of the display. The old TL's display was dull and blurry, by them increasing the screen size to 8", it only enhanced the blurriness of the screen. I was very impressed with the Lexus Navi and still think it's better than most other's out there. BTW, take a look at the Navi in the Lincoln Navigator, it looks very identical to the Lexus nav. I think they might be the same...In addition, I rank the Infiniti Navi units a close second to the Lexus. Only gripes in my FX is the fact that there is no touch screen, and your "accuracy" issue..on ocassion the arrow on the navi would look like I would be going off a road (and you think you are on that road) when you really shouldn't, and you realize this after you think you should be getting off and tyhe system ends up recaulculating to get you back on track...

Ken7

I found the Nav system in my Maxima (which I traded for my TL) to be the worst of the three I've used, Lexus ES300, 04TL and 04 Maxima. There were a couple of times the Maixma actually left me in the middle of nowhere! I found the recalculation of the Maxima system to be the slowest by FAR! It was so slow that if you weren't going very slowly, the system was forced to recalculate again since you already went past the first turn of the new set of directions by the time it was finished recalculating. The speed of the Lexus is probably still better than the TL, but the large screen, abilitly to program while moving and the bigger database gives the edge to the Acura.

leeherman

I used my navigation system to get to a small town in upstate NY.

I read the directions to compare them to ones supplied by the friend I was visiting. The system's directions didn't seem correct once it took me off Route 17, but I decided to follow them anyway. I ended up at the center of the town I was visiting (Livingston Manor), and drove back to Route 17 and followed my friends directions.

The roads in the area are "unverified", and even Mapquest won't get me to my destination.

Overall I'm pleased with the system, but there's no guarantee that it'll work in smaller towns. I'm betting that the accuracy will be much better in major metropolitan areas like NYC and Long Island.

smoore

[QUOTE=TL_Penguin]One Touch Destination: The Lexus has the ability to store five “one touch” locations, in addition to “home.” I can use the voice command to say “go home”, but I cannot use it to say “go to work” or “go to John’s house.” Advantage: Lexus
The following comment is based on memory as my TL is in the bodyshop for 2 weeks for repairs after an accident.

There is an ability to store personal addresses in the TL for each of two users. These can easily be recalled using voice command. When this feature is taken into account, then I think the advantage may go to the TL on this point.

smoore

[QUOTE=TL_Penguin]One Touch Destination: The Lexus has the ability to store five “one touch” locations, in addition to “home.” I can use the voice command to say “go home”, but I cannot use it to say “go to work” or “go to John’s house.” Advantage: Lexus /QUOTE]
There is an ability to store personal addresses in the TL for each of two users. These can easily be recalled using voice command. When this feature is taken into account, then I think the advantage may go to the TL on this point.

smoore

There is an ability to store personal addresses in the TL for each of two users. These can easily be recalled using voice command. When this feature is taken into account, then I think the advantage may go to the TL on this point.