[rwisleder]

I'm Bob from the Boston area, retired Electronics Engineer. Purchased my Clarity last June and have just over 6,000 miles. Drove it to FL a couple weeks ago for our 8-week winter escape! This was our first significant use of gas since I couldn't charge it along the 1500 mile trip. It's a fun car to drive, especially when it's on battery! For long drives, however, the frequent stops to fill that little 7 gal. tank are a bit of a nuisance.

Couple things about the Garmin Nav that bug me, and I've used Garmin GPS's happily for years. Biggest annoyance is the map seems to be horribly out of date. I updated it last summer shortly after we got the car. Since then, I've tried a couple more times and the result indicates that I have the latest map. Frustrating.

Second problem is the EV Charge Stations button on the Where To screen. That search never finds anything, even when I know there are compatible charge facilities nearby. I can use ChargePoint on my cell phone, but don't like to do that when on the road.

I'll be taking it in for its first service when I get back to the Northeast, and will have the dealer install all the TSB fixes which hopefully will resolve some of this. Overall, my wife and I both really like the car.

Happy EV driving!

Bob

 

[Gunslingerheel]

I am assuming you have driven it in some cold Boston weather so what's your EV mileage during really cold weather?

 

[rwisleder]

I don't have accurate data for that, but I'd estimate low 40's, about a 10 mile drop from warm weather.

 

[2002]

Have you tried using Google Maps on the Honda screen? It can be used instead of the built in Nav system and is far superior. I also am a longtime Garmin user and prefer the Garmin interface and usability, but even if you have a current Garmin database it cannot compare to Google Maps which is nearly 100% accurate and up to date all the time. And Google Maps has excellent up to the minute traffic data and will provide alternate routes. This works so well that I use it for even my local drives if I will be on a freeway as it will alert me to traffic jams and offer different routes.

Maybe you know how to get Google Maps on the screen but I will provide details anyway for those who don't know how. First if you have never used Google Maps I recommend try it first on your PC as that is easier to learn on. It's the same concept as Garmin but the interface is different, so try a simple search for a destination and then a route to it from your home.

Now pull up Google Maps on your phone and do the same search. It will be a little different than the PC, more cramped like everything is on phones, but it is similar enough to the PC version that you can figure out how to do the same simple route.

Okay now for using it on your Honda screen. To do this you need to install an app on your phone, for Android phones you need Android Auto (available from Google Play store), for iPhone you need Apple CarPlay which is available in the app store (both are free). After installing the app on your phone, you plug in your phone to the USB port on your Clarity. This is the only way the apps will work. And you must plug into the USB port on the driver side, not the passenger side. And you cannot use the 12V cigarette lighter plug either (for those who remember why we call them that).

After plugging in your phone to the driver side USB port you will now have a new option on the Honda screen which is Android Auto (or Apple CarPlay). Select it and it will do a one-time confirmation for your phone, then that's it. On the screen you can select Google Maps and you will see that it works very similar to, but not exactly like the phone version.

The reason I had you try it first on your phone is because you will find that usually it is easier to search a destination on your phone than on the screen. And you can search the destination on your phone while you are still inside the house, or inside a store, or wherever. Then when you plug your phone into your Clarity and pull up Google Maps the destination is already available on the screen to select. Even better, on your phone click "Start" to begin navigating your route, do this before plugging in the phone, then when you plug in your phone Google Maps will automatically appear on the screen with your route started.

Note that while your phone is plugged in you cannot use Google Maps on your phone, although you can use your phone for other things. So while plugged in if you want to search a destination you have to search using the Honda screen, which is okay but not quite as easy as on the phone. What I often do is simply unplug the phone, then search the destination on the phone, then plug it back into the USB port and the destination is now on the screen. Of course do this only when not driving.

Again maybe you know all of this already but this information might help someone else.