Navagation ???????//
- Thread starter ywonder
- Start date
not meant As a flame but maybe it will be taken as such punctuation And capital letters are used in the eNglish language for a reason you cannot easily ReAd sentences that are not punctuated likewise if capital letters are not used at the very least at the BeginninG of a sentence the reader doesnt know where to start or end this is very hard to do on purpose but you were able to accomplish it easily by not doing it on purpose amazing have a great day by the way navigation is great because you never have to have a map again and it can always get you home or anywhere else yOu want to go damn this is hard to do
All kidding aside, you should ask yourself this question: How many times do I frequent Yahoo! Maps or MapsQuest sites to get directions? If you do that frequently, the Nav system is a must-have. I'm one of those people. Since I've had the Nav I find myself using it in other useful ways too. I have an extremely time-sensitive job, so it's imperative that I know exactly when I'm going to be at the office. I frequently use the Nav to give me an ETA based on driving conditions (the distance and my speed). It's usually correct within a 1-minute margin of error. There's nothing cooler than telling my assistant I'll be in the office in 13 minutes, and to NAIL it! ;-) The "get me home" feature is cool too. Sometimes I go to dinner parties, etc. in remote parts of town and have a devil of a time getting out of the neighborhood the Nav helped me get into in the first place. All I have to do is bring up my home address and voila! Blow by blow directions. I usually terminate the guidance once I know where I'm going.
If I could have afforded it, I would have gotten it. If you never travel anywhere new, then it's not worth it. But, if you actually go out, it's nice cuz you don't have to bring so many Yahoo maps with you. Take downtown long beach for instance. Trying to follow the street signs is useless cuz whoever decided where to place them and what they said is an absolute moron. Finding the Queen Mary using the signs is a nightmare. Having a Yahoo Map helps, but when I'm trying to read the map and figuring out which exit to take is a bit inconvenient. The 710 and the exits down there curve a lot so it's much nicer to watch the road and have a voice warn me that my exit is coming up (and if it's on the left or right or straight part of the freeway).
I find it most useful when I'm driving alone because the car talks to you and tells you where to turn. Trying to find an address in San Francisco, for example, is hard enough to do with 1-way streets if you're just holding the map. Add in driving & shifting and the nav system is great! Also I find it useful for exploring; for example I was in Santa Barbara and I could just drive down interesting streets without having to worry about getting lost.
In the end, though, most people don't "need" it but its a fun accessory to have. Also the price of them is dropping each year so when time comes to sell your car a few years from now they will be much more common and it will help the resale value somewhat to have it.
In the end, though, most people don't "need" it but its a fun accessory to have. Also the price of them is dropping each year so when time comes to sell your car a few years from now they will be much more common and it will help the resale value somewhat to have it.
There are all sorts of cheaper after-market systems available. I opted for the BMW head unit due to the integration of the auxiliary function, telephone function, etc. It's nice to have one screen with multiple bits of info, which brings me to another nice point about the Nav. One of the functions I use most often has nothing to do with the Navigation at all -- it's the onboard computer. At a glance you have all of the OBC functions displayed simultaneously without having to toggle through them on the small dash display -- outside temperature, range till empty, consumption 1, consumption 2, etc. It's nice to have all that data in one place. I'm by no means an authority, but I'm not sure the after-market Nav systems integrate all of this.
Went on an errand (picking up what may have been the last 3 bottles of Lagavulin 16 yr old in Chicago) with a friend in his wife's new Lexus LX with Nav. Input my address when we were going home. It would have taken us way off course had we followed it. Even when we were close, it didn't give the right directions. Then, when we got on my street, it displayed it accurately with the name, too. Except it said go 0.4 miles when it was really just 4 houses. Strange. The back-up camera was pretty cool as was the Mark Levinson stereo and the ride.
I got my first integrated Nav when I picked up my Volvo S60 in Sweden.
At the time, I justified the cost as a marraige saver (no agruments about what foreign language signs say and who got who lost).
Not only was it all I expected while in Europe (I put 2200 miles on my car on that trip... even took the Chunnel to England and drove on the wrong side of the road!), it continued to add siginificant value back in the States.
When I'm going somwhere I don't know, I don't need directions, or mapquest... I simply enter the address into the Nav and away I go. I find it siginicantly safer then constantly refering to "chicken-scratch" directions, or trying to check out a Thomas Guide while driving.
I also enjoy just "going". I bought my Volvo (and now my BMW) because I love to drive. Being able to turn down back roads and enjoy exploring without fear of getting lost is a lot of fun, and worth the money (IMHO).
Nav also help tremendously when you venture out on a road trip. 'nuff said there
I personally think that Nav also helps sell your car down the road. I got Nav in 2001 with the Volvo and thought of it as an expensive marraige saver. Now I can't live without it. I find I use it almost daily for some little thing, and it saves me alot of time. I wouldn't consider a car without it anymore. It's as important to me as integrated phone or airbags.
- matthewk
At the time, I justified the cost as a marraige saver (no agruments about what foreign language signs say and who got who lost).
Not only was it all I expected while in Europe (I put 2200 miles on my car on that trip... even took the Chunnel to England and drove on the wrong side of the road!), it continued to add siginificant value back in the States.
When I'm going somwhere I don't know, I don't need directions, or mapquest... I simply enter the address into the Nav and away I go. I find it siginicantly safer then constantly refering to "chicken-scratch" directions, or trying to check out a Thomas Guide while driving.
I also enjoy just "going". I bought my Volvo (and now my BMW) because I love to drive. Being able to turn down back roads and enjoy exploring without fear of getting lost is a lot of fun, and worth the money (IMHO).
Nav also help tremendously when you venture out on a road trip. 'nuff said there
I personally think that Nav also helps sell your car down the road. I got Nav in 2001 with the Volvo and thought of it as an expensive marraige saver. Now I can't live without it. I find I use it almost daily for some little thing, and it saves me alot of time. I wouldn't consider a car without it anymore. It's as important to me as integrated phone or airbags.
- matthewk
I find that I explore many more roads while out for a pleasure drive with the nav system than I ever have before in any car without it. I'll follow the twisty-turnies until I'm completely lost and then pull up my home address when I'm ready to head back. I don't think I'll ever buy another car without nav...I just wonder how long it will be before I'll have to repair the motor that drops the nav facia to access the CD.
I really like the navigation system. I think it's great when I'm trying to get home from school and I'm just dead stuck in typical NYC traffic...I just put in my home address and tell the navigation to hook me up with an alternate route, and I like that I can specify to avoid major highways, etc.
I use it a lot to get to places in NYC that I've never been to before. It's also useful as I can just have the navigation screen open and figure out some quicker routes just by looking at the overhead map. I also like that it points out most local garages in the area.
Another useful feature is when driving around in zero-visibility, at night....such as when it's very foggy or during a snow storm. Just bring up the navigation screen so you can see the changes in the road ahead, this way there are no surprises.
I use it a lot to get to places in NYC that I've never been to before. It's also useful as I can just have the navigation screen open and figure out some quicker routes just by looking at the overhead map. I also like that it points out most local garages in the area.
Another useful feature is when driving around in zero-visibility, at night....such as when it's very foggy or during a snow storm. Just bring up the navigation screen so you can see the changes in the road ahead, this way there are no surprises.