Is the Honda DVD sat nav any good?

[The_Agent]

I am looking to buy a new Honda and am debating whether or not to go for the Honda DVD sat nav system but cannot seem to find any reviews.

Do you know where I can find a review on this system?

Do you have any personal experience with this system that you could share?

I currently use TomTom Go (latest version) with speed camera POI's (courtesy of Pocket GPS world - thank you). Maybe you have used both, if so, how does the Honda system compare to TomTom?

All input very much appreciated.

Thank you

[tjr]

I have recently bought a honda accord with the DVD sat nav. Prior to that I was using a Garmin Quest in my previous car.

Good things.

The ergonomics of a built in system are much better:

The large screen is very easy to read, compared to the Quest.
The voice commands are played through the stereo speakers to are very clear.
The Accord system has a touch screen which can be used to enter destinations, select options etc. which is really useful. A friend has the same system in a CRV which doesn't have the touch screen and is much harder to use.

The routing works well enough, supporting fastest and shortest route and allowing you to avoid motorways and toll roads. As with any system it is only as good as the source map data. The Honda system and the Quest both use Navteq maps so they share some problems with mapping faults. On several occasions on minor roads it hasn't instructed me to make a turn presumably because it is mapped as a continuous section of road. Mini roundabouts aren't mapped at all, so they are treated as standard junctions.

Finding addresses works pretty well, supporting searches by city, streetname and postcode or map input (you can find a city then scroll/zoom around the map to an exact location). You can store up to 100 favourite destinations and it remembers your 20 previous destinations.


Bad things.

The system doesn't offer all of the features provided by other systems.
- Map view is 2D only
- There is less flexibility to control what is shown on the display
- It doesn't provide a track log, that was very useful on the Quest for recording the route you took
- You can't upload POI or speed cameras to it.
- It doesn't display as much information, e.g. it won't show your current speed or provide trip computer functions.


Overall though I'm very pleased with it. Don't underestimate the convenience of being able to get into your car and go without the need to plug anything in.

If you have any specific questions let me know and I'll try and answer

[Hooloovoo]

I'm also looking at a new Honda Civic and wondering about the SatNav option.

Given all the points you listed, is it worth the £1400 odd quid they charge for it, compared to my £230 handheld gadget that can run Medion Navigator, TomTom, and a wealth of other stuff I choose to put on it?

I'm really tempted by the proper installation with no wires and everything properly integrated into the stereo system etc. But to be honest I just think I'm going to be disappointed and have wasted my money.

The car experts always say dont go for expensive options like SatNav because it doesn't add anything to the value of the car when you come to sell it so you just have a bigger depreciation loss. I'm inclined to think they are right. But I don't want to buy a new car with all it's sexy new design and then stick my ugly satnav back onto the window.

[anniew]

I have just bought a top of the range honda accord with sat nav..I am v v disappointed with it. Firstly it does not have the birmingham tollroad on it, which is useless if you live in the midlands, or will be travelling there. Considering that the road has been open for over 2 years, it is pathetic that the sat nav is so out of date.
Also, the destinations are v poor. It will not recognise any of the schools,golf clubs near me,or a lot of my local streets(the one in which i live included!) They are shown on the map, but not inputted into the sat nav as destinations. It looks nice, but I would save your money. My sister has bought a tom tom...Its miles better, more flexible, more up to date, more info. Hope this helps .

[Reemer]

[Reemer]

Just last weekend I purchased a 2003 Honda Civic Executive with Sat nav as standard. I believe it is made by ALPINE. I cannot yet ascertain what the model number is. Does anyone know? The onboard CD-Rom is dated 2002. Is a more up to date one available, and how much does it cost ... and is it dearer if bought from Honda? This is the first time I have owned a sat/nav and I find the whole experience amazing and very enjoyable.

[AllyCat]

Hi,

Sorry, I don't have any experience of it myself, but it looks like they use TeleAtlas mapping. You may be able to get an upgrade from here (unlikely to be more expensive than a Honda dealer ) :

http://www.navshop.com/directsales/catalog/default.php?cPath=3_307

However, the example I looked at is for Blaupunkt, and seems unusually "cheap" (£92) for a car satnav. disc, so may be only a CDROM.

Cheers, Alan.
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[MrGumby]

[Mikeact]

I pick up my top of the range CRV on April 1st, (fools day?), and will be interested to see how the sat nav works compared to my stand alone IPAQ running TT5. I'm not holding my breath though, as I have everything set up exactly as I want it, and it seems to me reading this thread that you probably get the bare bones of an inbuilt system....no downloading of POI's ? How ridiculous.
ps Using Honda's 'free' model upgrade, in theory, the sat nav has 'cost' me nothing...and like somebody said, on my current BMW 5, I would not pay their exhorbinant option cost....I personally like the flexibility to move it, particularly as my IPAQ is very much a dual purpose device, ie my office.

[dorsey]

I've had a MY2003 Honda Civic SE Exec for just over a year now. I've not had any problems with the Sat Nav/ Radio/ Cd system, until now.

I always have the map system on view just in case of traffic jams so i can take a short cut by simply looking at the system so in this respect it was invaluable. The other evening a message appeared on the screen which read "cannot read dvd disk". Strange as I've only had the disk out of the system once since I've had it and certainly not in the last 6 months. I turned off the car and turned back on just to see if there was a fault of some sort but this wasn't the case. I took the disk out and cleaned it but it wasn't that. i took a trip to a local dealer who gave me another disk to try but it wasn't resolved. They seemed to think it was the unit.

After falling on the floor when they told me the price for a new system would be about £2k, yes £2K, I asked him to repeat and could the problem be anything else. He didn't seemed to think so. If it doesn't get sorted by a disk cleaner etc I certainly won't be paying £2k (more than a quarter of what the car is worth). I will instead invest in a smaller cheaper sat nav system as the radio and CD work fine.

So if the person who was looking at a car similar to mine with a sat nav. Don't. Tom Toms or similar are a cheaper and safer option which can be upgraded much cheaper than buying a new Honda disk.

:x

[pink_clanger]

I have a 2005 model Honda Accord with Built in Sat-Nav system.

My comments ..... hopefully useful

Overall function is good - screen is clear with excellent voice instructions. It was my first experience of sat-Nav and I am a happy user.

Recently I have been able to compare with a Tom-Tom Go 500 purchased for my son. The comparison leaves me with the view that the Tom-Tom has a number of advantages

Tom Tom is ahead on
1) Ability to plan the route out of the car (the night before the trip in the warm)
2) Setting an itinery and selecting your own waymarks ; and of course the ability to save these for future use
3) Adding Speed camera locations
4) Download updates to Maps ;

The Honda system is ahead for
1) screen clarity and ergonomics.

Value for Money is with the Tom-Tom, although I have to note that the Honda system is standard on the accord model I have and the overall Car is so good I would not change !

[Steveee]

Hi!

I recently had an extended test drive in the Honda CRV Executive. I drove nearly 500 miles so the GPS was well tested. The Honda CRV was registered Jan'06, i.e. new.

My impression was:

Good points:
1 the system is simple to use
2 screen very clear. I did not miss the 3-D of TomTom
3 instant to start from cold and after a short stop. TomTom on a Navman sleeve can take up to 3 mins to find the satellite
4 audio clear and accurate
5 can store up to 100 favourites
6 because DVD, has full West Europe map package available without having to switch disks
7 will take account of ferry when planning a route from UK to France

Bad points:
1 can't add POIs, e.g. load speed cameras
2 routing was bizarre at times, trying to take me off a dual carriageway onto single carriageway. This would have added 20mins to my journey. It uses Navteq maps. I had a similar routing issue with SmartST when they used Navteq maps.
3 you have to plan the route in the car. Some addresses are ambiguous so I like to check them out on the internet and compare the map location in TomTom. I would have to print it and take the map to the car!
4 the maps were well out of date. Local roads near me were not shown, but available in my 2005 TomTom maps. I find this unacceptable for a system that probably costs £1400 in hidden costs.
5 no option to display speed in the map window. I use this to calibrate my speedo! Sad I know...

Overall, if I had the choice I would de-select it as an option on the CRV Executive and save the money. As you can’t do this, I would still accept it, but complain loudly if the maps are still out of date.
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Steveee
Where am I?
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GO 920 (retired)
Garmin Oregon 550T
Garmin Drivesmart

[gray52]

i like the comments on the honda sat-nav, i to have ordered a civic with the honda sat-nav and the thing that stood out for me was the traffic master bit where it knew where all the holdups were and would reroute you around these, but no one has mentioned this on the honda systems they have, so its this a totally new system for the civic?

my post code on a tom tom displays unamed road, so when i had a play with the civics sat nav it displayed the road name from the postcode.

wot ever you have is swings and roundabouts, but a car with satnav will be easier to sell than one without, not that you would want to sell your honda:)

[Steveee]

The SatNav in the new (Jan 2006) CRV Executive did not include traffic master. If it had, this would have changed my opinion radically. That being said, for £1400 I would still expect a current map and not one that is effectively 2 years out of date!

The Honda web site is not very specific on what versions of SatNav each model includes, but it is clear that there are more options on the cars than the SUV models.

The Civic mentions voice recognition to control the SatNav! :D
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Steveee
Where am I?
==============
GO 920 (retired)
Garmin Oregon 550T
Garmin Drivesmart

[gray52]

there are a few things the voice controll works with not just the satnav. if i check the disk and its 2 years out of date then they will get it back and provide me with an up 2 date 1.

i had a play on the demo car and i liked it so hence opted to have the top of the range civic, it also includes bluetooth hands free as well.

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