A Kitchen with a View
A friend invited me over for lunch yesterday. She has a beautiful house located somewhere in a maze of twisty roads. I hadn't been there in a few years. Perfect chance to use my navigation.
At lunch time I got to my Lexus with no extra time. I rushed to enter the address into the navigation system before starting to drive. As you know, the Lexus navigation system locks down while the car is moving so addresses must be entered before driving. I started the car and entered the address. Street number, Street Name... and then ding. It didn't like my street number. The error was that the street number wasn't in the database. In my wife's Acura the navigation system shows you valid number ranges while you type. Sadly this doesn't happen with Lexus. I pulled out my iPhone and got the right number. Had to re-enter all the data. Finally, the address was accepted. I had now spent about 5 minutes with my car idling.
Next the system asks if I want to "replace" or "add" the destination. I understand that some people have multiple destinations but really how many people is that? I would never have time to enter multiple addresses into the system. One time I hit "add" and boy that was a mistake. The system entered into a hellish multiple destination mode that I couldn't figure out how to cancel out of. It was one of those "OMG what is this thing doing?" moments.
To me "add" sounds more friendly than "replace." In computer speak "replace" means delete something. It might do something like swap out one of my saved destinations. Naturally I'm afraid of commands like replace. In this case, I think "replace" is the right thing to do though. So I reluctantly use it.
Next I have to press "guide." There are other options like "route" and things that I can't remember now. I know to press guide because I've pressed all the other options before and they didn't do what I wanted.
Anyway, so now I'm on my way. The system is saying "continue to follow the road..." However, I don't actually need the navigation now. So I hit menu and "suspend guidance."
When I get near the start of the maze I hit menu and "resume guidance" to start the guidance again. It does help me find her house. I get there late.
I wonder if using my iPhone navigation would have been faster.
At lunch time I got to my Lexus with no extra time. I rushed to enter the address into the navigation system before starting to drive. As you know, the Lexus navigation system locks down while the car is moving so addresses must be entered before driving. I started the car and entered the address. Street number, Street Name... and then ding. It didn't like my street number. The error was that the street number wasn't in the database. In my wife's Acura the navigation system shows you valid number ranges while you type. Sadly this doesn't happen with Lexus. I pulled out my iPhone and got the right number. Had to re-enter all the data. Finally, the address was accepted. I had now spent about 5 minutes with my car idling.
Next the system asks if I want to "replace" or "add" the destination. I understand that some people have multiple destinations but really how many people is that? I would never have time to enter multiple addresses into the system. One time I hit "add" and boy that was a mistake. The system entered into a hellish multiple destination mode that I couldn't figure out how to cancel out of. It was one of those "OMG what is this thing doing?" moments.
To me "add" sounds more friendly than "replace." In computer speak "replace" means delete something. It might do something like swap out one of my saved destinations. Naturally I'm afraid of commands like replace. In this case, I think "replace" is the right thing to do though. So I reluctantly use it.
Next I have to press "guide." There are other options like "route" and things that I can't remember now. I know to press guide because I've pressed all the other options before and they didn't do what I wanted.
Anyway, so now I'm on my way. The system is saying "continue to follow the road..." However, I don't actually need the navigation now. So I hit menu and "suspend guidance."
When I get near the start of the maze I hit menu and "resume guidance" to start the guidance again. It does help me find her house. I get there late.
I wonder if using my iPhone navigation would have been faster.
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