I recently purchased a TCH with navigation, but do not have experience how well it should and could perform. In particular, it seems to be sometimes off by some 20-40 meters for a while. Is it the limitation of the technology (and of physics) or could it perform better? Or is it that the maps are not precise enough or do not represent information such as the road width or similar?

Also, the detailed map on the right-hand side of the screen that appears before the turns shows the car at a slightly different location than the regular map on the left. The detailed map shows the tip of the red triangle where the car actually is, but the main map on the left usually shows the symbol little bit lagging behind by about the radius of the circle. It is weird because I assume both maps use the same position information.

Could someone who has experience with other navigation systems compare the one in TCH with other systems?

Thanks!

 

1) I keep my NAVs in split screen and the position indicator seems consistent.
2) On parallel roads there is a known problem where the NAV sometimes puts you on the wrong road. It's normal and a side affect of the NAV always trying to put you on a road even though the GPS dilution of precision says you might be in the adjacent corn field.
3) If you have a version 5.1 NAV DVD there is a TSB to address a location display issue. If you have a 5.1 NAV you can pursue that. Be warned if you are using the "override" that will stop working with the TSB applied.

FWIW I have a '07 Hybrid and Conventional Camry both with NAV and the TSB applied to both.

 

I have noticed that since I made my "hybrid 5.1/6.1" disk the position seems to be less accurate than before. I would rather a little less precision in position than not having the override though.

 

Having the built in NAV is a tradeoff. It is nice to not have another item in the car as you would if you have a NAV unit stuck on the windshield but from my experience the aftermarket NAV systems are more accurate, more up to date and have much more flexibility. I have the latest release disk which came with my TCH that I purchased in December and it is very much out of date. In my area we have new roads and roads that have been slightly rerouted 5 years ago and the NAV map still shows the old routing. It drives the system crazy as it thinks you are driving off of the highway. Anyway I think it could be kept up to date better than it is. The voice recognition in the TCH is very poor compared to what I am used to on my computer but it is the only voice recognition that I have ever used in a car.