Lexus Navigation - Less Than Good Performance

[VBdenny]

I've used the navigation in my IS250 a few times and have never found it to be accurate or straight forward. Went up to Baltimore and back and of course looked over regular maps prior since I haven't driven on some of these roads. Of course the navigation insists on using the I-64 to Richmond, then I-95 to Washington and Baltimore. Looks good on a map but anyone who lives in the region would laugh. Traffic is always insane. I took the Eastern Shore route up RT.13. Once I was on the shore, the navigation accepted the DeMarVa route but frequently took me off the main route onto way, way back roads. I did not have any avoidances on so not sure exactly why it works like that. Best button I've found is the one that lets me say "end navigation."

Google maps works significantly better so not sure why I paid for the basically useless option.

[1990LS400]

Denny, I think you have proven that you are smarter than a machine. :whistles: Not that I ever doubted.

I've never found navigation devices, whether portable or in-dash, to be able to find the best routes over long distances. Even when they have traffic receivers all they can do is (maybe) route you around current traffic problems - they don't know about and are not able to forecast daily traffic trends.

My take is that navigation devices are best used for finding nearby addresses and POI's. Even when they don't take you the fastest way, they usually get you to your destination.

We live about five miles from Garmin's headquarters but our Garmin GPS devices didn't know about our neighborhood until about five years ago even though it has been here since about 1981. And my then up-to-date Magellan portable nav I used to use once tried to take me over a Missouri River bridge that had been removed many years earlier.

Are you reviewing the route choices instead of just pressing the "Go" button? There are usually several choices. Maybe you should practice using your nav even when you don't need it. Assuming you have Enform, play with Bing search and sending destinations from it.

My main use of navigation devices and systems has become to provide me with my estimated time of arrival.

I think the days of proprietary in-dash nav systems with their own maps are numbered - very numbered. What we will have are cell phone navigation applications replicated on in-dash screens.