Why Buy NAVI

[tadtam]

I will be purchasing a Ridgeline next month and I have read a lot about the NAVI system in these forums. Can y'all convince me (and the wife ) why I should buy a NAVI system. I can understand how it would be great to have if you do a lot of long distance driving, but most of my driving is in a 50 mile radius that I am very familiar with. Please help me decide, as I would like it since I am a gadget nut, but I have to "justify" it to the better-half . Thanks

[swampler]

If you're in a large town that has traffic problems a lot, it would be good for finding alternate routes. Other than that, I just use a map.

[hnc]

Hi, tadtam,

Since you mostly stay in a 50 mile radius and know the area, it seems like a tough sell. I think you may need the NAVI, if you want to every install the Honda Rear Camera.

May not help, but here is some insight into how the GPS has helped my wife. She only commutes from home to work, but felt compelled to get the GPS with her car. It was a good move for her.

1. She doesn't know the local roads too well and the GPS has helped when the roads between home and work have been closed due to accidents.
2. Occasionally, she has to take the kids to a birthday party or playdate. It comes in very handy.
3. I have a portable GPS (Garmin 2610), which she felt had a small display and was hard to see.

[Dnick]

I honestly didn't think we'd use it as much as we do . . . and I didn't think my wife would use it at all. Way wrong on both counts. My wife actually loves it, and I find we use it quite often. To answer your "when would I use it" question: For sure anytime you have an address, but haven't been there before. Basically anytime you would otherwise need a map or directions (no more need for "mapquest"). Examples: In unfamiliar neighborhood, e.g. going to a friend's house for the first time . . going to a party location . . . trying to find the UPS warehouse location to pick up an oversized accessories delivery for your Ridgeline ? Trying a new restaurant in an unfamiliar or out of the way location. And in addition to places you have addresses for, the Navi has a surprisingly complete bank of established business & "public interest" locations. I was going to join some friends at a golf course I'd not been to before, and while "zooming in" to the general area on the screen, there appeared a golf course, in green, in plain site . . . put the cursor over it & it tells you the name of the Golf Course (to verify you're looking at the right place). Then, presuming you want it to, it will give you turn by turn directions to get you there . . . either via voice prompts, or just via the screen graphics if you prefer. It will even find places when you don't know where it is at all . . or even if the place IS there. For instance if you want to find a "Ben & Jerry's" parlor, but don't know where there is one. Put in the name of the business & a general location (city or even state), and it will give you a list to choose from. Neat stuff. If you're on the fense at all, I'd bet money you will love having it. When you use it, you'll just smile & nod your head at this "one more thing" that your Ridge does for you to make life a breeze.
As far as we're concerned, there is no regret at all . . . way more usability than we anticipated. We've even used it in the driveway to help a passer-by find a residential street she was looking for, but with which we were not familiar (you just type in city & street name). Hope this info/opinion helps you out. Good Luck either way.

[dogmike]

Originally Posted by Dnick

I honestly didn't think we'd use it as much as we do . . . and I didn't think my wife would use it at all. Way wrong on both counts. My wife actually loves it, and I find we use it quite often. To answer your "when would I use it" question: For sure anytime you have an address, but haven't been there before. Basically anytime you would otherwise need a map or directions (no more need for "mapquest"). Examples: In unfamiliar neighborhood, e.g. going to a friend's house for the first time . . going to a party location . . . trying to find the UPS warehouse location to pick up an oversized accessories delivery for your Ridgeline ? Trying a new restaurant in an unfamiliar or out of the way location. And in addition to places you have addresses for, the Navi has a surprisingly complete bank of established business & "public interest" locations. I was going to join some friends at a golf course I'd not been to before, and while "zooming in" to the general area on the screen, there appeared a golf course, in green, in plain site . . . put the cursor over it & it tells you the name of the Golf Course (to verify you're looking at the right place). Then, presuming you want it to, it will give you turn by turn directions to get you there . . . either via voice prompts, or just via the screen graphics if you prefer. It will even find places when you don't know where it is at all . . or even if the place IS there. For instance if you want to find a "Ben & Jerry's" parlor, but don't know where there is one. Put in the name of the business & a general location (city or even state), and it will give you a list to choose from. Neat stuff. If you're on the fense at all, I'd bet money you will love having it. When you use it, you'll just smile & nod your head at this "one more thing" that your Ridge does for you to make life a breeze.
As far as we're concerned, there is no regret at all . . . way more usability than we anticipated. We've even used it in the driveway to help a passer-by find a residential street she was looking for, but with which we were not familiar (you just type in city & street name). Hope this info/opinion helps you out. Good Luck either way.

Great summation! You will not be sorry you got it, but make sure you get the back up camera. Also, the back up sensors are another addtion you may want to have. Test drive a Ridgeline with all three devices and you can make up your mind from there.

Good Luck!!!!

[Ultra-HOG]

The other thing to consider is the radio and the user interface. I am a gadget and radio nut too. I also use and enjoy the outstanding AM/FM radio performance and the on screen interface that goes along with it. There have been some complaints posted about poor radio performance on the non NAVI radios. I really don't know how widespread the problem is but every owner of the NAVI radio that I am aware of praises it's performance. I live up in the mountains of Central PA and radio performance has always been a problem. The NAVI radio is without a doubt the best performing radio that I have ever had in the past 35 years (please, don't do the math!). If you live in a rural area and listen to radio, there may be your decision. The other feature with the NAVI radio that is unique is the AUX input for external audio sources such as an iPod. I personally don't have any interest in the iPod but that could change. Note that if you do want to use your iPod with the AUX input, it is audio only, no music data to the display, but the audio quality is excellent, especially as compared to FM transmitter adapters. If you want XM radio and the NAVI system, you might as well go with the NAVI system and maybe with the RTL model. Don't expect an exceptional set of features for the XM radio like the XM SkyFi2 has. The Ridgeline user interface does show song name, artist, and channel name and number but that is about it. It does not have music memory or favorite artist alert. There are only 10 presets for XM channels. I do wish the Ridgeline had a feature set like the XM SkyFi2, but it does not. I still like it a lot though.
As to the navigation usefulness if you primarily travel within 50 miles and are familiar with back roads and alternate routs, unless you value the benefits for when you are out of the area, I don't see a compelling reason to have it. But it is really cool and a lot of fun! I use it a lot when traveling out of my area and it has been very useful. One thing that I hope that you would never need but could be a lifesaver is that with the NAVI system, if you are in an accident or come across one, you can get your exact location and address as well as GPS coordinates if you are really out in the back woods. I wish that I had it in my previous vehicle when I came across what turned out to be a fatal accident on a rural road and I called 911 but with all of the adrenaline pumping, I just couldn't remember the name of the closest cross street. Touch the screen and it is right there, and more.
If you get the RTL with NAVI you get voice commands for the radio mode and channel, temperature control, time, and calendar voice reminders. There may be more but I just don't remember right now. I think that, for the most part, the voice commands are more fun than useful but they can be very useful when driving in difficult weather or road conditions.
If you read some earlier posts by members that did not get the NAVI system, there are quite a few that wish that they had. I don't know of anyone that has it and regrets spending the extra money on it. For as long as you are likely to have the Ridgeline, aw just go for it! You won't regret it!

[Ultra-HOG]

Oh, and one more thing, my wife still tells me where to go!

[Dnick]

A few more quick thoughts:
1) The voice commands do seem a bit of unnecessary 'fluff' . . . except! . . . I can't tell you how many times when I've been on a fairly long trip (1 hour or more) with someone else in the car, and have gotten so completely emersed in conversation with others that I miss a turn off. I've also done this sometimes when just talking on the phone (headset of course). So, it's kind of nice to have a pleasant voice recapture your consciousness to remind you that you'r approaching your jump-off point. (voice is female or male selectable & volume can be adjusted . . . my wife & I both prefer the female) Some of us have more tendencies toward that kind of "absent minded" attention to trip navigation, but it's something to consider.
2) A very helpful benefit that I forgot to mention, but which I personally enjoyed this past summer while exploring unmarked, unfamiliar dirt trails up in the heavily forested Sierra Nevada. There is a "bread crumb" feature that marks otherwise "unknown" paths as you travel them. In other words, if there is no record of a road in the Navi's data bank, it will "create as you go" with a dotted line "unknown road" marking that stays on your system until you clear it. Its a great reference with which to check your progress & relative position to where you've already been . . . or even with which to return the same way you came, if you really get perplexed & decide you don't want to explore any more new places. Or you can retrace your tracks & revisit later (another day?) if you find a great "secret" location you want to share with others or just enjoy again.
3) Just FYI, the only real established roads I have not found to be loaded in the Navi data base are those on military installations. But that is true of other mapping services as well (such as mapquest). You just need to get a map from the base (or in some cases they are available on-line via official base sites). I'm guessing this is some kind of a government red-tape (data access difficulties for companies compiling street map data) or a security issue (although you wouldn't think they'd have maps on their web-sites either if security was an issue?). So, just be advised you'll have to look elsewhere for on-base maps (this is based solely on my experience with Camp Pendleton (Marine base) in SoCal).

[engineer]

We got it because my wife wants to have the rearview camera installed in the future. But she falls in love with the navigation itself.

[Truckin']

I love NAVI. Go play with one. Take a friend's address and punch it in. See how quickly it calculates the route.

Go into the category list and select hospital or ATM; sort by distance. It shows you a list with mileage to each. Search for a restaurant by type: Greek, or whatever you like. People have complained about outdated information in the directory, but I'm actually impressed by how much is in there. I've used it more than once to locate a business and then used the phone number to call and see if they have what I'm looking for before we drive across town.

Have you been on a test drive yet? Let your wife drive and have her back in somewhere. I'm guessing she might be shorter than you and dislike the blindspot. That's all it took for me to insist we get the back up camera too. I don't drive it much, but I feel much better knowing that the camera is there for my husband to use when he's backing up.

The WOW factor is priceless when you show off your truck with NAVI. People are amazed that you can control your heat or AC from voice commands. The display is large and clear.

I've lived in my town over 30 years and I know it well, but we still turn NAVI on everytime we get into the truck.

I use the calculator when we gas up. I used the converter all the time when we were in Canada to help my brain start to think in kilometers.

You can move the cursor along a route and see how many miles long the perspective route would be.

You can ask your truck, "What time is it?" and keep your eyes on the road.

I hope you will go for it. It is icing on the cake of a fabulous vehicle.