Destination/Location/Route confusion

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Rat

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 25, 2010
Messages
977
Location
Silicon Valley
I have a quibble with the Leaf's navigation interface. The other day my wife and I were going to an event at the home of a relative of a friend, a place we'd never been to and would not be likely ever to go again. I looked it up on Google Maps (GM) and found it to be a bit tricky, with lots of turns on or near streets with similar names. I tried to use GM's Send to Car feature, which normally works fine, but got a message that it was unable to send the address to Nissan. I tried several times over the next hour or so without luck. Rather than trying to enter it into the Leaf's screen while driving, or asking my wife to do it (which hasn't worked out well in the past), I went into the garage, turned on the Leaf, and entered the address in by hand. That went fine. When I got to the end, it asked me what i wanted to do with the address. Since I wasn't leaving just then, I pushed Store Location.

When we left I started driving without navigation on, since I don't like to listen to it tell me the first bunch of things to do just to get out of my own neighborhood. Once I was nearing needing the navigation aid, I pushed the map button and destinations. There was an option to retrieve previous destinations and stored routes, but none to retrieve a stored location. I searched all over maps and menus for a way, got in an argument with my wife who also couldn't find a way, and finally gave up. I managed to get to my destination from memory, although with a few extra turns, including a couple of U-turns. (If you're wondering, neither of us has a smart phone).

When I got home I read through the Nav manual and learned that locations are not destinations. I should have pushed Set Destination instead of Store Location. Locations are not accessible from the Navigation screen, although I have no idea why one would want addresses stored in a car if they aren't to be used as destinations. To see a stored location one must leave the navigation screen and go to the Settings screen (Settings? Really?) From there, select Address Book, something not mentioned when I pushed the store location button. Perhaps when one gets there, there is an option to set the location as a destination. If not, the concept of an address book is totally idiotic. Why in the world would one not be able to select a stored address, whether called a location or destination, when trying to navigate? What is their point otherwise? The Set Destination and Store Location options are right next to each on the Nav screen when you enter the address in the first place. They should be next to each other when you try to retrieve them. Perhaps I'm just a dummy, but this is abysmal UI design, in my opinion.

Of course, if the Send to Car function had been working, this all could have been avoided. I suppose the lesson to be learned is not to use any function on the Leaf for the first time when you actually need it without having first read the manual. You can't rely on the interface to guide you.
 
That pretty much sums up my experience as well. Thankfully, I live in a small community and don't really need this stuff. I feel for you though. Development around here means that I'm routinely "driving" out into an empty space on the map.
 
I agree that the interface is very unfriendly, but have a question which might hijack the thread. Sorry, but it does have to do with the Nav System.

We make a trip out of town by a 100 miles or so "out there" a few times a year. When go "out there" we use the LEAF spy pro app and the LEAF Nav system in conjunction with each other. The Nav system will tell us how many miles we have to go to get to our destination. LEAF spy pro gives us a good handle of the energy we have left to get there. Last month on one of these trips, we ran into an unusual problem. We charge at two different RV parks. We use the Nav and LEAF spy apps to figure out how long we'll charge. At each of the RV parks, the number of miles to our destination changed drastically when we pulled out of the park. It added 30% more miles at one park and 100% more miles at another. In the first case, we were going to an area with many chargers available so we stopped in for another bit of charging. However for the second instance, the miles to our destination changed from 12 to 24! and we were "out there" so no choice but to return to the RV park and charge for a while longer.

I wonder what is happening. Could it be a 2G thing? We've done the same trip several times with this Nav method and this hasn't come up so something must be different. Any ideas?
 
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