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I took the 200 tollway near DC and the GPS was completely lost. The toll road wasn't even on the map... Considering this is a 2013 car, one would think a toll road built a few years ago would be on the damn map.
The steering wheel controls observation makes sense for this head unit, but having seen the steering wheel controls I'm glad its not in my car. HIDEOUS. The joystick cruise control looks and feels better.
My major gripe about the Navi is that it doesn't let me search by city when using the voice commands. It automatically does 'greater Baltimore' rather than asking me for the city name. This leads to completely screwed up directions miles away from where I actually want to go, unless I pull over and manually enter the address. The POI search is also garbage for voice command unless you're just looking for a quick burger or the nearest hotel (extremely rare, I am almost always looking for an exact name and location). Otherwise, it navigates pretty well in most cases.
Bluetooth has worked fine for me and the call quality has been great. There has only been one time in the past few months where the bluetooth calling got totally screwed up somehow. I couldn't answer the call, my iPhone 4s was ringing alongside the car, and I had to reboot my phone to fix the problem. Once my phone's phonebook was downloaded to the car, calling by name is cake and the mic is pretty good.
Bluetooth audio with my iPhone (6.1.3) is clear but syncs up a bit slow at times. Annoying that I can only play/pause/forward/back and don't have full playlist control via bluetooth, but no biggie. iPod connection works pretty well, but the user interface of the head unit leaves a lot to be desired. No physical track buttons is annoying/distracting and the placement of buttons is bizarre. The size of the buttons are also tiny (which really backs up that 'designed for steering wheel controls' theory). I have to assume sheer laziness on the part of the manufacturer is why we don't at least have an option in the settings for bigger buttons and a more sensible layout. If a really awesome connected iCar head unit comes out, I may just replace the stock head unit, but the current gripes aren't severe enough for me to shell out $600+ for a new navi HU with possibly fewer features.
Oh, and the satellite reception is garbage unless you're driving on a huge open road with zero hills or trees. Audio cuts out completely during my drive to and from work in Maryland so I'm not really motivated to pay for an XM subscription. The traffic stuff almost never works and all of the fancy speed camera BS in the settings menu does absolutely nothing. I've been through numerous construction zones with cameras and got no warning. Seems like the only time traffic stuff works at all is in major metropolitan cities. I see warning icons on the screen, but rarely get voice alerts or alternate route suggestions.
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