PatsSoxfan

We drove into downtown Detroit earlier this evening and I was anxious to try out the XM live traffic feature on my new LS. We were heading into Greek Town for some great food when we hit a horrible traffic jam. Evidently, traffic heading to the Motor City Bowl, the Red Wings, and an opera combined to bring about one of the worst traffic jams I had ever encountered. All these events were close to Greek Town. The disappointing thing was that I did not hear a beep from XM about this terrible mess. I was under the impression that it is suppose to give you live updates. The screen was indicating areas to avoid by the use of an icon, but there was nothing indicating a major problem in the area were were in. And of course there was no voice guidance in the area. Interestingly enough, after we managed through the long ordeal and after we had a great deal the drive west on I-94, the XM lady comes on and tells us that there was heavy traffic ahead about 15 miles west of Detroit on the I-275 exit. We did not encounter any heavy traffic. So, what gives here? Why weren't we warned of the terrible traffic in downtown Detroit? And what about the trip west on I-94? Where was the traffic there?

This was my first real chance to see how the live traffic updates work. On our 600 mile plus trip to Detroit last Saturday, we did not go through Chicago (passed south on I-80) and I did not really know how the XM live traffic update worked. My daughter's house is about 25 miles west of downtown Detroit. I could see, that the nav screen had different colors on some roads in the Detroit area and also some traffic information icons. When I would touch the icon a voice would come on and tell me about the problem there. But I sure expected a lot more when we drove into Detroit itself for the first time. Is XM falling asleep or what?

Rocman

It will only tell you if there is traffic problems if you are using the nav and have a destination already input into the system. It will not just see where you are and tell you there is traffic. It would be great if it did, but it doesn't. If I know where I am going, I always put it into the nav so I can bypass any traffic it knows about.

zzzzdoc

Interesting. Didn't know that. Of course my wife will think it's geeky to always input the destination, but traffic is traffic.

How does the system work regarding calculating detours around the traffic. Does it give you options, or how exactly does it handle that?

rominl

iTrader: (4)

from my experience it automatically re-routes you, at least it didnt' give me choices on the route. couple of times i was on freeway coming to a stand still, the nav will suddenly re-route and asked me to get on different freeways or get off to local roads. and then couple exits later it wil route me back to the original road

i didn't touch anything except putting my destination before i started driving and enable traffic re-route in the menu

PatsSoxfan

This is all starting to make sense now. I did not input a destination heading into downtown. However, on the way back to my daughter's house, I touched the Quick access point I had registered for her house. Now I know why a voice cam on and told us there was some heavy traffic near the I-275 exit (even though I did not see any heavy traffic there).

Thanks folks! For the fun of it, I will make the trip toward downtown here in about an hour just to test the system. This time I will input a destination.

Rocman

When I have my destination in the system and I approach traffic, the nav asks me if I want to divert to avoid the traffic. It is optional, and will not automatically do it.

I think Henry got the next generation nav.

ironhorse

how do you turn on the enable traffic re-route on the Nav screen I never saw it in the book?

Mike_TX

Whoa, whoa, whoa, WHOA!!!

I'm sorry, but the XM NavTraffic in my 2 Acuras shows traffic data whether there is a destination entered or not.

PLEASE someone tell me these guys are wrong, and that you DON'T have to have a destination entered to get traffic info in the LS. I understand about re-routing you, since you'd have to have a route working to get re-routed. But I can go out right now and look at my Nav and see where traffic accidents are with no destination set at all.

(And to the OP, one thing you will learn is that XMTraffic is not always up-to-date on alerts and flow data. When you think about it, it takes time for traffic issues to 1. get reported, 2. get verified by XM, 3. get entered into the XM database, and 4. get uploaded to the satellite and broadcast to the end-users. By the same token, accidents that are cleared will often still show as still active for awhile afterwards.)

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PatsSoxfan

Mike TX, it does show traffic information on the Nav screen, but I was wondering why there was no voice guidance from XM. Evidently, you need to enter a destination to have voice guidance. BTW, I just got back from another trip to downtown Detroit and wouldn't you know it. There was absolutely no traffic problems at all. So, I never got a voice guidance lady. I'm sure it works though now that I know the trick.

Rocman

I have NEVER seen any traffic info displayed without using the nav. I can be mistaken, especially since my wife always tells me so, but I have seriously never seen any traffic info displayed with normal driving. How could it tell you about traffic 2 miles ahead if you have the nav focused in at 1/8 mile?

PatsSoxfan

Rocman, as long as you enabled the XM nav traffic from the menu, it will graphically show you traffic info. Obviously, if you are zoomed in to 1/8 of a mile, it will only show you traffic info within that scale. Unless I am inside a city proper, I usually have it at 1 or 2 mile scale. You also have to remember that only a select number of cities have the XM live traffic info. They are adding more and more with time.

Mike_TX

Wow, I'm feeing better already. With my Acura nav systems, there is a range of zoom scales where traffic info is shown. That range is 1/2 mile to 5 miles, and the "operational range" of NavTraffic is shown by way of a scale at the bottom of the screen while you are zooming. Here is an example I just shot at the 5 mile range, and it shows a couple of accidents over on the right side of the screen, designated by yellow diamonds with an exclamation point inside.

Note that I have no destination set - this info is available at all times.

I'm hoping you're saying this is also the case with the Lexus system (?)

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PatsSoxfan

Yes, this is what I am saying Mike.

Indio

iTrader: (1)

I'm sure you are right Mike, my three year old Avic-N2 shows traffic and construction problems within a 5-10 mile radius, unacceptable if the LS does not.

Rocman

I'll try it this weekend.