Tell us something we don’t know.

[WinterDeere]

Both vehicles have built in GPS navigation. But I prefer either Google Maps or the Wave app through Android auto instead.

Onboard GPS is a vehicle option made for people who use flip phones. Anyone under a certain age (80?) knows Waze on your smart phone is vastly superior to any POS NAV GUI dreamed up by a vehicle manufacturer.

 

[LouNY]

Never used Waze have used the built in GPS and Android auto, and I'm not 80, yet.
But I still have (quite a few) maps and road atlas's.

 

[BravoXray]

Never used Waze have used the built in GPS and Android auto, and I'm not 80, yet.
But I still have (quite a few) maps and road atlas's.

I still carry a Rand McNally road atlas in my Town Car that I use on longer trips.
I only ever got lost once in my whole life, in a semi, at 1:00AM in a residential area in Topeka, KS. Had to back up about three blocks to the turn I missed. Fortunately a friendly cop came along and escorted me back to the turn.

 

[MossRoad]

I've tried to instill in my kids that they are never really lost.
They know they are in the U.S.
They know the state they are in.
They know the city they are in.
Things could be worse. You're probably within just a few miles of where you want to be. Calm down and figure it out.

 

[Grumpycat]

@Dftodd nice story! To me, having to have a class on the user controls is the very definition of a poor user interface.

All the best, Peter

Ford tried that with the original version of Sync. Tried blaming users for Ford's poor software... which was proudly running Embedded Windows.

Today's Sync is running on QNX, a very good embedded real time OS and development platform.

 

[kenmbz]

My in dash nav shows my house in the middle of the intersection about 1/4 mile away.
Google maps does pretty well.
If I am going somewhere with poor cell reception I will offline download the directions, that stops it from having any gaps.

 

[Dftodd]

Ford tried that with the original version of Sync. Tried blaming users for Ford's poor software... which was proudly running Embedded Windows.

Today's Sync is running on QNX, a very good embedded real time OS and development platform.

Sync was total crud compared to GM and dodge. We have a 2015, 2018, and 2020 trucks with sync in them. Sync sucks in all 3 trucks. You can see a small difference between all three trucks where they tried to improve it. But it still sucked. In the 2020, you could get apps like Iheart radio. But the apps would randomly disappear.

I haven't had much chance to mess with it since they went to the new operating system in one of our 2022 F150's.

My 2016 GMC has a far superior system then Sync up to 2020. Sync was comparable to the display in my 09 GMC.

It took Ford years to catch up to Dodge and GM. They really should be embarrassed.

 

[Oaktree]

Onboard GPS is a vehicle option made for people who use flip phones. Anyone under a certain age (80?) knows Waze on your smart phone is vastly superior to any POS NAV GUI dreamed up by a vehicle manufacturer.

Well I'm under 80 and I don't really know what Waze is. Then again, I also have a flip phone for the few times I use a cell at all. I do have a Garmin GPS which I use if I'm going on a trip to somewhere I've never been before. It works well.

I still carry a Rand McNally road atlas in my Town Car that I use on longer trips.

Got one of them too. Actually, I prefer it for plotting out a road trip and/or getting the big picture.

My in dash nav shows my house in the middle of the intersection about 1/4 mile away.
Google maps does pretty well.

My Garmin GPS is pretty accurate, Google maps not so much though it's getting better. If I enter my street address at least it's only a half mile off now.

Sync was total crud compared to GM and dodge. We have a 2015, 2018, and 2020 trucks with sync in them. Sync sucks in all 3 trucks. You can see a small difference between all three trucks where they tried to improve it. But it still sucked. In the 2020, you could get apps like Iheart radio. But the apps would randomly disappear.
.....
It took Ford years to catch up to Dodge and GM. They really should be embarrassed.

From what I've read in auto reviews it's about 50/50 as to automakers that "get" infotainment systems. My only experience has been with GM products, and it seems fine. Heard nothing but complaints about Ford, Kia/Hyndai and toyota.

 

[WinterDeere]

My in dash nav shows my house in the middle of the intersection about 1/4 mile away.
Google maps does pretty well.
If I am going somewhere with poor cell reception I will offline download the directions, that stops it from having any gaps.

The onboard NAV in one of my vehicles shows me randomly anywhere from 5 to 40 miles away from my present location. Started doing this in year 3 and now the car is 8 years old, but I'll not bother fixing it. Waze on iOS is the only way to go, in terms of real-time traffic-based re-routing. Got me around a major backup just yesterday afternoon!

I do wish all of my cars had full CarPlay, but only our 2020 has that, so I just have MagSafe charging phone mounts installed in the others.

 

[Dftodd]

Well I'm under 80 and I don't really know what Waze is. Then again, I also have a flip phone for the few times I use a cell at all. I do have a Garmin GPS which I use if I'm going on a trip to somewhere I've never been before. It works well.

Got one of them too. Actually, I prefer it for plotting out a road trip and/or getting the big picture.

My Garmin GPS is pretty accurate, Google maps not so much though it's getting better. If I enter my street address at least it's only a half mile off now.

From what I've read in auto reviews it's about 50/50 as to automakers that "get" infotainment systems. My only experience has been with GM products, and it seems fine. Heard nothing but complaints about Ford, Kia/Hyndai and toyota.

Our 2023 Hyundai SantaFe is a little over zealous on the infotainment system. It took me a little bit to get used to it.

Like I mentioned earlier, my shortcut is to hit the button for what I want instead of trying to hunt on the screen for the tab to press. But Momma loved her Hyundai, so that means I'm happy with it

It's not a user friendly or intuitive as the GM setup. I've found the GM system to be the most intuitive.

The 2023 dodge service truck is almost as easy to use as the GM.

I've only been in the 2022 Ford F150 once, a while back. It seemed to be a night and day difference over the 3 versions of Sync in the two service trucks and the flat bed.

But total time in the truck was about 10 minutes flogging it around the neighborhood seeing if I could recreate the complaint our salesman had with the transmission.