Some of you may know that I recently purchased a 2007 Nissan Altima 3.5SL, fully loaded, including a navigation system. In general I like the navigation system, but there is definitely some spots that are lacking. Here’s my likes/dislikes so far:

• Con, I’ll start with the biggest con of all, and the one thing that has frustrated me the most with this unit. You can’t use most of the buttons on the screen while the vehicle is moving! Forget the fact that a passenger may be sitting next to you, perfectly capable of programming the unit while you drive. No way. Can’t do it. You must stop the car to enter a new address, etc. 98% of the functionality is just disabled when your car starts moving. My previous navigation system, a Magellan Roadmate 700, did not have this behavior, nor does my mother’s TomTom navigation unit. I asked the dealership if this “feature” could be disabled, but they firmly said no, it’s for my own safety. Gee, thanks. Luckily there are people (such as a fellow named gtcompscientist) who have figured out what wire leading to the back of the unit provides this functionality, and have shown simple switch-workarounds for it. I’m tempted to do it on my own car..
• Pro, The screen is large, and bright enough during the daytime to easily see. The car has an “auto” light setting, for my headlamps, and it ties into the navigation system to dim my display when it’s night time.
• Pro, I really dig the “3D” view that the system offers. It also can switch to the traditional 2D view if necessary, but I hardly find myself doing that.
• Con, The screen updates “slowly”. I’d say once every second or so. In 3D mode, this feels like an eternity, where I’m spoiled by redraw rates on other devices, such as my computer. There also is considerable jaggie-ness going on. Some antialiasing wouldn’t have hurt…
• Pro, The system comes with quite a few points of interest pre-loaded. I don’t know the exact number, but it’s found nearly 90% of the random places I’ve thrown at it. There are some newer developments (built in the past 2 years) that it doesn’t know about yet, but I’m sure a newer DVD will come out.
• Con, The system doesn’t do text-to-speech at all. Just provides the turn signals.
• Pro, The turn signals are excellent, and the screen even shows a preview of what the upcoming off-ramp, intersection, turn, etc. will look like. Pretty darn accurate, too. Helpful for those times where you need to get off the freeway, but stay in the left lane on the off-ramp, etc.
• Pro, XM traffic integration. If you drive through traffic every day, you owe it to yourself to get a system that has traffic integration. I’ve routed around slow traffic at least four times so far, and avoided an accident scene because of it. Whew.

And that’s just what I thought of right now. More to come as time progresses…