| rsachs |
So much of the Navi: For about 30 minutes, and some 25 miles, the navi completely lost the car, placing it was about 20 miles east of the correct position, and generally having the car icon "drive" roughshod over the map onscreen. We were driving east on from San Francisco to Walnut Creek, and the navi placed us at one point in the waters off the port of Oakland. It "caught" up slowy, first off by about 3 miles, and then again by about 1/2 mile, and then again about a block, and finally on target.
We had complete overcast skies, but that shouldn't do it. My Volvo navi always regained position within seconds.
Any ideas? |
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| ayanomich |
| It is possible the GPS may have had a hiccup, it happens sometimes. I wouldn't worry about it unless it happens a few more times, then you should take it in and have it looked at. My NAV was doing great until Tuesday, we programmed our trip to Grand Canyon on Tuesday and the directions said to take I48 East from 93 south, when in fact the correct interstate was I40 East! Coming back, the program did say I40 West, so I guess the software writer hit the wrong key for the east portion of I40. Stuff happens..... |
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| yogi799 |
| How useful is the NAVI??? Is it worth extra money? I take a roadtrip about once a year. Otherwise, just the places I know. Is it really useful in cities u don't know or not very reliable? |
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| ayanomich |
| It is extremely useful and really does work extremely well. I've matched the directions on the NAV to Mapquest for various locations and the NAV is right on. The part I really think is outstanding is the Go Home feature. I used it for the first time from downtown Los Angeles a while ago and the route it sent us home by got us back to Vegas in just under four hours, even with two 10 minute rest stops! The drive normally takes between 4 and 5 hours with moving traffic, so we were really pleased. Yes, it is expensive, but based on all I know and have read about, it is the best overall NAV out there. |
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| Vin |
| Has anyone had a problem with the voice recognition in the navi unit? I love the way it works, but I have had the voice recognition not be responded to when I push the button. When this happens, I stop the car and should off the engine and it then works fine. Am I doing something wrong. I just received my MDX 2004. If anyone has had this experience please let me know. the problem seems very intermittent, that's why I'm thinking that maybe it's something I am doing. |
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| TheWorm |
quote:
Originally posted by rsachs
Any ideas?
Did you park underground or in one of the garages that has the "looping ramps"?
I've had problems downtown w/the Lexus and Acura navis when doing so; I'm usually most of the way over the Bay Bridge before it figures out where I am, although I'd say it's off by < 1 mile (although both show me in the water) til it figures it out. |
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| rsachs |
Today, the Navi is back on target, or almost: regardless of the directional of travel, the car icon is always displayed too far "down" from the actual point where the car is at. For example, if I'm stopped at right at an intersection, the icon is still displayed as if I'm about 132 ft back (at 1/20mile resolution). This seems to be a software bug, as opposed to a GPS bug, because again, its independent of travel direction.
As to whether Navi it worth it? Yes. Once you start using it, you wonder how you lived without it. I have a very good "sense" of direction, but I really like having the Navi around to plot routes etc. Also, the Navi has tons (actually too many) business listings, and so you can easily find any ATM, gas stations, etc. That's something you cannot do with just paper maps. |
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| mauigrl721 |
| I have had this same problem a few times, too. It is quite annoying. The reason being (and I believe I found this answer on a thread here) is that the Navi sometimes does not receive a signal from any of the 7 satellites that orbit the earth. There is a little GPS symbol (those exact letters) in the upper right (or left) corner of the screen. When it is green, the Navi is receiving signals from all 7 satellites. When it is yellow (never seen this) it is receiving signals from about 2-5 satellites. When it is white it is not receiving any signal, or maybe only 1. This is when it tends to "lose" the car's position. I've had it happen many times in the year I've had my X. Sometimes it can't track my position correctly for 2 or 3 days. I've brought it in to be looked at a few times but the dealers can't seem to do anything about it. It always corrects itself though. It happened the other day and then 5 mins. later it had found me again. True, a very annoying problem, but nothing that is permanent. |
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| pmsmith66 |
quote:
Originally posted by rsachs
Today, the Navi is back on target, or almost: regardless of the directional of travel, the car icon is always displayed too far "down" from the actual point where the car is at. For example, if I'm stopped at right at an intersection, the icon is still displayed as if I'm about 132 ft back (at 1/20mile resolution). This seems to be a software bug, as opposed to a GPS bug, because again, its independent of travel direction.
Have you gone into the menu screens and repositioned your car? You can drop the scale to 1/20th and then adjust the vehicle position. If the NAV shows you 100 odd feet away from the intersection, toggle the car forward and then lock the new position. This should solve the problem. |
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| Lance Crowley |
Once in a while our system will "get lost". Most of the time it happens when I when the X's been sitting out and I just start it to put it into the garage. The next time I go out the GPS will get lost for a short while. Normally it only takes a mile or 2 to find itself.
If I remember right the GPS system is actually a "constellation" of 24 satellites and the system compares the time it takes to receive signals from different ones to determine your position. Most units require at least 4 satellites to achieve lat./long./elevation. Using 3 you only get lat./long. The more satellites being tracked the better the resolution of position.
Tracking 4 satellites the resolution of position is about 10 meters (again from memory) and that's what shows a green GPS symbol on the screen. The yellow means it's only tracking 3. Don't remember which of the 3 buttons on the NAV you hold down to get the setup screen, (do a search, someone has posted how to do it) lots of good info there on the satellites being tracked, position and signal strength. Good stuff.
The other thing to be aware of is that the military controls this system and can change the signals to mess up the resolution at any time and any place, selectively. Doesn't happen very often, but, I've been close to several military bases and had the system do very strange things.
Is the system worth it. ABSOLUTELY. Maybe the most useful accessory I've ever purchased. |
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| mcclendons |
Lance,
Your numbers are close to right on (24 is a nominal constellation, but there are spares etc). You are correct that the Military runs the GPS constellation, but it has become a US (worldwide?) national resource. While the Military "CAN" interject errors, they can't really do it, because it would effect so many users. The military currently uses a special encoded signal to get better accuracy than the civilian market (minus differential GPS), but the basic accuracies are the same.
If you saw a problem around a military base, it was probably some sort of interference. GPS is an L-Band signal, and very lower power. ......... A factor that really plays with accuracy are environmental conditions, such as solar flares and scintillation. We've had allot of flares recently, so you may have seen some hiccups.
Military for now, retired in 7 work days!:2: :claphead: |
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| ghost |
There's a place in Wisconsin where I consistently lose the signal (GPS on code yellow) - it's near the ELF facility, which sends out low frequency signals for submarine communications. Otherwise, losing the signal is uncommon - although as McL mentioned, there has been a lot of solar activity lately.
The military has turned off SA (selective availability) presumably permenantly: http://www.ngs.noaa.gov/FGCS/info/sans_SA/
Congrats on the retirement McLendons! Hope you adapt to life as a civilian!
:29: |
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| tax_atty |
| I don't get my MDX until next month but I odered it with the Nav for 2 reasons. First, my wife has a terrible sense of direction and I don't want her driving around lost with our kids. (Actually, I don't have the kids yet either - we have twins due in February.) Secondly, the '04 has a camera mounted in the rear so when you put the car in reverse you can see what's behind you. After reading horror stories every once in a while about an SUV backing up over a child, I don't think I would ever get an SUV without this feature. |
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| mdx4us2 |
quote:
Originally posted by rsachs
We were driving east on from San Francisco to Walnut Creek, and the navi placed us at one point in the waters off the port of Oakland.
Same thing happened to me this week. First time X in SF. Coming back to Walnut Creek, it had us in the bay instead of on the bridge! It is consistently wrong around Hwy 24 and Hwy 880 interchange. I did take it in and was informed by Concord Acura that the "plug" had come loose...
Will check my "GPS" lights before I take it in again.
DEFINATELY a worthwhile accessory, regardless of it's minor blips. |
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