2004 LS430 with no compass ?

Post by njbok
Well, after playing with all the new features on my (new to me) 04 LS430, I
started explaining them all to my wife. She took the car out today, and when
she returned she asked me where the compass is. (On the 02 ES we traded in,
it was up on the mirror.) I told her I'd look it up in the owners manual.
In the owners manual, it points out that the compass is displayed in the
center of the dash between the tach and speedometer, by pressing the DISP2
button "when so equipped". Each press of the DISP2 button toggles the
display from "Outside Temp", to "Compass", to Blank. Well, I suppose my LS
is not "so equipped", as I only get outside temp and Blank display with that
button. Another page of the manual has a description of "COMPASS (Vehicles
without Nav)". I have Nav, so I guess "No compass for me".
I suppose they feel that if you have that street map display on, you need
nothing more than that.
So, all these fancy (albeit cool) buttons, features, and info displays, but
they chose not to give us a simple "N", "E", etc.
Go figure

If your 2004 is like our 2002 LS430 w/ nav, the compas is in the nav
display. In the "heading up" mode (so you see the map with the car always
facing up on the screen), the compass 'needle' is in the upper left hand
corner of the nab display, with the red portion of the arrow showing which
compass direction you are headed in. In the 'North up' display mode, the
direction of the car (arrow on the screen representing the car) points in
the compass direction you are traveling. To switch between display modes,
touch the icon in the upper left corner of the screen which identifies the
current display mode.

I hope this is clear.

Xplant

njbok

2007-05-02 13:22:20 UTC

Post by Xplant
the compass 'needle' is in the upper left hand
corner of the nab display, with the red portion of the arrow showing which
compass direction you are headed in.

Yes, I did see that, but heck, I had that in my 02 ES, and STILL had a nice
big, clear bright green "N", "S", etc right up there on my mirror.

While a driver can look over and try to locate the little tiny compass
indicator on the Nav screen, it takes some doing and some good eyes to know
what direction you're headed at 65 mph. The big, bright green letters on
the mirror would have been nice. I mean, after all the ES had it.

I guess my point was, why skimp at THAT price, on an LS ?

Anyhow, I shouldn't complain, as I just love the LS !

Thanks for the response.

Max

2007-05-03 01:20:04 UTC

Post by Xplant
the compass 'needle' is in the upper left hand
corner of the nab display, with the red portion of the arrow showing which
compass direction you are headed in.

Yes, I did see that, but heck, I had that in my 02 ES, and STILL had a nice
big, clear bright green "N", "S", etc right up there on my mirror.
While a driver can look over and try to locate the little tiny compass
indicator on the Nav screen, it takes some doing and some good eyes to know
what direction you're headed at 65 mph. The big, bright green letters on
the mirror would have been nice. I mean, after all the ES had it.
I guess my point was, why skimp at THAT price, on an LS ?
Anyhow, I shouldn't complain, as I just love the LS !
Thanks for the response.

just press the compass on the display and the map will change to true
north.

Jay Somerset

2007-05-03 01:46:35 UTC

Post by Xplant
the compass 'needle' is in the upper left hand
corner of the nab display, with the red portion of the arrow showing which
compass direction you are headed in.

Yes, I did see that, but heck, I had that in my 02 ES, and STILL had a nice
big, clear bright green "N", "S", etc right up there on my mirror.
While a driver can look over and try to locate the little tiny compass
indicator on the Nav screen, it takes some doing and some good eyes to know
what direction you're headed at 65 mph. The big, bright green letters on
the mirror would have been nice. I mean, after all the ES had it.

Change your map setting to "North Up" -- it is then trivial to see
what direction you are going. Even at 65 mph & above. :-)
---
Jay (remove dashes for legal email address)

njbok

2007-05-03 02:01:13 UTC

Post by njbok
The big, bright green letters on
the mirror would have been nice. I mean, after all the ES had it.

Change your map setting to "North Up" -- it is then trivial to see
what direction you are going. Even at 65 mph & above. :-)

Ha,ha,..... Yeah, I know I can do that with the nav screen, but as I said,
my old ES with nav, also had the easy-to-read standalone compass on the
mirror. I would have thought that if any Lexus model would have BOTH, it
would be the LS430, not the ES300.

Don't get me wrong though, I'm not missing my ES300 at all.

:)

D.D. Palmer

2007-05-08 18:16:32 UTC

I have an '04 LS430 with NAV and from the beginning missed the dedicated,
stand alone, compass. One of the few design flaws of this vehicle.

Post by njbok
The big, bright green letters on
the mirror would have been nice. I mean, after all the ES had it.

Change your map setting to "North Up" -- it is then trivial to see
what direction you are going. Even at 65 mph & above. :-)

Ha,ha,..... Yeah, I know I can do that with the nav screen, but as I said,
my old ES with nav, also had the easy-to-read standalone compass on the
mirror. I would have thought that if any Lexus model would have BOTH, it
would be the LS430, not the ES300.
Don't get me wrong though, I'm not missing my ES300 at all.
:)

Charles Proctor

2007-07-26 08:46:12 UTC

I have noticed a tiny--easy to miss--button switch at the bottom of the
mirror on some models. Pressing it turns the mirror compass on and off.

Charles

Post by D.D. Palmer
I have an '04 LS430 with NAV and from the beginning missed the dedicated,
stand alone, compass. One of the few design flaws of this vehicle.

Post by njbok
The big, bright green letters on
the mirror would have been nice. I mean, after all the ES had it.

Change your map setting to "North Up" -- it is then trivial to see
what direction you are going. Even at 65 mph & above. :-)

Ha,ha,..... Yeah, I know I can do that with the nav screen, but as I said,
my old ES with nav, also had the easy-to-read standalone compass on the
mirror. I would have thought that if any Lexus model would have BOTH, it
would be the LS430, not the ES300.
Don't get me wrong though, I'm not missing my ES300 at all.
:)

Garth Coller

2008-01-27 14:24:43 UTC

If you drill down through the layered menus on the map display there is a
large scale compass (full screen) and global positioning info included in
the '04 LS 430 w/ nav and no compass.

Post by D.D. Palmer
I have an '04 LS430 with NAV and from the beginning missed the dedicated,
stand alone, compass. One of the few design flaws of this vehicle.