navigation system on limited a real disapointment

[russell bruesch]

very frustrated with the factory nav system. You cant trust it to compute a correct route 50% of the time which means for long trips i still have to have a set of computer generated printed map quest instructions for my destination.

searching for P.O.I by name with voice commands is pretty useless 50% of the time also. It cant find a burger king restaurant 1 mile from my house when saying BURGER KING,or BURGER KING RESTAURANT. It responds by saying there are none in my area. This is just an example of how poor the voice interaction feature is with the navigation system.

Imputing the P.O.I manually by going through the various screens and pages on the 8 inch screen is clumbersome and distracting while driving and defeats the purpose and safety of the voice activation part of the system. It usually can find the P>O.I when searching manually.

Wish i never would have got the navigation system. Its the only source of aggravation on the whole vehicle. I have 2.8 sync loaded on the system. Have had my explorer since january, no other problems with the vehicle.

 

[donm527]

agreed. i find the navigation useless.

it's easier and faster and more accurate using google maps or a 3rd party app like navigon on my iphone.

before phones, standalones like garmin nuvis have been out a long time and those interfaces are much simpler and you'd think they could have mimicked one of those at the very least.

compared to those, it just stinks. probably doesnt help that the MFT crawls when running it anyways making it a painfully slow process.

 

[calb]

I see a comment on Telenav's site by a user suggesting that Telenav should update users from the 2010 maps, and Telenav stating that Ford is responsible for the map rollouts.

Cory or IVT Team? Any chance you might know what version of maps we are actually on and/or when they might be updated? Poor navigation has been a continuous theme in the forums.

Thanks

 

[donm527]

I don't believe updates, if available, are free. That's another negative about nav... Not gonna pay $100+ for map update.

I see a comment on Telenav's site by a user suggesting that Telenav should update users from the 2010 maps, and Telenav stating that Ford is responsible for the map rollouts.

Cory or IVT Team? Any chance you might know what version of maps we are actually on and/or when they might be updated? Poor navigation has been a continuous theme in the forums.

Thanks

 

[donm527]

Also, check your sd card... Mine says that's it's a 2011 card.

I see a comment on Telenav's site by a user suggesting that Telenav should update users from the 2010 maps, and Telenav stating that Ford is responsible for the map rollouts.

Cory or IVT Team? Any chance you might know what version of maps we are actually on and/or when they might be updated? Poor navigation has been a continuous theme in the forums.

Thanks

 

[VinceL]

Considering my experience using the Telenav website, don't expect much even if the data is updated. I found their site to have terrible accuracy, much less so than my Garmin with 2009 maps.

The Garmin may be missing streets, but it at least points to the correct spot when it finds an address (though for one address so far, it has it across the street). Telenav's website is anywhere from a few houses to a few blocks off. It is just terrible.

Jeez, I am getting worked up again! But seriously, what is the use of a nav system that points you in the wrong direction. I consider that not only useless, but a hindrance.

 

[calb]

I don't believe updates, if available, are free. That's another negative about nav... Not gonna pay $100+ for map update.

I'd rather they at least allow for updates (although the latest version should come with the vehicle)

 

[dco43054]

I don't believe updates, if available, are free. That's another negative about nav... Not gonna pay $100+ for map update.

I have friends with a Mercedes SUV and their nav update is not free, either. Don't know about all manufacturers, but Ford is not alone. They don't own the map data - Telenav does (for what it's worth, which is not much IMHO)

I've seen too many problems with factory nav systems (can't input info on the go, etc) and instead bought a Garmin at Sam's with lifetime map updates and traffic coverage. I paid $180 or so. Could have gotten something utilitarian for half the cost, but I wanted a bigger screen.

For the handful of times a year I use it, it sits in the glovebox and mounts to the dash, and works just fine.

 

[sgparnes]

I had an '06 SRX and got 3 free map dvd's...1 per year. No more. I don't think any manufacturer gives free updates. I think Mercedes uses built in hard drive? and the dealer has to upload an update, expensive.

 

[182RG]

I don't believe updates, if available, are free.

You are correct. They are $200.

 

[Border_Explorer]

very frustrated with the factory nav system. You cant trust it to compute a correct route 50% of the time which means for long trips i still have to have a set of computer generated printed map quest instructions for my destination.

searching for P.O.I by name with voice commands is pretty useless 50% of the time also. It cant find a burger king restaurant 1 mile from my house when saying BURGER KING,or BURGER KING RESTAURANT. It responds by saying there are none in my area. This is just an example of how poor the voice interaction feature is with the navigation system.

Imputing the P.O.I manually by going through the various screens and pages on the 8 inch screen is clumbersome and distracting while driving and defeats the purpose and safety of the voice activation part of the system. It usually can find the P>O.I when searching manually.

Wish i never would have got the navigation system. Its the only source of aggravation on the whole vehicle. I have 2.8 sync loaded on the system. Have had my explorer since january, no other problems with the vehicle.

50%? Really? That sounds a bit exaggerated to me. I have not seen this kind of problem on my 2012 nav system(v2.11). You say it does not get the "correct" route, but that implies that is does compute a route, you just dont agree with it result. I will say the user interface does suck and I am no fan of it and if would do Ford some good to redesign it. But the nav does work. I have tried all the input methods to this nav and I prefer 2 methods. I prefer voice input to the nav. You have to be patience and use the right commands but it works. The other method is I send my destination to the nav unit via google maps, then download to the car with SYNC Services. Both of these methods avoid typing in a destination. POI databases are more likely to be out of date compared to map data due to the rate of change, perhaps its more pronounced in your area. Over the years of using nav systems I usually just use addresses to nav as they dont change much compared to a POI name. As for having backup directions/maps with you I would say this is a good practice even if you have the best nav on the market that money can buy. All Nav units do make mistakes.

 

[Spengracin]

Like any new tech it will take some time to get the right techniques for your personal operating style down. I investigated most manufacture site, they all charge some fee for mapping updates, Telenav seems to be a little less fictional than most, time will tell, hopefully future updates will be needed to address the issues, v2.11 might help.

 

[wheeling]

For those that defend the factory navigation, just go to the telenav website and check for yourself. That should be their latest data. Not accurate at all. If not 50% wrong, at least 25%. I tested four address, three of them were wrong. It either not recognize addresses 3 years old, of point you to wrong locations, a few blocks away or a few house away. I can accept no new addresses less than 2 years old, but wrong location for old addresses is not acceptable. An update of map would not solve this problem. Thereis something fundamentally wrong with telenav. This is a major concern that forces me to hold on buy the ex.

 

[donm527]

from what i hear, 2.11 makes mft snappier so hopefully that will help with 'navigating' through the navigation.

i have 2.8 and it hasnt been buggy like many have reported... but it sure is slow and you get to the point where you acknowledge it's just ridiculous that as a whole the whole thing is so slow and wonky.

navigation aside... if you're 2.8 is working optimally, it's silly that the norm is that you press any button... to change stations or radio types or go through menu options and you can count out slowly, 'one mississippi' and start on saying 'two' before you get the change. and thats when it's running normally.

going through navigation... seconds between screens choices, wait a second per character when you want to type city or whatever needs typing. geez if you have to go backspace or back in menus it takes seconds.

and you try voice command to get through it quicker but because the choices are limiting, i have maybe only once been able to set a destination entirely through voice so it still takes some key inputs (which i think of it is interesting because notice you cant set a course from start with car moving but if you start with voice command then some key inputs work while in motion right?).

and say you get through all that and get it to look for a hooters (my last search )... you choose nearby and it doesnt have the hooter that is 20 minutes away (now less than 10 minutes away because it took me over 10 minutes while driving to get that far)... but finds the hooters in the next city over 20 miles away. ugh.

all that... but if i used google maps on my iphone it took me one minute at most to get the route plan. and with navigon app it would have only been a couple of minutes.

Like any new tech it will take some time to get the right techniques for your personal operating style down. I investigated most manufacture site, they all charge some fee for mapping updates, Telenav seems to be a little less fictional than most, time will tell, hopefully future updates will be needed to address the issues, v2.11 might help.

 

[donm527]

@border_explorer...

maybe because you have a 2012 you have 2.11 so it's a little faster navigating and not as ridiculously slow and reduces the frustration. but also...

your second method... it's more of a work around... that you have to use another device to acquire and input the location into the mft navigation to get it to work. you shouldnt have to do that in a car system. that's like buying a standalone garmin or tomtom and having locations sent to it using your 2nd method. that would be ridiculous.

and even then it's not that convenient because i am assuming you at your home or office on a pc getting directions and then sending it to the car. doing it from a mobile phone sounds like a pain... albeit less pain then using the MFT navigation.

50%? Really? That sounds a bit exaggerated to me. I have not seen this kind of problem on my 2012 nav system(v2.11). You say it does not get the "correct" route, but that implies that is does compute a route, you just dont agree with it result. I will say the user interface does suck and I am no fan of it and if would do Ford some good to redesign it. But the nav does work. I have tried all the input methods to this nav and I prefer 2 methods. I prefer voice input to the nav. You have to be patience and use the right commands but it works. The other method is I send my destination to the nav unit via google maps, then download to the car with SYNC Services. Both of these methods avoid typing in a destination. POI databases are more likely to be out of date compared to map data due to the rate of change, perhaps its more pronounced in your area. Over the years of using nav systems I usually just use addresses to nav as they dont change much compared to a POI name. As for having backup directions/maps with you I would say this is a good practice even if you have the best nav on the market that money can buy. All Nav units do make mistakes.

 

[boss377]

As much as I defend the new Explorer, I do agree that the NAV does suck. After using a Garmin for many years, factory units from any Carmaker are lacking.
Ford's unit is inexcusably slow, and the POI's available are worthless. If you want to set a destination, you better know the address, because if you are looking for a Pet Store, or a Mercedes dealer, for example, it wont be in the database. Only Ford Dealers come up under Automotive! To be fair, it has been fine on the trips I've taken, so it will get you from point A to B, you just can't look up a restaurant or store along the way.
Maybe there will be a fix, but in the mean time will just have to deal with what is there.

 

[Border_Explorer]

For those that defend the factory navigation, just go to the telenav website and check for yourself. That should be their latest data. Not accurate at all. If not 50% wrong, at least 25%. I tested four address, three of them were wrong. It either not recognize addresses 3 years old, of point you to wrong locations, a few blocks away or a few house away. I can accept no new addresses less than 2 years old, but wrong location for old addresses is not acceptable. An update of map would not solve this problem. Thereis something fundamentally wrong with telenav. This is a major concern that forces me to hold on buy the ex.

Okay. I have never been to the telenav website so I did what you recommended. First thing I noticed is their site is using Bing maps, not really sure what telenav brings to the table. I plugged in 10 addresses spread across 3 states, some old, some new and telenav found 100% of them. So does that mean since I see 100% you should? No. To come on here and make a blanket statement that since you see 50% error rate that the rest of us will see the same thing is just not accurate. It sounds like to me you stumbled on a hole in telenavs data set. I don't think telenav would be in business if they had a 50% fail rate in their product. Keep in mind that most of the mapping data a lot of these companies use comes from government and we all know how efficient government is. I am also not on here defending the nav system. I have been fairly critical *where appropriate* of the nav system. The user interface is terrible and should be redesigned. That said, the nav system has worked for me every time I have tried it. So far I encountered 1 routing error, which I have encountered similar errors on other branded GPS and other in dash systems in other branded cars. GPS errors are minor issues since its a navigation aid and should not be blindly followed. Expecting 100% perfect results from *ANY* GPS is just an unrealistic expectation, in my opinion.

 

[StunnedMonkey]

As much as I defend the new Explorer, I do agree that the NAV does suck. After using a Garmin for many years, factory units from any Carmaker are lacking.

This has always been my experience as well. Whenever I get a rental car that had some sort of factory nav system it's always garbage compared to a standalone Garmin or Tom Tom that's a fraction of the price. That's why I passed on NAV in my XLT. Heck, my iPhone with Navigon beats any factory NAV unit that I've ever seen.

 

[Shamalama]

My Nav on my 2011 Ex Limited w/ 2.8 sucks too

I am also extremely disappointed with my NAV. So much so I only use it to get home ("Destination...Home"). My Huyundai Genesis had such a better factory Nav System I didnt know what I was missing until I got the Explorer. The Genesis was much much quicker and I could enter addresses and POIs while moving. With the explorer the voice commands NEVER work on the first attempt, I cant enter an address while moving, and even when stopped the lag is so great and interface so poor it's really not even worth my time. It takes me 30 seconds to type an address into the Maps application on my iPhone 4 and get directions that are actually accurate (as someone mentioned above more times than not it doesnt even find the address Im looking for in Western Washington).

Basically at this point I use the NAV to look at traffic congestion. I havnt had a chance to try the "send to GPS" feature from Google Maps yet but Im thinking that might help. But when I need to figure out how to get somewhere, unfortunately I have to turn to my iPhone instead of my $46k fully loaded vehicle. Using that small screen for turn by turn is even more dangerous but it is what it is. Audi is putting Google Earth maps in their next gen rides so that may be what I look to next after my 24 month lease is up.

 

[VinceL]

For those that defend the factory navigation, just go to the telenav website and check for yourself. That should be their latest data. Not accurate at all. If not 50% wrong, at least 25%. I tested four address, three of them were wrong. It either not recognize addresses 3 years old, of point you to wrong locations, a few blocks away or a few house away. I can accept no new addresses less than 2 years old, but wrong location for old addresses is not acceptable. An update of map would not solve this problem. Thereis something fundamentally wrong with telenav. This is a major concern that forces me to hold on buy the ex.

That has been my experience exactly. It was getting 30 year old addresses wrong. Telenav points to the nearest intersection as though it is the house. Google and 2009 Garmin maps got it exactly right. That has been my experience with Telenav online. It is almost like their overlay grid of address data is not properly lined up with the visual map data.

And I hope the Houston and its associated metropolitan area are not in a 'hole', if that is the case, I think I'll pass.

Maybe Telenav has something against Texas?