Isn't it about time for a serious Navigation upgrade in the TLs? Having recently purchased a top of line Garmin unit for the wifes BMW. I was amazed at what's missing in my Acura unit. To start 3D is wonderful and much easier to follow. A built in traffic unit shows major highway stoppages. Her unit has blue tooth handsfree but that's not an issue with Acura. Also a nice favorites permanent storage folder is nice. Choice of icons - updating via Garmin web site with software provided. And the show stopper - POI's can be loaded via a computer connection, provided by various sites that support free POI's to the Garmin. Like locations for ALL - Starbucks - Costco's, Wal-Marts, SAMS, Panera, Etc Etc. Now the capper - Proximty alerts to announce when you come within 400 feet of your POI's. Damn that' is neato!! Never miss a damn Starbucks again!! LOL

Sound off folks we're running with outdated techology - Acura needs to catch up!

Miffed in Connecticut . . .!!

 

Talk about an upgrade?

Just take 1 look at ALL THE OTHER 2006 Acura Navi systems on the TSX, MDX, and RL.

 

try using bmws, mercedes and gmc and then come back and tell me what you think about our nav system. Thx

 

Well that's NOT the answer guys! Navigation technology has moved forward. Automotive units are sucking wind no matter the Marque. Sure Acura perhaps is better than Merc, Bimmers, etc. So what? Acura's units are still behind the curve. Get us a firmware upgrades, decent software upgrade, ability to interact with the unit via bluetooth or wireless for upgrades, POI's etc. No, the problem is Navi is an afterthought for the automobile manufactors. A bauble to dangle to enhance the sale. There needs to be more emphasis on service after the sale. I'm NOT going to purchase a new car every two years just because they have some incremental improvements. It's a 3D world and we're still traveling in 2D. Keep the process moving forward. . .

 

Can you provide the link to provide the feedback regarding the Acura Navi's?

 

Here's the page with the FAQ for the NAVI and scroll down regarding sending feedback. There's also a Customer Service Number: https://iweb.alpine-usa.com/Acuradvd...iorder.php#a39

 

Dont forget Toyota/Lexus, ever try to program in a destination while driving?? Or even alter it.

 

they all have tradeoffs. I like mine in the MB because it doesn't have the navi nag which just torques me about the Acura. I've got iDrive and there are parts of it I really like. It doesn't have POI and some of that Acura richness but you don't have to wait for the navi nag and the controller is safer to use than the TL touch screen or joystick.

Lexus takes the cake for the most obnoxious navi nag and you can't change while driving. Give me a break.

 

I only found the feedback for an error you find with a POI or mapping which I have used in the past to report an error.

I do not see where you can provide feedback regarding the features of the Navi.

The Alpine site has:

 

which garmin unit did you get?

 

These FAQ's are only the most fundamental kind of questions for newbies to navigation who haven't a clue as to what they are dealing with. Hence , the FAQ for beginners. Nope Alpine does not *allow* any I mean any interaction with their system. It's locked - peroid. But then they did not provide Acura owners with access, saving the removable DVD disk in the trunk. Whereby industrius hackers have been able to <gulp> change the nag screen and/or insert their personalized start up screen! Then fall all over themselves announcing how to "hack" the system. Gee fellow - nice work! But hey, I still can't find the latest Starbucks in my State or during my travels. It's NOT user friendly for other than point A to point B. They give us NO way to upgrade our system save purchasing an upgraded DVD which has a few changes to the mapping system for like almost $200.00. If you like getting ripped off. Why not allow intermediate downloads or new disk for incremental updates then be required to purchase a major upgrade to the system for $180 bucks. THAT would make sense! But we are a captured market! They're banking on most Acura owners not being serious Navi users and or tech savvy enough to bitch at them and demand more richness and capability in the system. Wake up and smell the coffee even if you can't find it . . . (teehee)

 

After much research I settled on the Garmin 530c (top of 'C' series lineup.) The egriegious problem with most of these units is a weak screen in direct sunlight (mounted on dash or windshield) and glare or reflection. The new 530 has solved that problem with a matte screen (not unlike the Acrua Navi) and much brighter output. It works great in sunlight very readable. Also changes to night screen at dusk. The traffic reporting feature is good in certain markets where they offer the service - and you have a choice of 'Clear Channel' or 'XM' traffic reporting systems. 'Clear Channel' works best for me because the have a greater Hartford, CT traffic reporting signal. I have a three months free usuage until then I can decide if it's worth 60 bucks for 15 more months. Their web sight lists all the markets they cover. The built in blue tooth hands free to pari with an eligible blue tooth cell phone is very good but sound is weaker than I'd like. Fortunetly my wifes BMW has a AUX plug so we can run out the sound to her 10 speaker stereo system. WOW big voices. PS this Garmin has an audio out plug so it's a no brainer connection. It also has a newer 'ball and socket' mounting system which is much better than the prievious mount . Easer to dismount and tuck away into it's neopreme case that is included. It is pricey at a street price of around $799. But frankly worth every penny if you are serous about using Navigation and the reason I'm so dissappointed in my current Acura Navi.

 

Ya know... everyone can keep wishing and wishing that an inexpensive Navi upgrade will come along, but it's never ever gonna happen. It just isn't. Get used to it. Car companies don't do that sort of thing. It gains them nothing to do so. You will get a new data disk each year (if you buy one) and that's it. End of story.

Hackers MAY find a way to perform REAL hacks that add features, but I'm not holding my breath.

Bottom line is that the TL navi is pretty good in terms of usability compared to other cars. It's far from perfect, but it's not bad. Enjoy what you have and quit worrying about changing it.

 

Yeah, it takes literally 10 min to input a destination. You have to answer 2 million question before it starts!

 

Amen!!!

 

 

Granted.......

But what irks me is that they put a more advanced Navi system on EVERY OTHER MODEL in the same year's lineup.

AND .....

If you look at the similar NAV system in the '04/5 Accord, you'll see a more advanced trip computer with much more detailed trip info PLUS an instantaneous MPG indicator. We TL buyers pay $$$$ more, and therefore have every right to expect the same or better features, NOT LESS.

 

With all that's being said, I'm still peeved on how difficult it can be to locate the simple stuff like "Post Office" and the dang thing points you 5 miles away when you know you're only 1 mile away from one.

Danny

 

The NAVI on the Accord and TSX is pretty good but there are a few more features that would make it better. IT would be great if you could BT beam contact info from your treo/PPC phone so that you wouldn't have to enter contact info. Both PALM and PPC can beam contact info to eachother so it wouldn't have to be specific to either OS.

The Accord and TSX navi let you go to an address by speaking the street address - it needs a little tweaking but this is a huge step in the right direction. Hopefully by 2008 they will have that part smoothe as glass.

 

My

I would believe that Honda understands that the Acura line is their luxury line and should have all the advancements. However, first they are a car manufacturer - not a navigation unit manufacturer. Meaning, as a car manufacturer/business they have 5, 6, 7 year plans for their cars. Therefore, when the 3rd Gen TL came out in '04 they had the top of the line Automotive Navi at that time. Technology changes at the drop of a hat. So in year 3 of the TL, sure, Navi systems have advanced. But it is not in Honda's best interest as a company to completely change their Navi systems year after year in every car. So you have the situation you have now, where the Navi's in the Accords/TSX's are "more advanced". But as quoted above, they still need a little tweaking. Imagine the uproar of having such an advanced Navi in a TL that still had soo many bugs.

My guess, next major redesign of the TL - which fits Acura business model - will include the top of the line Navi at the time it is released with many of the current advancements included and most of the tweaks and bugs fixed.

As a number of people have said - upgrading the current firmware for people who have '04-'06 TL's is a pipedream. To a car manufacturer it would basically be a recall. I wouldn't imagine car companies take to kindly to recalls.

Again, just my 2-cents. If you want the most advanced Navi built into your TL, wait until the redesign. Then in two weeks it will be outdated too.....

 

If you wish, provide Acura your feedback by the following:

http://www.acura.com/help/help_feed_index.asp

Choose "Your Acura Vehicle" and click Continue button.

Choose "Suggestion"

Provide your Navi suggestion in "Please describe your issue and indicate how Acura may provide assistance".

 

I could be wrong but this seems much more targeted at feedback about their web page, and will probably go to the web development team. I don't think it is aimed at their vehicles. I think it would ask less about your OS and more about what vehicle you have - e.g. 2004 Acura TL, auto transmission etc. Don't get me wrong - I really really think Acura/Honda would do well to put a survey on their web site but this looks like it is going to the kid who updates their web site.

 

Unfortunetly, I think you are correct. It's about the automobile not the accessories or the Radio or the Navigation unit. You buy it and that's what you got. Soooo you want the latest navigation built in - wait for the new model year. At least Acura is out in front of the competition (foreign) with their technology - however, US built cars are starting to offer some of these high tech pieces of equipment at not such premium prices. That what was once the provience of expensive foreign cars is now showing up on some Detroit iron. God forbide, I would *ever* purchase a Ford over a BMW or Acura or Mercedes. But who knows how we'll be swayed in the future. Meanwhile, if Acura incorporates some of the current Navi Technology into that big screen unit it will be truly sweet!!

 

It IS ridiculous that they don't offer firmware upgrades. I'd pay for that!

And - the darned Nav can't figure out where our home is. We are in an urban setting. Actually, we've had the car for about a month now and 85% of the time, it chooses a very poor route that borders on flat out wrong.

 

They do offer firmware updates - it is about $150 for a new disk which has the new firmware.

Did you buy it used by any chance? The previous owner may have mucked about with the settings. Your GPS may need tweaking - if you go to the advanced setup screen you can recalibrate the location sensors.

As for finding the best route - you need to tell the GPS unit your preference - toll roads, major highways, turns, etc.

 

the portable units from Garmen, TomTom, and Magellon are much more user friendly, more current and up to date than what is in the TL, if I had it to do again, I am not sure if I would purchase the Nav in the car.

 

boe-d - We just bought the car brand new a few weeks ago. It doesn't recognize our street. Not a biggie as we know where we live, but it is a bit irritating as I approach the house while it yells at me to do a u-turn.

Wish there was a quick way to shut the voice off! That's what irritates me the most about this system. One shouldn't have to pull over to go thru setup menus to shut the voice off.

 

That is a good idea - I'd send your idea about the voice off to alpine. Perhaps they have that feature in the newer model (I have the 2001 model which doesn't have a way)

Your saying you street is not in the index? Is it a new street? There is an option for verified and unverified roads if that helps.

 

I understand that allot of people are not completely satisfied with a factory Nav unit. But I am sorry, I don't want some GPS unit hanging in the center of my windshield with a minute screen that is hard to see!! And if it gets big enough to see, then you get pulled over by the cops for having a TV in the dash!! ( No joke, this has happened to a customer of mine) As bad as you may feel the factory nav is, it still has allot of benefits. Having a 8" monitor in the dash of the car is great. Its large enough to see if need be, it is a touch screen as well. Every try to use a nav unit without touch screen? Not to mention, with the Dom unit, you can have video for your passenger, and still use the navi. The software is out of date, but that’s due to Alpine, they have always been behind, they are based in Japan, what makes you think they are going to update US software that often.

The one that really gets me is the person complaining about Starbucks!!! How do you expect any software company to keep up with that, the damn places pop up overnight and are on every street corner in some cities, so why the hell do you need a navi to get to it!!!! The factory navi unit is great, if you don't like it then don't get one in your next car of sell your current car and buy another. Not to mention, its not just the developer of the Navi you should be mad at, you should get mad at the company that digitizes the area where you live. They are the ones the navi company buys the maps from. If your area is not digitized well, then contact them to update the area.

The problem is not the Unit, its the mapping software. The US is growing faster then mapping company's can keep up. Even with satellites, they still have a hard time get all the roads, they may take a picture of an area from a year ago, well within that year they added a new subdivision, it wont be in the picture, so why would they add it to the map!!

So please stop complaining about the navi, as every navi, including TomTom, Magellan etc, all have there flaws. So quite complaining, as its getting old.

 

WOW - I fail to understand why some people don't want new features in the next models. I didn't know the Amish browsed this site - do you believe zippers were an unnecessary invention?

I think there are some reasonable hopes for improvements in the NAVI - the voice off is a good one in my opinion - helpful for when I'm on the phone. I would love to beam contact info to my unit - reduce input time. Better voice command options would be great so you aren't fiddling with the unit while you are driving. Not sure why anyone wouldn't want those things. As for if they are possible, look at the navi's in the japanese cars - light years ahead of the navis in our cars although they require more DVDs to operate - consider the size of japan - compared to the us - ours requires one dvd - theirs up to NINE. Part of that is as the previous poster mentioned - the level of detail offered by the mapping companies but also part of that is due to a more sophisticated unit using one DVD just for features, firmware etc.

 

amish??

Which TL are you reffering to? I have an 05 and I can turn the voice completely off pretty easily, without having to pull over, it can be done via voice or touch screen. I do agree with you through that the Navi voice can get very annoying especially when im listening to the radio. Also if you miss a turn the system will say "Make a U-turn if possible" every 5 seconds. I started saying out loud "STFU is possible" to avoid losing my mind.

Other than that though I think the Acura's Navi system is the best I have seen in a car. The big screen and touch screen capabilities, and voice control were a big plus for me, over the Infiniti G35's system. Even the RL doesn't have touch screen capability, and I have no idea why.

There are some minor quirks with the POI's and some roads are in unverified areas, but I think the system does a pretty good job in guiding you through the unverified areas.

Another thing I like about Navi is that you can input your own destinations in the system and bring them up quickly without having to type them in all over again. Plus you can do it by voice as well.

I haven't tried Garmin or anything like that, so it wouldn't be fair for me to make a comparision. But I know I wouldn't like having the aftermaket nav unit sticking up from my dashboard. Plus if I happened to leave it in the car one day, I'm just begging for my car to get broken into.

 

I have a much old NAVI (2001) so if you could help out the other poster and let them know how to do it on the newer model - that would be great.

I agree that the NAVI on the TL is mighty fine - I don't regret the investment I made 5 years ago one bit. I do believe however that there is room for some new features that are not leaps in technology - technology that has been out for a while.

I tried the 2006 accord which has the improved navigation that is rumored to be in the next TL. While it is very nice - I think that the voice command for street names can use some tweaking. Perhaps that is why they kept the old navi in the 06 TL and put the newer one in the accord -for testing - couldn't say for sure.

 

First, why must you insult people, does it make you feel better as a person? I never said improvements couldn't be made to future products, but to complain about the one you have here in the forum is just useless rambling, as it will do no good to improve the unit you have. But again, if it makes you feel good in the same way insulting people does, then I guess that is your right! If you don't like what the car has then don't use it, its that simple. So are you one to change out your home stereo equipment or your computer ever year when the new ones are released? As the technology has advanced in those and I am sure there are things about the old one you didn't like.

Improvement is good, but what good does it do to complain about how crappy the one you have is?? There will be improvements in the navi units as manufactures upgrade them. All the complaining about the one in the car is what is getting old. Hell, look at the cell phones the rest of the world has, how about the internet, they offer a 100mb line in Switzerland for 80 dollars a month!! The US is far behind when it comes to being tech savvy. These are things we have to deal with.

As for Japan, it is approximately the size of Montana, and there are 9 DVD's!! Imagine if they did that for the US. Every time you cross a state line you would need to change discs!!

BTW, I am the one that mentioned the mapping problem. I understand people want more features in "newer" equipment, but they are not going to update or upgrade the model that is currently in the car.

Now the big question is, how often do you use the navi. For me its not that often. If you are in a local area and using your navi all the time, then maybe you should learn to remember where you are going or learn the area you are in. What did you do before navi?? You just stay inside? You use a paper map? Oh God, how did we ever make it with out navigation!!! Have we become that dependent on electronics that this is the may thing we want to complain about? These are features that are added to the car to improve the driving experience and as technology advances in the US it will improve. But again remember, these things are made in Japan and where designed with there populist in mind. The things on the unit are there because that is what they wanted.

Hell at this point I still don't know all the commands for the voice activation in the car, imagine if they added more! Just give it a few more years, we won't even have to worry about doing the driving, the car will handle it all itself. Now what fun will that be? People, wake up and smell the Starbucks, as there is one on just about ever corner now. The current system in the car is very useful and is well designed, yes there are some things you would like to see added, but its not going to happen in the car your in.

We are behind when it comes to technology in the US, but things are getting better, but to (insert bad word) about it isn't going to change the current version. Contact the manufacture of the Navi, let them know what you would like to see added. If they get enough feedback then they may consider adding those features to future models. When it comes to the mapping, find out what company developed the mapping detail, contact them and let them know that a road or area needs to be added.

Its good to talk about the things that you would like to see changed, but to start it off by saying the "TL's navi is Crap" is far from the truth. There is a difference in discussing things you would like to see changed to just out right dogging a product. That is the point I am trying to get across.

 

BTW, zippers are nice, but I would rather have velcro!!! Easier access!

 

I made my joke about your comment as you seemed to be quite disrespectful of anyone not being happy with their current unit. Complaining may not do any good or it might (just might) get the attention of people who work for Alpine or Acura. They might just start consider improving the features in the next disk or in the next version of the navi. I didn't take some posts as complaints but as requests for assistance on how to use a feature.

As for the amount of data - I gave credit that it was posted above - what more did you want?

As for how often do I use it? EVERY week. I'm a consultant and travel to wherever my clients have issues. I don't see every client every week or even month so it is helpful if I can't remember and helpful when I travel to a new client or an existing client that has more than one location. I use it for finding new restaurants, entertainment activies etc but for work alone it is invaluable. I don't think I could ever get another car without navi. My pda phone also can be used as a navi and has some additional navi features but it is great having a great big display mounted for easy viewing and access.

I agree about contacting alpine to let them know what features you want added - I just checked their site - unfortunately they don't have a simple e-mail link that I found. I'll try sending one to sales@alpine-usa.com and see if I get anything other than a boilerplate response. If I do get a real response or a different address I'll post it here.

 

Sales, info, support, marketing@alpine-usa.com all failed.

 

I called the number posted on their web page - techsupport/presales - according to the rep, they do not have any e-mail addresses for passing that inforation you have to call them and they will pass on the info (hopefully).

 

That sucks. Does tend to make it a little more difficult to get them to understand what "the people" want. They make the decisions based on what they feel we want. The Nav units have improved, but there are a few things that could use work as you have stated.

You said you have a 01 TL? That one is quite different then the 3rd gen. Contacting Alpine may only help on the Hardware side. The main issues with all Navi units is the software. They can't keep it up to date. They need to quite charging for the software and have a hard drive built into the factory nav units that updates from a satellite. This would allow for update information to be downloaded as soon as it becomes available. But how would they make there money? Wait, "subscription".

Let us know how it works out. You could also try contacting Teleatlas. I think that is correct. They are one of the companys that develops map software.

 

Yeah - they've improved the NAVI quite a bit since the 01 but not quite as far as I would have liked. Perhaps they need a more flexible OS structure. Potentially the functions could be dumped to a hard drive from a DVD - the hard drive would then be updated through the satellite or a flash drive or a usb link from a laptop. The hard drive could boot and access faster than a DVD and could easily store 50 times the data. I would gladly pay $50 a year for a subscription service that covered new roads and tweaks to the feature set. I doubt that even 10% of acura owners get the new discs on a regular basis but if the price was more reasonable, the service was better publicized and it didn't require anything more than a subscription, I bet more than 40% of owners would opt for it.

 

I have no plans to buy the annual DVD release. I may buy one in like 2 years, but that would be it. I have had a Pioneer unit in my truck for almost 3 years now. No DVD update on it. For people like yourself it would be very usefull, when you are on the road all the time it is important to have the new roads and shortcuts there. I have driven through a few fields on the map!! Going hard drive would be alot better, the problem the see is the ability to hax the device. It would be easier to do so then it is currently. But how nice would it be to have it be able to store alot more detailed information and update on its own?