1. Attachments are working again! Check out this thread for more details and to report any other bugs.

So are the Toyo Prius Nav Units ...

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Audio and Electronics' started by RhettP, Jul 14, 2015.

  1. RhettP

    RhettP Junior Member

    Joined:
    Jul 13, 2015
    68
    16
    0
    Location:
    West coast
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius
    Model:
    Three
    Pretty much crap?

    Is there really any reason to get a three over a two?

    What is everybody replacing their units with?

    I'd really like to find a good unit that supports a lot of apps.
     
  2. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
    Staff Member

    Joined:
    Oct 2, 2004
    44,768
    16,017
    41
    Location:
    Canada
    Vehicle:
    Other Non-Hybrid
    Model:
    N/A
    Depends.

    On the liftback, there hasn't been much praise for the 6.1" Display Audio unit (esp. its resolution). The 7" HDD version (which is Toyota's proprietary unit) is a bit clunky but has better resolution (I have the DVD-based version and it's a bit slow to navigate and punch in addresses. Ok for 2010, kinda slow for 2015).

    The Prius c and Prius v have the latest versions and with the short time I've spent with them, they seem pretty good, better than the ones they replace. They're much higher in resolution and work more smoothly.

    So if you're looking at the Prius liftback, I would stick with the non-nav version of the 6.1" Display Audio unless you really want the apps.
     
  3. Blizzard_Persona

    Blizzard_Persona Senior Member

    Joined:
    Nov 2, 2014
    1,784
    944
    0
    Location:
    Pa.
    Vehicle:
    2023 Prius Prime
    Model:
    XSE
    The GPS Works. I'll put it that way.. Not the best but not the worst. Worst award goes to Subaru's crap gps, radios...

    Not as easy to use as say a Garmin stand alone unit, but the voice controls work pretty good.

    It frankly looks dated next to my old Dodge Charger RT Plus's 9" huge HD screen. Lol.

    But as stated it will get you to where you want to go...

    I opted for a three a few years ago, and the Persona this time (tossed up over the Persona or a two) and a three v for the wife most recently.

    You get more than just Nav upgrading to a three you know....

    Three door SKS, Bluetooth, xm radio, Nav, backup cam (standard now on 2015's not prior though) and I think a couple other things I'm forgetting...

    So yes we though it was worth it three times in a row.
     
    Xterra72 likes this.
  4. Sergiospl

    Sergiospl Senior Member

    Joined:
    Apr 22, 2011
    3,938
    1,351
    28
    Location:
    Florida
    Vehicle:
    2011 Prius
    Model:
    Two
  5. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

    Joined:
    May 11, 2005
    107,571
    48,862
    0
    Location:
    boston
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius Plug-in
    Model:
    Plug-in Base
    i hope the next gen gets a larger screen, standard. i wonder how money oem h/u's are laying on the side of the road? you'd think toy would be embarrassed.
     
  6. JimN

    JimN Let the games begin!

    Joined:
    Nov 26, 2006
    7,028
    1,116
    0
    Location:
    South Jersey
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    V
    I run a Garmin alongside the GPS in the dash. Both are about equally retarded but not in the same way at the same time. Garmin's traffic notification is useless. Sometimes it shows congestion and I don't see it. Sometimes it will alert me after I'm already in it. The Garmin doesn't recognize some addresses. Toyota's has problems with others.

    The Garmin is cheaper and portable but it does have a loose cable.
     
  7. DoubleDAZ

    DoubleDAZ Senior Member

    Joined:
    Jul 2, 2014
    1,209
    322
    0
    Location:
    Peoria AZ (Phoenix)
    Vehicle:
    2014 Prius
    Model:
    Four
    I also run a Garmin Nuvi (I already had) alongside the Prius Four nav. The main reason is because search options with the Prius are so limited while moving. So I use the Nuvi and then enter destinations into the Prius for navigation. Sometimes I wait until I get close and then used the "find next xxxx" voice command, sometimes I use the "destination 1234 Street, City, State" voice command and sometimes I manually enter the address or search POIs while stopped. This has worked well until this latest trip when the Prius took me to the wrong location for the first time the other day. The address was 215 AL-83 in Evergreen AL, but the Prius took me to 215 Liberty Hill Dr, which is also AL-83, basically one north and the other south. The Prius also seems off by 100-300 yards or more too often saying we have reached our destination only to find we need to keep driving. One time it told me to turn left when I knew the destination was to the right. However, it's quite possible the road to the left also ended at the correct destination. I chalk some of these "errors" up to maps being out of date. I know from experience that the address may not be in the database, so it gets you close based on adjacent addresses. The Prius, Nuvi and even Google Maps, MapQuest and Bing Maps did this with my daughter's old address, one that was several years old and maps have still not been updated.

    Anyway, I love the integrated nav where I can hear directions over the radio. However, I dislike that the maps are outdated and expensive to update, the limited capability while moving, etc., but this applies to many built-in nav units. However, I wanted the other options in the Four and the nav works well enough. I actually didn't use the Nuvi much at all on this trip, though I did preplan fuel stops using Gas Buddy on my cell and used voice commands to enter them into the Prius.

    When it comes to traffic, it stinks on both the Nuvi and Prius. We just turned 30,000 miles (1 year, 6 days from purchase) and I tried Entune traffic for the first time this trip. Every time it said there was traffic ahead, the road was clear. To be fair though, prior to Baton Rouge, there were warning signs along the freeway saying to expect 1 hour delays and there were no delays at all, so I can't necessarily fault either the Nuvi or Entune. One time though, the Prius took us off I-10 through Ozona TX because there apparently had been a traffic tie-up that turned out to be over when we got there. I wasn't sure if the Prius was responding to traffic alerts or simply messed up.

    I guess the bottom line is that if you plan to add aftermarket nav, then you have to decide if the other options on the Three are worth it over the Two. I will say that while I'm sure the higher resolution screens are nice, I don't have any problem whatsoever with the 6.1" display I have. It's not like a TV where you stare at it for hours, but if that stuff is important to you, then I suspect the high resolution 7" will not be large enough either. If the nav software were like Google Maps, I'm sure resolution would then be more important to me. That might also be true if I used more apps and I think you'll find that many with complaints either use more apps, play DVDs (on 3rd party units) or simply haven't adjusted the brightness/contrast settings. Some just want an aftermarket unit because they have more bells and whistles and are probably easier/cheaper to update.
     
  8. RhettP

    RhettP Junior Member

    Joined:
    Jul 13, 2015
    68
    16
    0
    Location:
    West coast
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius
    Model:
    Three
    I havent used the entune nav yet but I do use waze a lot. I didnt know that the entune nav had a traffic feature.
     
  9. Xterra72

    Xterra72 Senior Member

    Joined:
    Oct 20, 2013
    1,361
    1,635
    0
    Vehicle:
    2013 Prius
    Model:
    Persona
    Have the Persona and includes the Navi with Entunes preset apps.
    It gets me from point A to point B. Everything works.
    Phone syncs perfectly to stream contents.
    It beats taken out a portable navigation and then having to put it away to avoid the theives.
     
  10. sillylilwabbit

    sillylilwabbit Active Member

    Joined:
    Jul 16, 2015
    405
    118
    0
    Location:
    Los Angeles
    Vehicle:
    2014 Prius Plug-in
    Model:
    Plug-in Base

    Now that you have had your Prius for a moth or so now, can you let me know if the navigation is worth buying the Prius Three over the Two? Or just buy a Standalone device and buy the Prius Two.

    I am thinking of buying a Prius as well, just can't decide if a plug in is worth the premium price vs just going with the Three or Two.

    I leaning towards the plug in is over priced for what you get.

    Also, how is Uber working out for you? I was thinking about doing that on Saturdays for a little extra in my pocket to help pay down my car payments.

    Thanks


    iPhone ?
     
  11. RhettP

    RhettP Junior Member

    Joined:
    Jul 13, 2015
    68
    16
    0
    Location:
    West coast
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius
    Model:
    Three
    I haven't started Uber yet, I will prob start next week but I have been approved to drive for Uber and Lyft. I did it a year ago for a few months in a Jeep and I was spending about $35 a day in gas. It paid the bills but that was before Uber dropped the rate to about a dollar a mile. It also sucks that you really have to work on the weekends to make ends meet.

    I hardly use the navigation feature because its so much faster to just look things up on Waze. It is nice though to use it with Waze because it has a wider map aspect than waze does and it can give you a better sense of where you are. I do use all of the other features you get with it a lot, such as Pandora, XM Radio (even though the selection of music sucks but Howard is entertaining), and the bluetooth and voice commands are nice when you spend a lot of time in traffic. I wore my hands out looking for a Prius 3 at the price of a Prius 2 and I found one with a sunroof. I got a silver one with 29k miles for 16k. The interior and exterior are like new. I average about 55mpgs per drive.

    If you plan to buy a plug in you cant do uber company policy.

    I used cargurus.com to find it. Let me know if you need any buying advice.
     
    #11 RhettP, Aug 30, 2015
    Last edited: Aug 30, 2015
  12. RhettP

    RhettP Junior Member

    Joined:
    Jul 13, 2015
    68
    16
    0
    Location:
    West coast
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius
    Model:
    Three
    Oh yeah and the nav and screen are hard to see, Toyota decided to put the screen facing right into the sun. LOL.
     
  13. DoubleDAZ

    DoubleDAZ Senior Member

    Joined:
    Jul 2, 2014
    1,209
    322
    0
    Location:
    Peoria AZ (Phoenix)
    Vehicle:
    2014 Prius
    Model:
    Four
    If all you are concerned about between the 2 and 3 is the nav, then I'd say it's not worth the premium. I have no idea just what that premium is, but I suspect a standalone GPS device is much cheaper and a lot easier to keep updated. My choice was between the 3 and 4 and I opted for the 4 for more than just the nav.

    That said, I like the Prius nav unit, but then I've learned how to get the most out of it using Google Maps, my Garmin Nuvi and lots of preplanning. For me, the hardest part of using the Prius nav is looking up POIs on the fly (while the vehicle is moving). Even when stopped, the database seems too outdated or just plain limited, unless one uses Bing (and that impacts your data limits). My go-to process is to look things up on our phones and then I use voice commands to enter the address for navigation. Now that I have the hang of it, I have relatively few problems using voice commands to enter addresses and the Prius has not failed to get me there, though I don't know if it's always used the best route in large cities like Atlanta, Houston and Savannah. Using voice commands is almost impossible though when the fan is on high, temporarily switching to ECO mode usually lowers the speed enough.
     
    #13 DoubleDAZ, Aug 30, 2015
    Last edited: Sep 19, 2015
  14. copter

    copter Junior Member

    Joined:
    Mar 12, 2013
    43
    4
    0
    Location:
    SoCal
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    III
    I have a 2010 Prius III. Loved the Nav unit when I bought it. However its very dated now. I"m looking to replace it. Has anyone done so?
     
  15. kc5dlo

    kc5dlo Active Member

    Joined:
    Jun 16, 2015
    266
    163
    0
    Location:
    DFW TX
    Vehicle:
    2021 Prius
    Model:
    XLE
    I bought the model 3 more fore the smart key system on both front doors and rear hatch. The navigation maps were out of date even when the car was new. (several new HI way projects near me so that was expected) I just installed an Android unit and enjoy in increased usability with adding any app I want, not just those selected to use with Entune. The App based navigation is nice too with more than one to choose from.