by Nicholas Head
16. May 2007 04:08
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…
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