450h display screen night mode

[Goodplan53]

Driving home from Leeds the other day, the headlights came on automatically when it got dark, as I expected, but the large nav screen display remained at full daytime brightness.  Shouldn’t the display automatically switch to night time contrast, and if so could anyone advise how to enable this please?

I was on the motorway and unable to stop until the next services, and in the meantime the screen was dazzlingly bright as it got dark outside.
 

Grateful for any advice. Thanks 

[mikey2001]

Hi Tim, perhaps the setting has been set to 'Day Mode', which would keep the nav screen bright even if the headlights are switched on. The screenshot from the manual below tells you how to enable/disable it:

[Goodplan53]

Thanks Mike,

That is most helpful - thank you so much.

For some reason the ‘day mode’ wasn’t showing as an option in the display so I couldn’t toggle it on/off, but then the option suddenly appeared! Thanks again, much obliged to you.

 

Tim

 

[Goodplan53]

Update on the brightness issue on the map display:  

Thanks for the steer on how to enable day/night mode, Mike.  

As my wife was driving through dusk on a long journey last Friday, the screen did, as anticipated, automatically switch from daylight mode to night mode, making it much easier on the eyes.  But as dusk became fully dark, the screen went even darker, making it too dark to see the map. 

There appears to be three automatic graduated shifts from daylight mode (fully bright screen), dusk (night mode) and dark (almost invisible - just the red lines of the motorway showing). 

We just want the system to work - this is most infuriating!  I am sure the answer will be RTFM, and yes, I agree, the answer is somewhere in the manual.  But I got a call from my wife who had been driving for 6 hours and she had to pull over to use a road atlas to check the route! I was therefore unable to adjust the screen settings and won't be able to do so until she returns - another 6 hour solo drive.

Has anyone else experienced such difficulty with the map display?  I should add that the navigation system did not predict delays on the motorway or suggest an alternative route around the delay. These functions are now commonplace with other brands, so why not with Lexus?

[Herbie]

41 minutes ago, Goodplan53 said:

These functions are now commonplace with other brands, so why not with Lexus?

Because the factory satnav/infotainment system has long been the Achilles Heel of Lexus and is abysmal., which is why a lot of people, myself included, look for alternatives.

As a quick and dirty fix to get your wife home she could use Waze or Google Maps on her phone. I suspect that she won't have a phone cradle or holder of any sort but the phone could just sit in the cup holder as the voice instructions are excellent and either of those maps will give advanced warning of problems and workarounds for them.

Longer term, either a phone in a holder or a dedicated satnav like a TomTom, or a way of getting Android Auto/Apple Carplay in the system because they would then control screen brightness.

It may sound daft to use a third-party solution but as I said earlier, the factory nav is terrible, being slow, clunky, counter-intuitive and just does not work well. I can be two miles down the road and into my journey using Waze, Google Maps or Sygic, before I've even finished inputting my destination in the Lexus system.

[mikey2001]

44 minutes ago, Goodplan53 said:

Has anyone else experienced such difficulty with the map display?  I should add that the navigation system did not predict delays on the motorway or suggest an alternative route around the delay. These functions are now commonplace with other brands, so why not with Lexus?

The navigation system is not the best, but I have been on journeys where the navigation has prompted me whether I wanted to update the route to get around a traffic jam/accident. Unfortunately, I couldn't say for sure how I set this up, or whether this was already configured when I bought the car.

As regards the brightness between different settings, perhaps the issue is screen contrast? I think this can be adjusted here:

[Goodplan53]

Thanks Mike,

I have had an offer from the friendly staff at Lexus Swindon to help me set up the whole infotainment system.  This will help I’m sure.

[Goodplan53]

In the meantime, Herbie, I have downloaded Waze and texted the wife to do same for the return journey. 
Sad that we should have to rely on a phone app though…

 Thanks for the tip.