onboard nav kinda sucks, right?

[Carolo]

No, onboard navigation does not "suck"! Having to use other devices, including phones, is what sucks! I'm old enough to remember fold out maps, and worse yet, stopping at a gas station to check the map on their wall. I will never again use a GPS (Garmin), phone app, map book, or 3rd party guidance system for my travels. I like my Badlands system. Y'all use whatever all y'all like, I'm happy!

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[MJE]

No, onboard navigation does not "suck"! Having to use other devices, including phones, is what sucks! I'm old enough to remember fold out maps, and worse yet, stopping at a gas station to check the map on their wall. I will never again use a GPS (Garmin), phone app, map book, or 3rd party guidance system for my travels. I like my Badlands system. Y'all use whatever all y'all like, I'm happy!

A little later than using fold out maps & stopping to buy them at the gas station (actually I’d forgotten they used to post maps on the wall) or get road atlases, anybody remember printing out maps on map quest to take on your trip? That was amazing at the time. Honestly I think the onboard is just fine, though I expect it to not have as many POI’s as google.

 

[Ysanlayla]

I just picked up my Badlands 4 days ago after 5 month wait. I've tested Nav on almost every outing so far. Works Great for me. I learned to use paper maps when I was 6 and still love them, but my BS BL Navagaion is wonderful, works great, every time so far.

 

[RS1]

Do you have “avoid hiways enabled “?

I'm a 10+ year long user of Garmin, so I am biased.

But the Ford nav is bad compared to Garmin. The map options aren't as good. The navigation isn't as intuitive. It works, but if you really, truly don't know where you're going, and have some idea of the roads you need to be on, it will have you take an exit and follow three surface streets to get on another highway instead of going two more exits and using the exit ramp for the road you wanted. This is a result of being forced to set a specific route goal of Eco, Miles, Time. It doesn't use more logic than that, so if a curvy, windy road will save 1 min, it will divert off a main road for that back road.

It's also very, very stubborn about detours. If a road is closed (this happened to me), it will insist you take every possible turn to get back on the routes, even turn on any dead end and u-turn. I had to take a 50 mile detour and I basically had to turn off the Nav because it only insisted I go back to the closed road. The detours were all variants of using a few streets that... you guessed it, lead back to a closed road.

The Garmin lets you block off a section and say "never drive there". The POI just feel better categorized and it's less steps to set a destination. Though if you're willing to do the extra fiddling, the Ford is pretty good at setting multiple destinations, or having the Nav calculate how to make all the stops.

Waze is decent, but the linking to the Bronco Sync3 display is subpar. If it had a native Waze app and you could put the phone aside, that would be OK. But they couldn't sell Nav upgrades if you could just put a free app on it.

As a specific example. If I am going from X to O, the Ford nav will try to get me to follow orange, then pink (and every other road too) instead of just going green on the highway. I don't want to look at cows. I don't want to get stuck behind a tractor on the back road. I don't want to take all the turns and stop signs just to save a half mile. Especially the dangerous left across the highway where pink meets green. The Nav disagrees.

 

[Glamdring70]

Do you have “avoid hiways enabled “?

No. The last time I actually used the nav to find someplace instead of just tracking arrival time, it actually cost me 30 minutes because it kept diverting me back to Interstate 5 instead of using another route that I intended. I ended up making one of those phony turnoffs and had to get back onto the other route I planned.

And to expand on the previous post, the Ford/Sirius nav is also inferior because unlike Garmin or Google maps/Carplay you have to specify addresses and not business names. Oh sure, some are built in. Major chains and fast food. Most places come up empty on the search and you end up finding the address somewhere else and inputting that, or just using another app.

 

[Elegance]

You guys talking about using paper maps makes me feel like a baby. I'm in the generation where my parents used paper maps when I was a kid, but when I was finally able to drive, it was electronic GPS units. Eventually phones could do it by the time I graduated high school. I remember using my first android phone to drive from RI to WV where I was attending college, astounded by the Bluetooth capability of my 2013 Hyundai Accent, my first car.

That being said, on-board navigation will always be behind the times compared to Google Maps. Maps gets updates constantly for ease of use. Ford will hardly ever update their navigation unless they're fixing a persistent bug that significantly impacts function. Android auto makes a lot more sense to use, at least in my mind, if you want a more reliable and intuitive system.

 

[JerryC]

Didn't read all the other posts, apologize if this had been said.

Voice search is super fast on Waze or Google maps through Android Auto compared to the built in Nav.

Waze has never failed to find my destination. Built in Nav has several times. Just as Glam said above, built in Nav needs a street address when Waze can find it by name.

Waze traffic and hazard reporting is far better than the built in Nav.

 

[Carolo]

You guys talking about using paper maps makes me feel like a baby. I'm in the generation where my parents used paper maps when I was a kid, but when I was finally able to drive, it was electronic GPS units. Eventually phones could do it by the time I graduated high school. I remember using my first android phone to drive from RI to WV where I was attending college, astounded by the Bluetooth capability of my 2013 Hyundai Accent, my first car.

That being said, on-board navigation will always be behind the times compared to Google Maps. Maps gets updates constantly for ease of use. Ford will hardly ever update their navigation unless they're fixing a persistent bug that significantly impacts function. Android auto makes a lot more sense to use, at least in my mind, if you want a more reliable and intuitive system.

By "phones could do it", I suspect you mean "cellphones". Be aware that cellphones appeared just before I retired. Finally, I have a car that does everything for me except, maybe wipe my bum, and I'm not gonna be surprised if it even does that, and I am not gonna deprive it of doin whatever it wants to do for my comfort! Besides, I still have a Flip-phone that doesn't do apps.

 

[Ponyrider]

After two debacles with Ford nav, I find I prefer android auto when travelling back roads. But I spend a fair amount of time in areas with no cell service. Nothing perfect.

 

[Tall Timbers]

What's unfortunate is having to pay for updates to the onboard NAV system. When I'm on a long trip I often use two NAV systems to help me weed out bad calls by one or the other. Google maps used to be the most trustworthy, but over the last year my Garmin GPS wins the prize for being most trustworthy. The onboard is usually too dated as I won't pay to update.

 

[RS1]

Not all nav systems are foolproof. There is a section of the expressway, and I use that term very loosely, where all the systems I have used take you off to only get back on the expressway. Makes no sense unless it allegedly saves 1 second in travel time. I ignore it because I know where I am but if you are in unfamiliar territory it could be bad for you.

 

[Area51BS]

Just did a road trip and hated the onboard NAV. Always behind. Won’t tell you to turn until you are at the turn. Phone NAV will say take your second left or similar. It’s also very bad if roads fork. Refuses to change a route. Twice I wanted to go a different way recommended by phone NAV and the built in would not change to that route until 30 minutes in. Went through all settings. I’m now happy my Maverick doesn’t have it built in.

 

[Mark S.]

I'm old enough to remember fold out maps, and worse yet, stopping at a gas station to check the map on their wall.

I note that you didn’t mention “Ask for directions.”

 

[Slewis95407]

I note that you didn’t mention “Ask for directions.”

You guys talking about using paper maps makes me feel like a baby. I'm in the generation where my parents used paper maps when I was a kid, but when I was finally able to drive, it was electronic GPS units. Eventually phones could do it by the time I graduated high school. I remember using my first android phone to drive from RI to WV where I was attending college, astounded by the Bluetooth capability of my 2013 Hyundai Accent, my first car.

That being said, on-board navigation will always be behind the times compared to Google Maps. Maps gets updates constantly for ease of use. Ford will hardly ever update their navigation unless they're fixing a persistent bug that significantly impacts function. Android auto makes a lot more sense to use, at least in my mind, if you want a more reliable and intuitive system.

Short trips I use Waze. Off road I use Gaia. All other times I still prefer Garmin.

 

[HomePeace]

Short trips I use Waze. Off road I use Gaia. All other times I still prefer Garmin.

wait you have your Garmin stacked on top? Doesn't that get in your field of view?

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