Nav in Canada (or at least Toronto)

Not likely that the Nav program takes this into account. But it is always prudent to stay in the Collectors in heavy traffic. This gives you an escape exit possibility if suddenly traffic comes to a crawl or stand still.

Now, a lot of Navigation Programs calculate the fastest route, even if a few seconds are involved. In the picture below, notice the slight curvature. Since the posted speed is the same for Express and Collectors, the Nav program in its infinite wisdom suggests the Collectors because mathematically it is shorter from Markham Road to Bayview Ave.

I noticed that I had to turn on using traffic to dictate route in the settings and that helped.

I doubt that the nav knows the difference in distance between the collectors and the express. It's a few metres sometimes, and the express lanes are shorter in leftward curves.

Going N on 404 it keeps telling me to get off it onto exits that don't exist. It's amusing that "nav" in Latvian means "(there) isn't."

But generally it works. It has a few generic problems, many of which have been mentioned. One is sending you onto side streets when another route, including on a highway, is faster and probably shorter in distance. Another is its inability to include or exclude toll roads. I wouldn't drive on the 407 if it were the only highway open in North America.

I don't know whether the new trip battery estimator takes into account elevation changes. Unsurprisingly it's not able to predict wind and other changing climate conditions, although it seems to adjust to changed conditions when they increase (or decrease) Wh/km and thus projected range.

I've seen the Nav system go out of its way to put me on the 407. Say I'm going straight down Trafalgar to the QEW. Nav tries to put me on the 407 at 401 and Winston Churchhill (detouring me by an exit) and again at Trafalgar and 407. And I prefer not to pay for the 407, so rarely take it.
At least the end location on the NAV system is accurate. And the new view we have after upgrading to 6.1 of looking at the complete trip will allow us to decide if the Nav has chosen the best route.

I have extensively used several Navigation systems and formed my own opinion. Despite there being only two Map makers, Navteq and TeleAtlas, the differences are enormous. Here is the list of my findings in descending order:

1. iGo Primo - Navteq or TeleAtlas maps - maps are simple files
2. Garmin - Navteq maps - map updates take a long time to install
3. iGuidance - discontinued
4. Tom Tom - TeleAtlas maps ( they own it )
5. Navigon - Navteq maps
6. Toyota - Navteq maps - has only major roads between urban areas in Canada
7. BMW - cumbersome operation
8. Mercedes - cumbersome operation

I prefer the iGo Primo, a Hungarian developed program, because it has all the fine tuning selections you'll ever want. It even displays yellow road warning signs and stop signs. no turn signs, etc.
I run this Navigation program via installed replacement Chinese head units in both my MB 300SL and S500 and my wife's Toyota Sienna.

iGo is stand-alone, no internet required. You only lose traffic awareness. Still ideal for older vehicles.

I find the NAV ETA to be pretty accurate when it factors in traffic. But I'm driving mostly in the city in rush hour, no major highways.

The higher the average speed, the greater the error is going to be I guess.

Having used navigation systems in Infiniti, Cadillac, BMW, Ford and Tesla over the last few years, IMHO Tesla is the easiest to use by far. Infiniti wasn't bad, but the rest were varying degrees of awkward, with BMW being absolute garbage. All have limitations and you always have to take the routes with a dose of common sense, hopefully coupled with either a general sense of how to get there anyway, or a paper map to establish a broad route overview.

The map databases themselves are only as good as the information that was input, and I swear that some areas of Canadian cities were added by a technician still sweating out the tequila from the night before. Also, with most systems prior to Tesla, I regularly found myself driving along new(er) streets that were large areas of blank on my nav screen, with the dealer (BMW) wanting an outrageous amount to update to a newer version that STILL didn't have some subdivisions in the database.

rapoport3a said:

Going N on 404 it keeps telling me to get off it onto exits that don't exist.

Click to expand...

Even with the latest map update, the newly opened portion of the 404 isn't in the database, so it tries to tell you to turn out of the previous farmer's field onto a real street. This is a tad annoying since it can't route you onto the new sections, either. I noticed much the same with the new construction in Montreal last year. Too bad these mapping companies don't do live updates like Tesla.

The 404 problem is actually more detailed: the map on the touch screen shows the new section just fine. The instrument panel version is the one that wants me to turn off the field onto a street.