Top Ten Nav System Changes

coerich · November 26, 2007

Coming back from a recent hunting trip with my 16 year old son we set out to identify our Top Ten features we would like to see added/changed on the GM Nav unit in my 2008 Denali Pickup. Why not include many functions available in handheld GPS units?

1) Find Lat/Long of cursor location on map

2) Change routing program to enable re-route changes in road selection by touch. This enables you to customize your route by hand.

3) Vehicle speed indicator – might seem redundant w/ speedometer, but is more accurate and serves as a check w/ tire size changes and speedometer malfunctions.

4) With unit off, show a picture of an analog clock instead of the two digital clocks.

5) Compass – full function.

6) Trip Computer - including stored routes, time, distances, etc.

7) Address editor – enables inputting addresses that you have marked and are not yet on map disc (new neighborhoods, etc.)

8) Caution Screen timer – warning disappears after displaying for five seconds, or when you hit the OK button.

9) Downloadable Information – enable saving of stored information on USB drive so when I get my next vehicle I just transfer the info.

And our favorite:

10) Add "Historical Markers" in Points Of Interest (Including full text of marker). Learn about the area you're driving through without having to stop and read the markers.

Maybe some of these are already programmed in the unit - if so I haven't been able to find them.

flacaproductions · November 27, 2007

change the keyboard to a standard QWERTY layout...PLEASE!?

Darkanion · November 27, 2007

change the keyboard to a standard QWERTY layout...PLEASE!?

...or at least have an option to change the keyboard layout! geeeez! Takes me forever to enter names, addresses, business names, etc.

Wingnut · November 27, 2007

I'm pretty sure that mine shows vehicle speed. I'm not 100% though.

My DIC will do most of the trip calculations I want...But it would be nice to have it integrated with the Nav.

Most of my gripes are with the interface. I've got this huge screen, why do I only get 6 preset radio stations down at the bottom? I should have 20 of them on there before I have to push a button (off the screen BTW) to get 6 more. And why does it only display about 8 characters of a song...Scrolling back and forth? I know they send out more info than that. Same thing with CD's. I get an interface that -while a spiffy touchscreen- is on a par with a CD player from 1989. Only the most basic of features.

Then there's the whole "can't enter new info or changes while the vehicle is in drive" thing. If they can figure out a way to turn on/off the airbag when you have a passenger, they should be able to enable changes while driving as long as you are carrying one. It sucks to have to pull off the road to enter an address. Especially on my Nav unit, which requires that you have the DVD in there to use it...Eliminating the ability to play CD's. So I'm on a road trip, I've got to listen to CD's...Then for the last hour of it, when I get to the city I'm going to...I've got to quit listening to my music AND pull off the road to get to my destination.

I'd also kill to have MP3 capacity as well as a hard drive. I'm not big on MP3's, due to their lossy nature, but the sound quality kind of sucks in there anyway...Might as well have 3000 songs in there.

Darkanion · November 27, 2007

Most of my gripes are with the interface. I've got this huge screen, why do I only get 6 preset radio stations down at the bottom? I should have 20 of them on there before I have to push a button (off the screen BTW) to get 6 more. And why does it only display about 8 characters of a song...Scrolling back and forth? I know they send out more info than that. Same thing with CD's. I get an interface that -while a spiffy touchscreen- is on a par with a CD player from 1989. Only the most basic of features.

Then there's the whole "can't enter new info or changes while the vehicle is in drive" thing. If they can figure out a way to turn on/off the airbag when you have a passenger, they should be able to enable changes while driving as long as you are carrying one. It sucks to have to pull off the road to enter an address. Especially on my Nav unit, which requires that you have the DVD in there to use it...Eliminating the ability to play CD's. So I'm on a road trip, I've got to listen to CD's...Then for the last hour of it, when I get to the city I'm going to...I've got to quit listening to my music AND pull off the road to get to my destination.

I'd also kill to have MP3 capacity as well as a hard drive. I'm not big on MP3's, due to their lossy nature, but the sound quality kind of sucks in there anyway...Might as well have 3000 songs in there.

I agree with almost everything you've said here. If they're only going to give us 6 presets per screen, at least have the toggle ON the screen. I'm not sure how many times I hit stuff ON the screen before I finally figured out the off-screen button pulled up the next set of presets.

BTW : They have fixed the one-disc-at-a-time issue on the newer NAV systems. The newer built-in NAV units have an exposed slot for CDs and a hidden slot (behind the screen, accessible through a menu) for your NAV DVD. I just wish the exposed slot would read DVD's burned with MP3's. (Or maybe I just haven't figured out the trick for that one yet.)