Navigon 1.4

[sidewinder]

I didn't say Navigon 1.4 was snappy on a 3G, but it is certainly usable as a GPS. Yes, it does have the Live Traffic option. I have never heard the voice stutter.

No, you don't want to be using it as an iPod at the same time either.

Navigon 1.4 does run much better on a 3GS. No doubt about it.

S-

 

[stockcerts]

I didn't say Navigon 1.4 was snappy on a 3G, but it is certainly usable as a GPS. Yes, it does have the Live Traffic option. I have never heard the voice stutter.

No, you don't want to be using it as an iPod at the same time either.

Navigon 1.4 does run much better on a 3GS. No doubt about it.

S-

It will probably always be this way, the next generation of iPhone (summer of 2010) will probably have improved performance over the 3gs.

 

[blueprint1983]

Does she have Traffic service?


Do you have Traffic service?
.....
Just trying to help

No way would I pay for another traffic updates.. that would slow down Navigon even more, and it's very slow as it is on my 3G.

 

[lordhamster]

No way would I pay for another traffic updates.. that would slow down Navigon even more, and it's very slow as it is on my 3G.

IMO Traffic is the #1 feature that sets Navigon apart from Tomtom. It doesn't seem to slow the application down any more than it already is. Just be sure to turn off "send data" on the 3G.

 

[blueprint1983]

IMO Traffic is the #1 feature that sets Navigon apart from Tomtom. It doesn't seem to slow the application down any more than it already is. Just be sure to turn off "send data" on the 3G.

Are you on 3G and have you compared 1.4 with and without traffic? If you have, I'd like to hear a bit more.

 

[navguy]

No way would I pay for another traffic updates.. that would slow down Navigon even more, and it's very slow as it is on my 3G.

While I did have traffic on my old 3G, I don't specifically recall whether it caused any add'l lag or studder ... I do know my experience wasn't as bad as many are complaining ...

I'm just trying to sift through the things that can cause unnecessary processor cycles. I recall turning off the iPod functions (in Options); i know that it defeats the purpose of the feature, but i discovered quickly that it was useless on 3G and may help the pure nav experience ...

Here's another thought, make sure wi-fi is off while driving ... i could see wi-fi on while driving being a major challenge for Navigon to handle ...

... somewhat random.

 

[lordhamster]

Are you on 3G and have you compared 1.4 with and without traffic? If you have, I'd like to hear a bit more.

I can't say for sure because I pretty much bought traffic the day it came out, but I did get a chance to use 1.3 briefly without traffic. IMO it was just as slow pre-traffic install. However I can't be 100% sure as I didn't have more the 3-4 hours to play w/ it before I bought traffic.

In any case, I'm glad I have a 3GS now. The Navigon interface is very useable now.. although now since 1.4 I've noticed a tiny bit of lag in some button presses. Nothing major though.

Honestly I could care less about ipod functions etc. I just want to be able to quickly enter an address or find a poi, have reliable navigation and good traffic functionality.

 

[navguy]

I can't say for sure because I pretty much bought traffic the day it came out, but I did get a chance to use 1.3 briefly without traffic. IMO it was just as slow pre-traffic install. However I can't be 100% sure as I didn't have more the 3-4 hours to play w/ it before I bought traffic.

... maybe buying the traffic service actually speeds up the UI and features on 3G

 

[fredf]

Just bought it

Well, after pondering which app to get and having already gone on a trip, I finally just purchased Navigon 1.4.

I have only just turned it on, but I put in a destination, turned on locations services and......well, let's see....
It started me one street over from where i was and had me do a bizarre right turn, left turn and right turn again instead of just taking me straight ahead on a main street.

Then in order to get me onto the expressway (about 1.5km from my start), it turned me onto a very busy street and then off again instead of just continuing straight ahead.

That is twice that it had me re-route in a right/left/right rather than just continue ahead for no apparent reason.

I know this won't be understandable if you don't know where I am talking about, but I am planning to drive from Toronto, Canada to Washington DC in a few days and I'm really concerned about following directions on an app that can't get me over the first 2 km in a reasonable fashion.

Google maps does it right but, of course, I can't use that or the data charges will kill me.

So far, I feel like I just blew a whole bunch of money!

 

[ptackbar]

Well, after pondering which app to get and having already gone on a trip, I finally just purchased Navigon 1.4.

I have only just turned it on, but I put in a destination, turned on locations services and......well, let's see....
It started me one street over from where i was and had me do a bizarre right turn, left turn and right turn again instead of just taking me straight ahead on a main street.

Then in order to get me onto the expressway (about 1.5km from my start), it turned me onto a very busy street and then off again instead of just continuing straight ahead.

That is twice that it had me re-route in a right/left/right rather than just continue ahead for no apparent reason.

I know this won't be understandable if you don't know where I am talking about, but I am planning to drive from Toronto, Canada to Washington DC in a few days and I'm really concerned about following directions on an app that can't get me over the first 2 km in a reasonable fashion.

Google maps does it right but, of course, I can't use that or the data charges will kill me.

So far, I feel like I just blew a whole bunch of money!

I won't defend Navigon's routing but a few times when I've noticed that it was taking me a crazy way I noticed that the route profile was screwed up (one time I had it set to "avoid highways" for some reason).

 

[navguy]

I won't defend Navigon's routing but a few times when I've noticed that it was taking me a crazy way I noticed that the route profile was screwed up (one time I had it set to "avoid highways" for some reason).

Definitely check the routing profile ... also, what's the nature of surrounding area? how high buildings? trees?

... and try manually planning the route from your specific departure address to a destination, and see if it routes properly ...

... sounds like GPS displacement or profile issue


on a separate topic ... I am absolutely amazed at the improvement in GPS lock ... ever since v1.4, the lock is as quick and accurate as Maps (3GS) ... in fact, i achieved a full GPS lock on the interior of my house w/in 20 seconds (room w/o windows) ... i'm loving 1.4 so far ... even tho i have a few key suggestions for next version

 

[Kadman]

Agreed on the check of the routing profile. It can also do odd things if you don't have solid GPS lock.

That said, I agree that the quick GPS lock is a very welcome improvement. That and the Google search were key to us getting on the road today. My wife and I were signed up for a 5k race today but we weren't sure we were going to go through with it due to a winter storm that blew through. In the end we decided to go for it and didn't have a route laid out in the GPS already. So, we just jumped in the car, got a quick GPS lock, and used the Google search to find not only the campus where this was located, but more specifically where the tennis courts (start finish area) were. This was HUGE for us because it's a very large campus and I know my old Garmin PND would have only found the overall campus and not the specific area we needed.

Huge improvement and I'm solidly convinced that this is the GPS app for me.

 

[212rikanmofo]

I'm not sure what the deal is. But with 1.4 I can achieve instant GPS lock on even in my bedroom, and there's no point of view to the sky at all! I'm not sure what they did but this is awesome! I am using an iPhone 3G too.

Amazing!

Navigon is by far the best NAV ever. Even beats a lot of nav system that are built into cars these days!

There is one bug though. I clicked avoid and forbid Tollways, but when it calculates a route, it still tells me to go onto the tollway which is annoying. Only way to temporarily fix it for the time being is to also avoid highways. I hope they fix this. I'm not sure if this was a problem with the previous version of navigon or a new one in 1.4 since I never really paid any attention.

 

[Rigby]

I'm not sure what the deal is. But with 1.4 I can achieve instant GPS lock on even in my bedroom, and there's no point of view to the sky at all! I'm not sure what they did but this is awesome! I am using an iPhone 3G too.

Almost certainly it's not a GPS lock, but it locates you by recognizing a known WLAN access point or cellular tower in your area. Note that this requires data connectivity since it uses an online database for lookup.

 

[navguy]

Almost certainly it's not a GPS lock, but it locates you by recognizing a known WLAN access point or cellular tower in your area. Note that this requires data connectivity since it uses an online database for lookup.

Agreed, in my case triangulation ... regardless, it pin points (<50m or so) my new locatoin by going from 'red bar GPS status' to 'ready to navigate' even when my last known location was miles away. And again, compared to v1.3, this is simply an amazing improvement. They figured out how to manage the iPhone GPS/triangulation/WLAN very well.

 

[navguy]

There is one bug though. I clicked avoid and forbid Tollways, but when it calculates a route, it still tells me to go onto the tollway which is annoying. Only way to temporarily fix it for the time being is to also avoid highways. I hope they fix this. I'm not sure if this was a problem with the previous version of navigon or a new one in 1.4 since I never really paid any attention.

i'm not familiar whether this is a known bug, but a couple of thoughts; 1. potentially an error in the Navteq map attributes for that highway (Navigon uses Navteq maps onboard) ... go to Navteq website and submit error for review; and 2. double check that the road you are on is technically a tollway as defined by US highway dept ... might sound crazy, but a highway with periodic tolls may not be defined as 'tollway' vs. a highway that has onramp tickets w/ limited exits and offramp pay ... not sure, but it's possible something like that is happening

 

[vertigo235]

The tollway bug was there in 1.3 too, and trust me they know about it, there is a guy who feels to post daily or sometimes even more on the NAVIGON facebook page about it.

Hopefully they will fix this soon.

 

[donm527]

as mentioned before check route profile... by default i believe it avoids highways and such and you probably want to accept all options available for the fastest route. in south florida you cant get anywhere without taking a highway or turnpike so it was weird that it wanted to take me off the next exit every time and take a road off the highway. once that was corrected it was pretty much same route as a garmin i had next to me to compare and has been great to have.

Well, after pondering which app to get and having already gone on a trip, I finally just purchased Navigon 1.4.

I have only just turned it on, but I put in a destination, turned on locations services and......well, let's see....
It started me one street over from where i was and had me do a bizarre right turn, left turn and right turn again instead of just taking me straight ahead on a main street.

Then in order to get me onto the expressway (about 1.5km from my start), it turned me onto a very busy street and then off again instead of just continuing straight ahead.

That is twice that it had me re-route in a right/left/right rather than just continue ahead for no apparent reason.

I know this won't be understandable if you don't know where I am talking about, but I am planning to drive from Toronto, Canada to Washington DC in a few days and I'm really concerned about following directions on an app that can't get me over the first 2 km in a reasonable fashion.

Google maps does it right but, of course, I can't use that or the data charges will kill me.

So far, I feel like I just blew a whole bunch of money!

 

[donm527]

i just had my first chance to use the 1.4 and it's great...

love the way it tells you when first logging on the accuracy when zeroing in on your location so you can see it is working and seems to get a lock much faster than previous version. seems stronger too because to test before writing this i ran navigon from my office and able to lock... i could swear unable to in the past without being outside first.

used the google search today to meet up with a friend and keyworded 'hooters' and it found it and gave me directions to it no problem.

i notice when increasing the volume that the volume bar does not show... i kind of wish they put that back in next version. also i wish they would just default at volume bar and not ringer volume so that i dont have to activate the voice to increase/decrease volume.

overall i have been extremely satisfied with navigon from first purchase and intro price to adding traffic and now with 1.4. a great nav program. i hear of slower performance on the 3g but just lettting everyone know on the 3gs it runs fast and happy with it.

Agreed, in my case triangulation ... regardless, it pin points (<50m or so) my new locatoin by going from 'red bar GPS status' to 'ready to navigate' even when my last known location was miles away. And again, compared to v1.3, this is simply an amazing improvement. They figured out how to manage the iPhone GPS/triangulation/WLAN very well.

 

[Alectric]

Tried iPod playback in 1.4 on my way home tonight... it's still awful. My music stuttered pretty much the whole time, and it made the voice instructions cut out occasionally. They've really got to get this taken care of. It is so, so bad.

I agree... Its doing the same thing on my 3G.

 

[globalist]

Agreed, in my case triangulation ... regardless, it pin points (<50m or so) my new locatoin by going from 'red bar GPS status' to 'ready to navigate' even when my last known location was miles away. And again, compared to v1.3, this is simply an amazing improvement. They figured out how to manage the iPhone GPS/triangulation/WLAN very well.

No they didn't as they forgot to include a switch to toggle triangulation assistance off. Currently it can suck for those without a data plan you see...

 

[fredf]

does anyone know a forum/discussion group or somewhere to get advice or instructions on how to use Navigon?

 

[pugnut]

does anyone know a forum/discussion group or somewhere to get advice or instructions on how to use Navigon?

I have not found anything, but I find if you tweet them @NAVIGON_US they answer the questions rather quickly.

I was tired of digging around for answers

 

[lordhamster]

I have not found anything, but I find if you tweet them @NAVIGON_US they answer the questions rather quickly.

I was tired of digging around for answers

I was about to say the same thing. They seem unable to post manuals or answer emails, but they respond quickly to any kind of public attention on twitter or facebook.

 

[comatose81]

Well, I used Navigon 1.4 on a 6 1/2 hour trip this weekend and I have to say that my opinion of it has really soured.

Good things:
- The routing was exactly the same as what I would have done without it.
- After taking a wrong turn in one city, having the reality view/lane assist, speed limit warnings, and perfect text-to-speech really bailed us out. We would definitely have been lost without it.
- Traffic avoidance was great when we were in 3G. We never had to actually use it, thankfully, but a few times it looked 50-60 miles in advance and found traffic to re-route us around. By the time we got to it, the traffic subsided, but it was nice to know we would have been able to avoid it in time.

Bad things:
- The GPS accuracy on the highways was really bad. We were in a car with a sunroof, so there was no problem seeing the sky. But the marker was all over the map, and it was re-routing us onto a side road constantly. Really annoying to hear the voice instructions changing every 30 seconds.
- The iPod was absolutely unusable. While this was the first time that I was actually able to add songs and use the controls, the music skipped so badly that there was no point.
- Since we weren't in a major city during the whole trip, we were bouncing to Edge a lot. Navigon was just unbearable at this time. Every time it checked for traffic, the navigation paused and voice instructions were choppy/cut out. When the iPod was playing on Edge, it basically cut out every 2 seconds.
- I had to re-launch the app and/or reboot the phone multiple times because the text-to-speech just stopped. It does this a lot - the voice works great for a while, then you'll reach an interchange and the speech will stutter a bit (usually leaving out the most important thing - the exit name/road you need to use). Eventually, the voice will just stop altogether. I have yet to take a trip where it doesn't stop at some point.


I am pretty disappointed and close to asking for a refund. If you need a 3GS to run this monster, then they need to make that clear when you buy it. I should minimally be able to listen to my iPod and run Navigon at the same time. I can't on my 3G.