I just got back from testing a Sport w/navi, and the navi system didn't call out street names, but rather displayed the street name on the screen. It seems as if there's conflicting information regarding this functionality. Can anyone verify if their navi actually calls out streets by name via text-to-voice?

 

read the first page of this same thread.

 

I'm a bit dimwitted at times, but I did read the first page, and one of the posts states the navi "says" street names, but this doesn't appear to be the case.

 

you have to look into page 74 of the manual - it will tell you how to TURN ON the text-to-speech feature. It says on the previous posts. It's not on by-default. Oh monkey you don't read!

 

From this point forward, Silly Monkey shall be known as Dumb Monkey

Actually, I went back to the dealership and tried again after reading page 74 of the navigation manual. According to the manual, the factory default for the number of guidance prompts is set on "max," which is where it needs to be set for street names in guidance phrase. Once in the car, I checked to ensure that the setting was indeed set on to "max" (which it wasn't) -- I reset to "max," but subsequently the system called out only major streets by name, as 100% of the side streets I turned down simply stated (for example) "turn right in 800 feet." I noticed something on the bottom of the nav screen which stated "street not digitized" or something along that line. So, unless I'm doing something wrong (which is highly likely), it appears that the navi doesn't call out all streets by name, which makes absolutely zero sense to my puny little monkey brain.

 

You were probably in an unverified zone or something.

 

Oh how I love those silly little monkey brain! Now when the navi unit pronounce names, does it sound like computer voice or real human voice? W/ my Garmin, it uses computer voices to pronounce all street names, and the human voice version will not pronounce names at all. I guess the Honda navi system uses real human voice so only certain digitized street names gets pronouced (like those words are actually stored as human voices in the computer, but it won't try to pronounce unfamiliar words on its own like synthetic computer voices will). You can definitely tell if a voice is synthesized from computers, because even the best ones will sound a bit like Stephen Hawkens.

 

And what happens when you are in an "unverified" area? Will it as least show the major highway or big road if not all addresses? I like to use my Fit for camping and hiking trips when it arives and many of these locations are not urban or suburban. They are usually in state or national park or some other "middle of the no where" places. If the navi won't help me, then it won't pay to have it. After all, who needs a navi just to hangout in familiar urban spots? At least my puny little garmin can lead me to all the remote places I have been to (not back road trails of course but most if not all paved and named roads).

 

The navi does fairly well. I have just had it stop tracking names of roads and tell me to go to the highlighted area to proceed. The road seems to still show up, although without the road name and it seems to stop giving directions to your destination until you proceed to "the highlighted" map area. I have had this happen once in the three weeks I have had the car and had to rely on my tomtom.

 

Perhaps I was in an "unverified" area this afternoon, though I'm surprised since I was in metro Detroit. The voice sounded life-like, rather than computer generated, which may be the reason it can't pronounce non-digitized street names. Though the system didn't announce streets by name, the screen did correctly display all upcoming streets, so accuracy isn't an issue. I must admit that I liked the clean look of the built-in unit with its large screen, though I'm having a hard time justifying the cost relative to a Garmin. Despite having VSA and steering wheel mounted audio controls, after today I'm less convinced that the factory unit is the way to go.

 

Have you encountered any issues w/ glare on the navi unit? I remember seeing one video review saying that the glare rendered the unit "useless".

W/ a portable unit, at least you can adjust hte screen angle a bit, and my Garmin seemed to work fine in bright sunlight anyway.

 

I haven't had this problem, although I have had my windows tinted and a tint strip placed across the top of the front windsheild.

 

I was fooling around with the Navi controls yesterday and set the screen for "split screen" where it gives you the street names and which direction you go on the right side. I also have the instructions set to max. I noticed it started saying the names of the streets down to the one I live on which is a "no outlet" and not very long. Today, I will try turning that off and see what happens.

 

Thanks and keep us posted! BTW, earlier in the week I spoke with a Honda tech representative who's well versed in navigation. I was informed that the navi will only call out major streets, regardless of the setting. Also, I was disappointed to learn that the navi for the Civic now has bluetooth, in addition to XM radio, which obviously didn't carry over to the Fit. Though cost is certainly an issue, it's not like the Fit navi is that much cheaper than the Civic navi.

 

I just got my SSM Sport w/ Nav about a week ago, Ive not had any problems with washout on the nav screen. I think the interface is much better than my mother-in-law's M35. She has bluetooth where I dont, but Scosche will be fixing that for me when they make the bluefusion available.

 

instead of the oem unit
u can get the avic d3 which provides
almost all of the features the oem one does
ie. bluetooth navi ipod control
but on top of that has aux so u can play game systems
a aux for ipods and also a dvd player
i find the avic a much better choice
on another note, im selling a used one for 600 dollars + shipping
including bluetooth and ipod cable