The Nav System is great but the manual sucks. I spent hours last night going through this forum trying to figure things out and then back through the manual. I thought it might be helpful to put an FAQ thread here for the questions everyone seems to be asking. Here is what I have to start it out. Add more Q & A if you know of any good ones.

Q: How can I delete locations from the “history” list?
A: There is no way to delete individual items, but there is a way to clear everything and start over. It is called “cold start”. Someone else on this list posted this based on what the Mazda dealer found out from Navtech. I have tried it myself and can verify it works. This is not found anywhere in the manual.

"WARNING! ALL of your marked points, destinations, etc. will be gone forever when you do this! (But otherwise the system will still work just fine.)

So here is what you do:

1. Open the menu
2. Choose "setup menu"
3. Choose "system information"
4. Choose "version"
5. Push the joystick forward 3 times
6. Push the joystick rearward 3 times
7. Push the joystick forward 2 times
A new menu will appear.
8. Choose "CD check"
9. Choose "Cold start"


Q: How can I delete locations from my “marked points”?
A: Marked points are different from the history. It will store up to 100 marked points like in an address book. You can delete, edit or rename individual locations by going to the set up menu after you have set a “marked point” to your address book. This is on page 27-28 of the manual.

Q: How can I turn off the voice guidance and still have the route and directions on screen?
A: This is one of the most confusing things in the Nav System, and I am still not sure I understand it. I think the only way is to turn the volume down to 0 in the set up menu. The voice button does NOT do what you would think it would do at all. The “Voice Repetition” selection on the set up menu (page 32) does not do what it says it does in the manual. On the next page it says you can turn off the announcement of distance to an upcoming highway, but you cannot disable the “intersection guidance” (page 33).

Q: Is there any way I can play DVD movies through the system?
A: No, or at least I have not seen anyone who has succeeded yet on this list in figuring out a way, and it would require extensive alteration and void the warranty.

Good to see this coming together in one place.

Originally posted by gingersrus
"WARNING! ALL of your marked points, destinations, etc. will be gone forever when you do this! (But otherwise the system will still work just fine.)

So here is what you do: I deleted the instructions from this reply so anyone who wants to try this has to go to the whole post and read the instructions. BTW, I was the one who "stole" this from my dealer. Oh, Navtech has nothing to do with this; it's a hardware reset and the hardware is made by Panasonic.

Q: How can I turn off the voice guidance and still have the route and directions on screen?
A: This is one of the most confusing things in the Nav System, and I am still not sure I understand it. Yeah, I started this and I'm STILL trying to get it straightened out. My dealer is being very helpful.
The system is supposed to operate in two modes.

1. "Voice Feedback" ON -- the system will talk to you whenever ANYTHING is coming up, including saying: "Keep right (or left) to stay on highway." which I find very annoying since it comes up every time the highway I'm on crosses another one -- that's often around here!

2. "Voice Feedback" OFF -- the system is only supposed to talk when you are actually going to make a turn or change highways. This is the mode that I would like to use.

BTW, the "Voice" button is not intuitive at all, and not well documented either! When you press it, it gives you a voice summary of your current position in your trip, including distance to next turn and estimated time to destination -- emphasis on "estimated."

Now, there are (at least) two versions of the firmware for the nav system. There is an easy way to tell them apart. If your nav system starts up with the Mazda logo you have the newer firmware; if not, you have the old firmware. No, neither Panasonic nor Mazda will update your firmware for free, unless something is not working right.:(

My 8 has the old firmware, and it would not shut off the "Voice Feedback" feature; Mazda said to perform the "cold start" procedure. We did that (and I took notes) and the "Voice feedback" turned off properly. :) But within a couple of days it was back on all the time, just as before. So I went back to the dealer and reported this. I am waiting to get word back from Mazda about what they suggest to do to fix this. I should hear on Monday.

Oh yes, I test drove a new 8 with the new firmware and it worked perfectly.

Gingersrus, feel free to use any of this (or none of it) in your FAQ.

Thank you VERY much for the update, and thanks for posting the cold start routine. I had copied and pasted it to a file I was making but failed to capture the author and then could not find you again in the thousands of messages here. I evidenty have the old system because it loads without the Mazda logo. I just bought my 8 a week ago, but it was checked out at the dealership in early November (paperwork was in the glove) and shows a 09/03 manufacture date.

Check out some photos I've taken of two "back doors" built into the Nav software...

Navagation System Question (http://www.rx8club.com/showthread.php?threadid=18211)

If someone does take the time to do a FAQ, these screens should be closely documented.