I don't get this navigation!!!

B1001 · March 28, 2017

Every time I enter a destination and request the fastest route (out of the three options) I await my ETA and it is always significantly more time than I'd imagine. Left Birmingham International today to come home, it stayed 1.5 hours, always takes me 45 mins. I went the usual route, against the one recommended by the sat Nav, and eventually it would recalculate the route and bring the ETA down to the 45 mins. What's up with my navigation? It would send me so far away from a logical route it's unreal, never had this with Audi.

NemesisUK · March 28, 2017

Check your settings in NAV as one can set the ave speed the car uses to calculate ETA. Maybe set very low for each road type

IS300Hdriver · March 29, 2017

18 hours ago, NemesisUK said:

Check your settings in NAV as one can set the ave speed the car uses to calculate ETA. Maybe set very low for each road type

Defintely check this out first, but I gave up on the sat nav, absolute rubbish and dated (in every way) compared to everything else out there. Now use google maps navigation.

Chris_Beechwood · March 29, 2017

The Lexus sat nav seems unbelievably complex to operate. Can anyone tell me whether the Lexus Standard Navigation system will automatically offer re-routing options around traffic delays? The Tomtom in our previous Mazda Mx5 did although there was an annual subscription to pay for Live Traffic Services and our portable Garmin dynamically re-routes, however, I cannot for the life of me figure out whether the Lexus Navigation offers this? The local dealer cannot answer this query either !

rayaans · March 29, 2017

37 minutes ago, Chris_Beechwood said:

The Lexus sat nav seems unbelievably complex to operate. Can anyone tell me whether the Lexus Standard Navigation system will automatically offer re-routing options around traffic delays? The Tomtom in our previous Mazda Mx5 did although there was an annual subscription to pay for Live Traffic Services and our portable Garmin dynamically re-routes, however, I cannot for the life of me figure out whether the Lexus Navigation offers this? The local dealer cannot answer this query either !

The standard nav does indeed have traffic updates.

Both my cars have premium nav and they have an option in the settings to re-route automatically for traffic incidents or notify me. I prefer the notification as sometimes the road clears up before I get to the incident. I dont know whether the standard nav would have the same feature but worth checking in the settings.

B1001 · March 29, 2017

I have tested it thoroughly over the past 3 months and have no confidence in it. It sends me so far off course it's unbelievable. The whole system is awful, navigation crashes and poor routing, a £50 sat Nav is better than this.

i use my phone now with the Waze app - far better.

Verbout · March 29, 2017

The sat nav is not the best, I've mentioned it before, BUT, it's a tool, not the best for a supposed quality car, but it's a tool and you have to spend a little time RTM and learning what its limitations are.

PaulWhitt20 · March 29, 2017

I find sat nav works best if you know where you are going.....no bear with me on this...

Plan your route before you go and stick to it, ignore any silly sally SatNav requests to turn off the route you have decided. Only when you get to near the end of your journey do you need to take notice of the directions. For instance when traveling from home to a new address you only really need to know where to go after getting off the motorway. Most people know how to get from their house to the motorway and can then navigate the motorway network to the junction to get off.

Conversely when you come back home you only need the SatNav to give directions to the motorway then you know the way home. It is nice to have the expected time to destination so you can see how long you have to go but you don't need to follow it blindly.

It's also fun to ignore the directions and see if your way is quicker. Unlike SWMBO silly sally SatNav does not take offence if you ignore their directions.

dutchie01 · March 29, 2017

I find the whole satnav/infotainment system the absolute weak spot of the car. It costs a fortune and in my idea is a big waste of money, i would not recommend anyone to order this. The satnav with its cumbersome mouse like operating system is a disaster in its own right and the navigation itself is so bad it is almost like Lexus did this on purpose.

I use Google, sooo much better and easier to operate. I sometimes use both systems to see who wins and guess what? Google Always Wins. I have no idea why a below par system of 2 generations ago found its way in a Lexus. It drags the whole car down.

rayaans · March 29, 2017

3 hours ago, B1001 said:

I have tested it thoroughly over the past 3 months and have no confidence in it. It sends me so far off course it's unbelievable. The whole system is awful, navigation crashes and poor routing, a £50 sat Nav is better than this.

i use my phone now with the Waze app - far better.

I usually ignore the traffic information - it seems to think every little incident is an accident.

Having said that - the sat-nav shouldn't be crashing - mine's never crashed. I suspect its because you're not on the latest software. The older ones had their problems

Routing is fine for me - works every time, just make sure you choose the fastest route and not the eco/shortest ones.

NemesisUK · March 29, 2017

Used the Nav coming back from the Cannock meet, excellent route guidance. Chose the Eco route for no reason other than curiousity. Was a great drive!

Only complaint really was the frequency of the voice guidance, worse than the wife!! 😁 The traffic update worked well guiding me round the NEC congestion.

All in all, excellent system, if a little unintuitive in operation.

duncand · March 29, 2017

5 hours ago, Chris_Beechwood said:

The Lexus sat nav seems unbelievably complex to operate. Can anyone tell me whether the Lexus Standard Navigation system will automatically offer re-routing options around traffic delays? The Tomtom in our previous Mazda Mx5 did although there was an annual subscription to pay for Live Traffic Services and our portable Garmin dynamically re-routes, however, I cannot for the life of me figure out whether the Lexus Navigation offers this? The local dealer cannot answer this query either !

I have the Standard Satnav and whilst it's supposed to use Traffic Announcements to reroute, the problem I have is a) either it doesn't get TMC messages or b) it does but they don't appear to offer alternate routes. Lexus Customer Service suggested that I connect my mobile and receive traffic data that way. Pushing that as a solution as being more up-to-date. Except you can't do this with the standard satnav and when I pointed this out to them, the email communication went silent. They never answered my point that the satnav doesn't appear to respond to TMC. I keep meaning to go to the dealership to resolve.

Fatts · March 29, 2017

For Iphone users there is another thread on the IS forum where I posted an alternative. It's installation require some geeky know-how but once installed it allows all the apps (incl apple maps navigation) on the Iphone to work on the car's Nav screen. The OEM Nav functions are not affected and all factory settings are unaffected . See demo below.

Rabbers · March 30, 2017

On 3/28/2017 at 10:59 PM, NemesisUK said:

Check your settings in NAV as one can set the ave speed the car uses to calculate ETA.....

The trouble is that the ETAs are only as reliable as the averages you have entered, and these, in my case, usually prove unrealistic.

I have heard the theory that the entries reflect a person's character in terms of optimism or pessimism, but the only certainty is that

the ETA should be completely ignored when making important appointments.

NemesisUK · March 30, 2017

12 minutes ago, Rabbers said:

The trouble is that the ETAs are only as reliable as the averages you have entered, and these, in my case, usually prove unrealistic.

I have heard the theory that the entries reflect a person's character in terms of optimism or pessimism, but the only certainty is that

the ETA should be completely ignored when making important appointments.

One can also click the setting to take into account traffic conditions and progress along the chosen route. As it's name says, it's an estimated time and I usually use it as a target to beat ..

Verbout · March 30, 2017

I don't think I ever take notice of the ETA, there are too many variables, you'll get there around about the time you arrive.

I find that more than adequate.

paulrnx · March 31, 2017

I always have the 'ignore traffic when routing' set to off. Always done this in every car I've had with satnav to avoid being routed off motorways with 50mph contra flows and onto parallel A roads with 60mph limits, for example. If you think Lexus nav is bad, go try a previous model Jaguar XF. In traffic jams that didn't exist their nav would route me off the M5 and onto the A38. I still get re-routing advice but it is set to manual so I get to choose whether I accept a new route due to traffic and I can see where the holdup is. I also make sure I have the average speeds set to sensible values. Whilst it is easy to, for example, maintain a 70mph average on motorways in normal traffic, it is not possible to maintain a 60mph average on single track A roads in normal traffic. Same goes for 30mph limited roads. The satnav is a computer fed by traffic information (TMC) that is not always accurate and up to date. Average speed settings are also key inputs into the complex calculations required for routing. Always best to stop it doing silly things with traffic 'events' and to have sensible average speed settings and not ones based on a 10pm schlep down your favourite A road when you averaged 65mph or whatever

DanD · April 3, 2017

Have you checked what options are enabled/disabled? - I once found that the estimated travel time for a familiar trip seemed far longer than usual because I had inadvertently disabled the use of motorways.

Blisteringblue · April 3, 2017

Satnav is a complete pile of dogs doo doo. Gave up ages ago and I have premium Nav (got it for free or else I would have asked for my money back) and I use TomTom on my phone (have never got on with google).

The infotainment almost took me away from Lexus but I couldn't make the sums work on any other similar German c0ck mobile, so have ordered the 2017 Sport. I know this comes with the standard nav but it will probably only get used when I don't need to worry about the traffic.

baxlin · April 11, 2017

The Satnav on mine froze/crashed on mine once, just at a critical time unfortunately. And I agree, it was not the most user-friendly system, the Amundsen + in Mrs Baxlin's Skoda Fabia is much better.

olliesgrandad · April 15, 2017

Last weekend I was in Lynmouth and set the sat Nav for home. After circling the vicinity for half an hour and passing the same locations twice I ignored it and successfully escaped. I have the latest software and mapping. I do wonder if the hilly terrain blocked the GPS signal perhaps. I have premium navigation.

NemesisUK · April 15, 2017

I believe the system also uses speed and steering angle inputs to calculate position, in case of GPS signal loss, for example, in tunnels, underground car parks..

My experience of the premium Nav, coming from years of using the Mercedes COMAND is the Lexus system is more complex to initiate but is no different in route calculation and direction. Voice guidance is far more informative though a little repeatitive...