Question: Chevrolet onboard GPS

[Flyboy]

Is there anyone that has mastered the use of the Navigation system in the C7? I have never had one that worked like a Garmin, Tom Tom, etc. But, this one is incredibly user unfriendly so far. I am reasonably electronically competent and do not have any issues with most systems, however, this programming is not intuitive and seems to be almost counter-intuitive. The proximity search for points of interest does not work until you are less than 5 miles away from the point and CIRI seems unable to understand me or my wife. We resorted to the voice commands after repeated unsuccessful on screen inputs. We input a query that generated bizarre responses. We typed in the name of a POI as directed in the manual and it gave us several options in other parts of the world! CIRI was no better, and repeatedly ask us to repeat the command.

 

[Huskerman]

Great......and you have the new easy to use version that is supposedly much better than the C6 setup.......did they give you a training vid to watch?

 

[Flyboy]

On board GPS

Not really, we did get an USB memory stick full of information about the C7, but it really did not provide much of anything in the way of useful information concerning the navigation system. My wife has worked on it while we were traveling and it works OK if you can give it an address to go to, but trying to find a point of interest such as a store, restaurant, etc. is almost impossible, and it never seems to function the same even with identical inputs. We were going by the mini dealership in Louisville to show off to our mini buddies so we put that in as a point of interest and it gave us a route in India or Asia I think. We tried CIRI, but that was even more frustrating. She does not respond well to no dumba__s either!

 

[67vet]

I haven't tried to "Find" anything with the NAV yet.
I plugged in addresses and didn't have any problem at all.

I like the 2D function better than the 3D but it is interesting to use.

 

[Flyboy]

I haven't tried to "Find" anything with the NAV yet.
I plugged in addresses and didn't have any problem at all.

I like the 2D function better than the 3D but it is interesting to use.

The 3D is really sort of weird and appears to simply add clutter from my experience. Yes, address to address routing is clunky but useable. However, the find function if you are looking for a place to eat, lodging, etc. is worthless from our initial experiences. We tried manual and voice input with equally bad results. Maybe I/we have been spoiled by Garmin's ease of use. We also have the iPad maps. If I was going to buy one again I might consider the 2LT package over the 3 as it is close in the quality of the interior, but does not have the expense of the navigation system added.

 

[Down8]

Not really, we did get an USB memory stick full of information about the C7, but it really did not provide much of anything in the way of useful information concerning the navigation system. My wife has worked on it while we were traveling and it works OK if you can give it an address to go to, but trying to find a point of interest such as a store, restaurant, etc. is almost impossible, and it never seems to function the same even with identical inputs. We were going by the mini dealership in Louisville to show off to our mini buddies so we put that in as a point of interest and it gave us a route in India or Asia I think. We tried CIRI, but that was even more frustrating. She does not respond well to no dumba__s either!

What is "CIRI"?

-bZj

 

[Flyboy]

What is "CIRI"?

-bZj

It (female voice) is the voice activated command system. It seems to have issues with voice recognition. At first I thought maybe it was just my Kentucky accent, but my wife is from Canada and it had trouble recognizing her vocal responses as well.

 

[Flyboy]

Update on navigation system

We took the new toy to the dealership yesterday and met with two technicians for the electronics and navigation systems in the C7. The first one really didn't know much more than we had already figured out, but the 2nd one, who was the one that provided us with the original flash drive with some systems information was really helpful. First for point-to-point navigation you must have perfectly entered data to find the address. We input the data from the dealership into the GPS and it returned an address not found issue. Then we tried a search for Chevrolet dealers in the vicinity and it did not return a hit for the dealership either. It did identify another location for the same dealer in a different city. When we met with the service technicians at the dealership we made a couple of discoveries. First, the address on the website of the dealer is incorrect! Secondly, the dealership is also a Buick dealership and we got it when we queried for Buick. Since the sales for Chevrolet are considerably more than their Buick sales we suggested they change their tags for hits. When using the voice activated searches speak very distinctly and precisely with minimal verbiage. When searching for restaurants don't say restaurants, but rather just say, "food". Be concise and focus on key words. Also, the system is not updated frequently and can be several years behind on information. Attempts to update it on the GM website have proven fruitless and aggravating as there is a noticeable lack of useful technical support. It requires multiple steps for simple tasks which is frustrating while driving and it really requires two people to input much data while traveling. It proved daunting to enter anything while actually driving and pulling over on an interstate highway really isn't a desirable option. On backroads finding a spot to pull over is a little less intimidating. We decided that we can make it work with the two of us attacking the problems simultaneously and collaborating to achieve the desired results. However, we are including our trusty Garmin Nuvi on all of our trips as a backup.

 

[Flyboy]

Update on search

Today my navigator discovered via trial and error methodology that you can find specific vicinity points of interest by going to POI on the screen then touch the search feature and it will display the keyboard. You can type in the specific, spelled correctly POI and it will display it and offer the option of going to it. It must be completely correct for it to work. As an example you cannot type in Logan's Restaurant, it must be Logan's Roadhouse, etc. The infotainment booklet lacks clarity on many of the navigation system and other features such as exit/entry convenience mode and we have yet to determine how it is FOB specific. But, we are continuing to work through it with trial and error methodology. It's sort of a pain as Chevrolet does not appear to use a consistent programming approach, but everything apparently functions as it should if you use the right command sequence and terminology. We have watched the online video presentations and they are informative and helpful, but woefully inadequate for understanding the complex electronic technology systems on this automobile. That said, we love this car so far and we are already planning what we want on our next one! The C7 is a technological marvel.