Was wondering how useful is navigation in Canada since there's no XM coverage here (for realtime traffic, etc.)

Anyone care to comment?

 

No problem for me in Toronto area. I have not got lost since. As far as I know the XM traffic NAV thing only available on 05 US model. But I could be wrong.

 

I find it very useful, especially for alternate routes etc. But the best feature is the voice controlled everything.

The navi hasn't been wrong for an entire year and its greast when I go to the States as everything is mapped.

 

My wife is in real estate in Toronto and she loves Navi. She hasn't ever had a problem finding an open house.

The best story I have about the Navi involves my wife. She was going to an open house and the Navi suggested a route that made no sense to her but she followed it anyway. When she came home and we looked at a map and determined that if she had taken, what she thought was the more direct route, she would would have gotten hung up on a one way street that wasn't going in the direction she wanted. So even if you know where something is, often the Navi will get you there more readily than you might on your own.

I have found some missing accesses to the Gardiner and reported them to Alpine. Hopefully, they will be included in the next update.

I agree that the voice directions. I use Navi even if I have a rought idea of where I am going. With Navi I don't have to look for street signs to ensure I turn at the correct street. I think this allows me to concentrate more on my driving which should make my driving safer.

The address mapping outside of major areas is incomplete (like the Muskokas) but it is great through most of the golden horseshoe.

 

Two different issues: XM realtime traffic and Nav in CA.

XM realtime traffic appears to be a feature on 05 RLs and perhaps 05 TLs. Not available yet for other stuff. BTW, XM radio appears to work in CA (I got reception all the way to La Verendrye (sp?)). But the traffic will probably only be where they have some system for monitoring it.

Nav works great in CA. I've been to Montreal and Quebec City and it found all kinds of restaurants, hotels, etc and steered me around naughty one way streets and the like. It's way cool and the database appears pretty well populated. It still has a bug or two, but it's so damn awesome (and when you really stop to think about it, absolutely incredible!) who could really complain.

So, realtime traffic isn't what makes Nav, what makes it worthwhile is how good it is at finding all kinds of things. Also, I use it for telemetry. i.e. Even though I know how to get home (or to lots of familiar places), I'll use the nav in order to get a constant "miles to go" indicator. Since I know my speed I can generally do a better ETA estimate than the nav system (let's just say that my interpretation of traffic law is more liberal than the nav system's).

Quick rule of thumb: at 75 MPH, 15 miles = 12 minutes (not that I'd ever go that fast...).

Good luck with your decision.

 

My understanding is that the Canadian version of the TL doesn't come with XM at all.
Which means I can't even subscribe even if I have a US address to bill to.
Is that correct?

 

You would have to buy an outboard unit like the SkyFi or Roady. XM is not normally available to Canadians, which is why it's not included on the Canadian version of the car. You might want to check out the XM Fan Forum and run a search--the issue has been discussed there fairly often.

http://www.xmfan.com

 

Hmm, not quite to do with Navi but Bluetooth? Is Rogers and Bell the only options? I haven't seen Telus Blue tooth phones. If I switch from Telus to Bell, do I need to change ph#?

 

The last time I checked Bell had no bluetooth phones and no plans to get them. I don't know about Telus but Rogers and Fido have bluetooth phones.

As far as I know you cannot keep a phone number if change service providers. You have this right in the U.S. but not in Canada.