I have had my 05 TL for 5 weeks. Overall, I am impressed with the car and have had no problems.

I live in Philly and last week had to drive to Newark Airport to travel for business. I decided to save my company some money and picked a parking lot a couple of miles from the airport.

The navi directions of course had me going on the PA tpk to the NJ tpk. However, when the NJ tpk splits into two sets of three lanes each, the navi wanted me to go into the lanes for cars, trucks, and buses. I stayed in the cars only lanes and the navi indicator showed I was in the other lanes.

After I got off the tpk, the directions had me going in circles and kept recalculating until I finally reached my destination. I must have gone five miles out of my way. The directions provided by the parking lot were not the same as the navi. Needless to say, I was not very impressed.

Also, the navi displays the incorrect address when I am parked in my driveway or garage. Is there any way to calibrate it?

Thanks!

 

I think that with the quad-carriageway portion of the New Jersey Turnpike the two carriageways in each direction are probably so close together that it can't determine to a certainty which you're in and it just makes an assumption. The same thing happens on I-395 here in Virginia--if I drive in the barrier-separated HOV roadway, it assumes I'm in the regular local lanes except where there is a greater distance between them around the Pentagon. Oddly, it will NEVER route me down the HOV lanes when I go somewhere, and if I drive in there when it wants me to take I-95 to the south, it becomes confused at one point where there is a wider median--it decides that I've strayed from the plotted route and that there is no alternate route. I'm not sure what the problem there is. I suspect that the reason it refuses to route me on the HOV lanes is that on I-95/395 the HOV is a reversible roadway, so maybe the Navi is not able to know which way the road will be going at any given time.

I-270 in Maryland is similar, with an "express/local" arrangement like the Garden State Parkway or I-95 near the GW Bridge, or the 401 in Toronto. For some reason the Navi initially has you go into the express lanes, but then it wants you to switch to the local lanes even if you aren't exiting until long after the "express/local" arrangement ends. I just ignore it and use the express lanes, and I assume that it has something to do with the minimal median between the two sets of lanes.

This is where the disclaimer on the "nag screen" factors in--the Navi is an AID to finding your way, not a foolproof guide.

 

I think mine has been more than 95% accurate. Just about every time it gets me at least very close to where I'm going. Everybody whines about the nag screen but it does remind us that the system is not perfect.

I'd still pay for it again in a NY minute, well worth it IMHO.

 

There is a way to calibrate the unit slightly in your owners manual. Glad that you are generally impressed.

 

so far for me it is running about 75% accurate. Two days after I got the car it lead me into a dead-end street with the destination about 300 yards away, but impossible to drive to as there was no road connecting the street I was on with the destination. Then at my house, it says the desitination is on the right when my house is on the left. I can hardly wait to see the look on my relative's face when my nav directs them to my neibhors house!!

Just yesturday it sent me on a road about 1/2 mile away from my final desitination and said I was at the desitination. Luckily I was able to keep driving around and eventually found the place I was looking for.

Honestly, I was expecting a little more given how everyone raves about nav, and also Honda navs are considered among the best. If this is the best nav on the market I would sure hate to see the worst.

I am trying to hold out judgement but right now I would say I am a little dissapointed.

 

Last night I got totally lost with our navigation system.
It took the address for the work party we were going to attend but was in the next town over. I tried once more to re-enter the address but it was then trying to send me to a BAD part of town.
Once we finally arrived at the party (after calling for directions) I saw the development was 'not on a digitized road'. The development is 2 years old. So I ordered the updated Navi disk (have 04 TL) this morning.

Everyone had fun teasing me at the party that my fancy navigation system couldn't find the party. Oh well.

It did find me a quick way home, once I made it to the digitized road.

Lesson learned on relying too much for the Navi.

 

I have not been impressed with the navi so far either. Does well in town, but too may unverified roads in outlying areas. Sometimes when the navi won't find the road I'm looking for, I can zoom into the area and find the road. I can then select a location on the road and it will then give me the route to it.

I also use Microsoft MapPoint on a PC and it gives directions to places the Acura Navi can't find.

I guess I will wait for a newer version. I'm on 3.40a now.

 

Aside from the issues I noted above about triple- or quad-carriageways, I've had just about no problems with mine. I wonder if it is a function of where we all live--for example, PaulKCK lives in Kansas while I live near Washington DC, so I can't help but wonder if the DC area is more comprehensively mapped in the Navi than parts of Kansas and if that makes a difference. Not intended as a slam on Kansas, just a general observation that we have just about NO "non-verified roads" in the immediate DC area.

 

Navigation is Horrible in DC! I was lost for over 1hr in DC because of Navigation telling me to take turns that were not necessary. Other than DC it has worked pretty flawlessly for me.

 

Funny, I've never had a problem around here, although I have used it IN the District of Columbia only once or twice.

 

It doesn't seem to know how to direct you through traffic circles and DC is full of them. I hated being lost especially with Navigation. I have used it more than 30 times since I have owned it and it has worked perfect. The one time I use it for the City and it gets me lost.

 

I only wish they had a hard drive instead of a dvd that could link in and get updates that way you would never be out dated and you could manually add in roads and routes.

 

Funny, mine worked fine through Sheridan Circle last week--it said "Take the second exit from the traffic circle," which was correct for where I was going (34th & Reservoir). I've gone through a couple of roundabouts elsewhere and it was OK. I have not attempted to use the Navi in Washington Circle, though, because I avoid it whenever possible. I like roundabouts, but Washington Circle is too dangerous because it's designed incorrectly.

What did yours do when you encountered the circle?

 

It would say approaching Traffic circle take such-n-such turn. I would take it and it would tell me recalculating or even tell me to turn where there are obviously no roads to turn down. It would also tell me to turn down 1 way (wrong way) streets. I was so frustrated with it by that point I just kept driving ignoring it and found my way into georgetown somehow. Once I was there i was at ease. I hate the City as it is. That's why I try to avoid it at all costs.