RotoRooter

Alright, I will give it a chance guys. However, the system was set to the correct region . . . they had my cross street but not my court off the cross street. So, at least in ATL it might be a big issue as we are growing something like three streets a week!

I really wish they had different views and a remote control.

I will post my follow up impressions after I actually get my own and drive it a few hundred miles.

Thanks for the help guys

8_wannabe

Another nugget of info, about the Address book which Boozehound panned and I couldn't find. They have what they call Marked Points which really is their name for Address Book. You create a Marked Point by address or geoselect from the map; it places a numbered icon on the map. Then, in the Setup menu you find Marked Points and you can give them names or change the icon. So, I have a picture of a house where I live titled "Home". You can create one for "Genie's house", "Beerpub", whatever, and you have several dozen icons to choose from. Now that I understand it, I like it. No, you can't add phone numbers but that's what my PalmPilot is for. Once you have Marked Points setup, when you go to the Destination menu, you can choose destination by browsing the list of Marked Points, or by address, or intersection, or POI listing, or whatever. It is much more flexible than I expected or have seen in any factory-installed Navi.

Waypoints, which Boozer mentioned, is just a "via" point to stop by enroute to a final destination. Not to be confused with address book functions.

RX-8 Zoomster

Sounds great. That means I can label my #1 wavepoint BEERPUB/HOME. :D :D :D

P00Man

blahahahahahahahahaha

damnit, the car is so great in so many freking ways, and the only two little problems, which no one else probably even cares about, bug the hell out of me to the point of doubting the vehicle...

will someone PLEASE SMACK SOME SENSE INTO ME?
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Pornstar Webcam

8_wannabe

You can solve all the problems in one fell swoop: Turn off the inadequate a/c thereby improving the otherwise poor gas mileage, program the car to take you to the nearest beerpub, and once you're feeling enough reckless disregard go out and buy the damn car. It doesn't include the kitchen sink but as someone pointed out, you can cook your dinner in the overheated trunk. This car can do darn near everything for you. So go for it! I tell you what, I have never gotten so many looks of admiration, and so many people wanting to come over and talk/look. Probably a dozen folks a day. Half know what the car is and have been wanting to see one, the other half come over and say "What the hell is that!" And they all love it!

RX-8 Zoomster

And don't forget to tell him, he doesn't have to worry about checking the oil because he'll be already well lubed. :D

8_wannabe

Two more nuggets about Nav: First, regarding routing, choose "Shortest route" if you will be traveling by freeway. Choose "Avoid major highways" if you're not. If you don't know whether or not you'll be using a freeway, I don't know what to suggest but so far in traveling around the known reaches of my realm the above seems to generate good results. If I don't know where I'm going, I guess I won't realize the nav system is sending me hither and yon, so route selection may not matter. It'll get me there in the end either way.

Secondly, there is a kind of bird's eye view, though not as elaborate as other nav systems. You can select it in the Map Mode setting of setup. It gives a view of the road you're on looking down and ahead with direction arrows showing where you're going and where you'll turn. At intersections, it goes into that detailed intersection schematic view, then back to birds eye. An interesting alternative to the normal map mode.

I would now give this nav system a 9 out of 10. I've just about figured out all the features by using it (and yes, finally reading the darn book) fairly frequently over the last 3 days.

neit_jnf

Could you guys post pictures of the different screens/options?

8_wannabe

I'll work on it. My problem is my pix keep coming up too many MB; the site has a limit of around 100K per pic so I can't upload anything. I've tried reducing resolution and they come out looking horrible. For nav screen shots you're gonna want good rez pix. I'll see what I can do.

Jsuzuki

fyi, one can get the Navi without the Bose. The original order for my RX-8 was a gray Sports Package with Navigation (no Bose). It came in, I played with it at the dealer, saw everything was good, and started bugging :D the dealer about the green I changed my order to.

P00Man

blahahaha thaknks guys...yeah, im becoming an idiot...i KNOW mazda has to much riding on this car to mess things up.

i just hope it gets here soon goddamnit
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Ship sale

8_wannabe

Ok, here's some nav pix. Create a "Marked Point" my clicking on the map.

8_wannabe

Name your new marked point:

8_wannabe

Many ways to input a destination. With practice, you'll learn to do it efficiently with only a couple of clicks or alpha entry. Note Western USA selected at the top. You can only see addresses in your selected area, but you can view all maps in US and Canada regardless of area.

8_wannabe

What route type do you want to use to get here. Read my previous post on routing algorithms. Question: If it's illegal to drink and drive, the why do bars have parking lots and why do you need a driver's license to buy a drink? One of those imponderables as you're cruising in your 8:

8_wannabe

The "birds eye view" I just learned about. Not the normal view, and you gotta back way out to the setup menu to select it. "GPS" means the car is receiving signals from at least 3 satellites. It's telling me 3 minutes and 1.6 miles to my destination (bottom right corner.) It's giving me the next 2 turns top left since they're in rapid succession. All paralleled by voice commands of course. Ridgegate Row is the street I'm on, the others at the top are where I'm going.

8_wannabe

This is an intersection detailed view that you get when you approach a turn regardless of your other default view settings. After you make your turn, it will revert to your selected map view and scale.

8_wannabe

This is the "normal" map mode if you haven't selected Birds Eye. Note the icon of my house. This is permanently saved in my Marked Points, aka addrees book. Makes getting home after my visit to liquor store simple as one or two clicks. The 1/20th indicates my zoom level. N/S indicates North is up as opposed to direction of travel always at the top; user-selectable.

8_wannabe

A sample POI (Point of Interest) screen. There are several screenfuls of categories.

8_wannabe

I picked the "leisure" category, entered the letter Q and got this short list. Make sure you say what city or you will get all "Q's" in your region of the country, a very long list indeed.

8_wannabe

I select Qualcomm Stadium and note it tells me the phone number and programs my route to the stadium. Go Chargers! This is our year!!

edit Just called that number listed for Qualcomm. It says, "You have reached an unassigned number for the city of San Diego..." I just hope the directions are better than their phone numbers and that the Chargers aren't depending on this to find their way to the stadium. Or maybe we're hoping our out-of-town visitors will use it and get lost.

RX-8 Zoomster

8_wannabe,

Thanks for all the great screenshots.

Reading your question above, reminded me of what we have in Florida. We have all these DRIVE-THRU package stores. How ironic is that?

MaRX8

This infrared receiver might be a receiver port for Addresses from a Palm pilot, or Pocket PC. Can you check in the setups, to see if there is a receive address from IR port. This is starting to be standard on some Nav units.

"My mother's Caddi has this feature, it also allows her to Watch DVD's on it. BUT only if the car is in PARK." I guess you can have your drive in movie, anywhere you want, as long as your not moving.

NashuaCLS

I checked the NAV of RX-8 comapred to my Acura-CLS' NAV:

Here what I miss dislike:
1) No touch screen!
2) controls buttons are not next to screen.
3) Can you operated the NAV while on the move?
4) What the heck with the new regions?
5) Can you ask the NAV for a re-route to avoid a traffic jam?
6) Acura's has an option to avoid toll roads, why not on the Mazda?
7) on the acura's the stereo volumed would be auto lowered when you hear directions.
8) 7 millions of POI on the latest edition
9) with Acura's Adress book, you can enter phone numbers.
10) why there is no keyboard layout when you want to enter a street name!!!

What is new/better with Mazda Nav?
1) Canada maps!
2) Marked points with new icons.
3) Tilt Screen, 7"
4) more options like the color of the maps.

8_wannabe

Let me say this about that:

1) No touch screen!
This is good. No greasy fingers putting glare on the screen, no screens wearing out in three years. To make it reachable it'd have to be front-mounted, not pop-up. I like hiding it when not in use. I think there is a sensor for remote control; maybe you can find a remote to solve several of these "problems."

2) controls buttons are not next to screen.

Ditto my comments on reachability. I am becoming proficient in doing this by touch; I find it very accessible.

3) Can you operated the NAV while on the move?

Yes.

4) What the heck with the new regions?

This is a good thing. The nav will display any map anywhere, regardless of what region you've selected. But you can only look up addresses in your selected region. Given the limited computing power (common to Nav systems) this vastly speeds up processing of your routing address. I only wonder what happens if you live right on the edge of a region; you may have keep switching back and forth. But that's a small fraction of the population and worth the price in quicker system performance.

5) Can you ask the NAV for a re-route to avoid a traffic jam?

You don't have to ask. Just deviate from your route and it will automatically reroute. If you're asking if it will detect and predict traffic jams, no. I know of no such navi system in the US that does this, but England has one. The computer is at a central station (not in the car) and you get voice directions, but no display screen. A very different system and subscription-based. Also, if you know of a problem (street fair downtown or gridlock) you can tell it specifically to avoid certain streets in advance and it will route you around the obstruction.

6) Acura's has an option to avoid toll roads, why not on the Mazda?

That would be good. Again, you can manually program it but auto-select would be very cool.

7) on the acura's the stereo volumed would be auto lowered when you hear directions.

It is on my RX-8. With AudioPilot on (you need the Bose system) it works great. I have the nav turned to about level 4 volume. I don't know if the standard stereo system mutes when directions are spoken. If not, it would suck and render the system almost unusable and should be the source of serious and legitimate griping. But not my problem; I got the Bose.

8) 7 millions of POI on the latest edition

Whatever. Get updates on your DVD and I'm sure the database will grow.

9) with Acura's Adress book, you can enter phone numbers.
Whatever. They're already in the POI database plus I have my Palm Pilot for anyone I know. I don't want my car to be my PIM.

10) why there is no keyboard layout when you want to enter a street name!!!

I dunno, but enter just a letter or two and you jump to a short list from which you can choose your street. As long as you've already told it what city, you rarely have to enter more than two letters of the street name.

I don't know if you've actually used the system yet or just read about it. I agree it seems awkward at first, but if you really experiment and play around you start to learn the logic of the thing and can use it very efficiently. I"m not quite there yet but I'm 300% better than my first few attempts. Other than tollroads, it's got every feature I need or want.