Sat Nav Setup

[imoo6170]

Hi All,

I would like to find out some pointers on setting up my Sat Nav in my 2010 IS250. Yesterday I had the following experiences:

1 - got stuck in a traffic jam on the Pacific Highway at Kempsey - Went into Port Macquarie and the sat nav wanted me to go up 30 klms of dirt road which when I stopped and asked about I was told it was 4 wheel drive quality? Anyone else had their Sat Nav send them up a bush track?

2 - noticed that all the time calculations were based on 60 klm per hours even when we had been traveeling at 100 klms for 2.5 hours previously? UPDATE: FOUND I COULD CHANGE THE SPEED THAT THE CALCULATION IS BASED ON ON THE SETUP OPTION. IT IS NOW SET AT 90 KLM (MAX IT WOULD LET ME

3 - how do you skip straight to a city when u are trying to enter an address? UPDATE: FOUND THAT IF I TOUCH THE SCREEN I CAN MOVE THE DESTINATION MARKER TO WHERE I WANT IT AND THEN JUST SET IT AS THE DESTINATION.

4 - Even though we selected the quickest route it still wanted to take us up the Pacific Highway via Tweed Heads, Tugan etc to get to Surfers even though the bypass road was clearly shorter and quicker?

Will pop into Gold Coast Lexus and talk to them during the week but thought I would see what you guys had to say

[coconut2001]

Not sure what you're trying to ask in 1.

Can't speak for the 10' models as it's different to mine.

Don't think I can skip to a city without entering a street first though. No matter how fast or slow I go, the time is still pretty accurate (I guess based on where you are to destination based on speed limit?)

The nav in mine never shows me the fastest route, it usually shows the main roads and I find it avoids toll roads. I only rely on it if I get lost, but for getting A to B the quickest it doesn't do a good job nor take into account traffic/ stop lights.

[Poisson]

I'm not sure if the same applies to later models, but on my RX350 it is possible to tell the system what speeds to assume for local roads, main roads and freeways. The information will be buried somewhere in the manual.

Sat navs (of any type) are only as good as the mapping. Unfortunately most of them use Sensis maps which are pretty hopeless. In addition to that, the systems built in to vehicles generally use less sophisticated navigation algorithms than some of the aftermarket types such as Tomtoms. As mentioned above, they will keep you from getting lost, but won't necessarily give you a quick or efficient route.

[imoo6170]

Thanks for the feedback - I just assmed that they would be the same as my TomTom - boy was I wrong :D

[st87]

yeah well i've been hearing endless criticisms about my nav ever since I got the car and my friend was following me behind with his tomtom. It appears that the nav likes scenic routes. Went to magenta a while ago and ended up on a very windy (and dangerously narrow) road that was basically next to a cliff all the time.

No idea WHY it didn't take me on the freeway.

As far as the 3 choice of routes you get, it's really difficult to choose the 'right' one. And even if you do, I have my doubts as to how accurately it guides you. Last time I tried to go to Roseville, it was a nightmare.

Firstly, it didn't have the street number I wanted for that Street/Suburb (used the combination that had the closest number)

Secondly, it didn't get me there at all and I was getting freaked out cuz it was a 90K main road

Thirdly, I gave up and pulled out my phone and used TomTom.

[Lexus Nerd]

As imoo1670 found out, the choice of routes (particularly the "Quick" option) and expected travel times are based on how the maps have classified each road as one of three road types, and the average travel speed for each road type. The average travel speed is configured through the satnav's Setup menu.

In your home town, this arguably makes it smarter than the average satnav system - less intuitive to use, but more useful once you know how it works. The typical satnav will calculate travel times based on the posted speed limits for each road - possibly allowing a variance (e.g. assuming average of 100 km/h for Sydney-Melbourne instead of something closer to 110 km/h), or considering the number of traffic lights along the journey, but the posted speed limit is still a major factor. Not surprisingly, highways will normally be chosen ahead of back roads. On the other hand, you can configure the Lexus satnav to adjust the average travel speed of each road type, based on your actual experience; in so doing, you may find that back streets are preferred to major suburban roads or highways. I now have my travel speeds calibrated so that, if I travel across Sydney, I usually arrive at my destination within a few minutes of the satnav's original estimate.

Outside your home town, however, you may wish to change the speed options in the Setup menu, so that major roads and freeways are preferred. Agreed, that's rather fiddly; but at least, when I'm in Sydney, I don't have to convince my satnav that traffic on Victoria Road really doesn't travel at 60 km/h ...