I have had pretty good success with our VR, I have had to repeat the odd command, but then I have not studied the VC check sheet or used the Voice command help screens on the navi yet.

 

I found that when I try to enter city names it does have trouble, but thats because I don't really pronounce the name as it's spelled. For example I live in Calgary and everyone tends to say Cal-Gree rather than Cal-Gary. If I make an effort to pronounce it Cal-Gary it works everytime.

 

Yeah I was about to say, I think the key is pronounciation of the city names they way they are spelled without slurring any of the speech. Be clear with your words and it should work fine.

 

You can also teach the system key words. I have to say that I have never used the system to any real extent. I find myself using the nice large buttons for most things.

 

I am guessing certain dialects would effect the accuracy of the VR as well. Just a thought.

 

Might be worth asking about that mic thing - made a huge difference for me. I think before I turned it up in the BMW it was missing parts of works. Like I would say "Niagara Falls" and it would give me "Sturgeon Falls" etc...

 

I haven't picked up my G yet (later today), but when the dealer demoed the VR for me, he gave the Nav vocal directions, and it worked very well.

I did notice that some capability of the Nav is not available while the vehicle is moving. For example, I noticed that the Nav's keyboard disappears once the vehicle starts moving. However, this "limited destination-setting capability while the vehicle is moving" problem is not specific to just the G35. I also test drove the Camry and the Lexus IS series, and their Nav seems to be even more limited when the car is moving. For example, if I recall correctly, the only POIs that you can set as destinations while the car is moving are emergency POIs. At least in the G35, you can lookup general POI categories such as restaurants (though it seems that you can't direct it to go directly to a specific POI such as "Outback" restaurant while the car is moving).

I have a portable Garmin Nuvi 350 GPS which I currently use for my non-Nav vehicle. I like the fact that you can do anything with it whether or not the car is moving. It's quite often, when going on a long car trip, that my wife and I would want to lookup a POI, such as a specific restaurant, while the car is moving; having to stop would be a major pain.

The fact that setting destinations is less flexbile in a moving car is disappointing. But, it seems that this issue isn't just on the G35. Other cars such as the Toyota and Lexus have the same (or more) restrictions. I can't comment on the Acura. I think this is not a technical issue, but the car manufacturers' lawyers worrying too much. If so, why not just put a disclaimer and let the user do what they want? Also, it's often times the passenger who can do the Nav-related work, and the passenger shouldn't be restricted from doing so!

I wonder if there is a hack for this... I know my dealer mentioned that there is a hack to let the auxiliary video input work while the car is moving....