I just traded my 2006 RL which had a DVD-based Navi for a 2010 TL Tech with the HDD Navi. Is there any real difference between the 2 navis in terms of accuracy?

 

whether it is dvd or hdd based has no relavence to accuracy. The maps are what will make a difference as far as that is concerned.

dvd vs hdd is just a different way of reading the data. HDD should probably be faster

 

^ +1
Just faster access to the map data on the HDD as compared to an optical disc.

 

Oh, well I had hopes for improvement...

Then, what causes the following scenario:

I notify the DVD Pioneer mfgr of a marked change in roads in my local area, essentially the extension of a newly completed 4-lane divided state road across what used to be open forest/wooded area, allowing it to continue thru and connect with same road on the other side. What used to be a 5 mile detour was now avoided since the road went straight thru.

I submitted the change in road/highway conditions to Pioneer and about 2 calendar quarters later, they indeed reflected the road change in their next DVD map version. Now, the newly constructed road appeared in the local map, correctly aligned, divided, showing its name, etc.

However, even though I had installed the new DVD version with the new mapping for this area, the navi still sent me on the previous detour routing, ignoring the new road, asking me to turn off at the newly created intersection, adding the same 5 miles of the detour to the routing.

IOW, even though the map was now correct in every aspect of the new road change, the navi still went back to the old detour each and every time.

Any guesses as to why?

 

Sweet, as a programmer I can answer this one. GPS are programmed based on a formula. Each road is given a rating based on speed limit vs distance. The code to pick the route is using this rating. Not the reason for this is A.) If the road was rushed to be added in, the code might not have been put in even if the road was put in graphically in the map or B.) The other route is in actuality, faster.

Every GPS software uses the same idea, different coding. Routes CAN be different between companies.

 

Doesn't in a DVD vs HDD scenario, aside from reading speed, doesn't HDD allow address save too? =P

 

Get it! So the old routing appears faster then the new routing under the old code because the new road really hasn't been modified to rreflecty the new road. The new road extension allows continuing on a 55-mph straight road thru the new 5-mile addition, vs. the old routing (still in place) which forces the driver, first, into a right turn for 2 miles in a 35-mph neighborhood, then left for 5 miles in same neighborhood but in a 40-mph zone, then left again (back toward the original road) for 2 miles in a 35-mph zone!

Same sort of thing happened to me in Tampa some time ago, where, silly me, the navi sent me on various twists and turns for some distance and added some 6 miles and an extra 20 min to a destination that, had I been a resident of the city, I would have known it was only 10 min away and about 4 blocks --- in a straight line! -- from where I started.

Now, does the 2010 Acura navi allow for changes in speed of the vehicle to adjust the expected time of arrival?

 

You know...there has been debates on this. In my experience, living in Maryland - Whenever I had to drive to Baltimore after getting my car it would always say time to destination to be an hour. It doesn't take me an hour though. After about 3 months, the time to arrival seems to drop down to 35 mins. It doesn't seem to adjust for your driving speed but it does adjust in the long run by your driving habit. Or so it seems.

 

That would indeed be nice as I live in a somewhat developing area where there seems to be a lot of places that aren't in the navi database. I think its very possible and just requires a firmware update (if acura allows updates to begin with)