Built in Sat Nav- good idea?

btkm8unsl0w5r4

After a discussion on another thread about the Skoda Superb and its standard sat Nav. I am wondering if boardsies think that having built in Nav is better than a removable option.

flamegrill

The nice thing about the Superbs satnav is that it's built into the trip computer aswell. So instead of having to look at the radio screen in the dash to your left, you'll see the directions with meters left, what way to turn, what lane to be in etc in between your rev counter and speedo.

Having just bought a superb I had concerns, but this makes it all the better.

From the horses mouth.

Paul.

R.O.R

Adelaide Nutritious Grail wrote: »

After a discussion on another thread about the Skoda Superb and its standard sat Nav. I am wondering if boardsies think that having built in Nav is better than a removable option.

Personally, I'd never pay for manufacturer's Sat Nav unless it was very cheap, and only then because it will help the resale value of the car.

I've used the low spec and high spec offerings from BMW and Audi, along with the Merc and Opel systems. The display is no better than the €115 Garmin system which is spare in work. The coverage is the same as the Garmin and I don't like the way the voice commands cut over whatever you are listening to.

It took 3 discs in July last year for the dealer to provide the correct one for an xDrive X3, and if it needs updating (which it will fairly soon with all the new motorways being finished) it's usually at least €80 for the next disc. Portable ones usually conenct to the PC to update - not sure of cost, but there is normally a years free updates I think.

The low spec Audi system in the A6's has to have the disc in to function. Wouldn't be a problem if it had 2 players, but there is only the 1 in the glove box. If you have the Nav CD in, you can't listen to a music CD! It does have 2 SD card readers to get around the issue, but a lot of our A6 drivers are only just upgrading from Casette Tapes :P

Victor_M

flamegrill wrote: »

The nice thing about the Superbs satnav is that it's built into the trip computer aswell. So instead of having to look at the radio screen in the dash to your left, you'll see the directions with meters left, what way to turn, what lane to be in etc in between your rev counter and speedo.

Having just bought a superb I had concerns, but this makes it all the better.

From the horses mouth.

Paul.

There seems to be 2 types of sat navs available for the Superb, what is the difference between them? Are they both touch screen? Any type of iPhone integration kit available, other than the Bluetooth, I mean for music? And does the bluetooth come standard, does the phonebook transfer to the radio?
Sorry about the questions, just genuinely interested in one of these cars.

flamegrill

Victor_M wrote: »

There seems to be 2 types of sat navs available for the Superb, what is the difference between them? Are they both touch screen? Any type of iPhone integration kit available, other than the Bluetooth, I mean for music? And does the bluetooth come standard, does the phonebook transfer to the radio?
Sorry about the questions, just genuinely interested in one of these cars.

I went for the elegance so it's the only one I can talk about. Also I only got it Friday so I'm still learning all the tricks.

I have the columbas system. It has aux in, SD Card reader, Hard disk and plays cd's and mp3 cds. Can also copy mp3s to the hdd. Winner. When I hooked up my HTC phone it pulled in the last dialed, last missed, last received calls, the entire phone book (all 450 odd entries).

Again via the steering wheel you can get into the phone book and dial people, similar to what I said about the sat nav above. You can also tweak other settings like whether you want the return home lights on etc.

As for the iphone itself, not owning one I don't know. But it did a damn good job with my HTC.

It also can have a keypad on the radio screen itself (touch screen) where you can dial numbers, handy for not having to get up your phone. You can set quick dial numbers aswell which is an added bonus.

Paul

flamegrill

Victor, re: music from your iphone. You can use the Aux in port that's in the centre console for your iphone or other music player. It's a 3.5mm jack.

Paul

btkm8unsl0w5r4

Damn that Supurb is well specced......you pay a lot for those options from BMW, MB or Audi. I do however think that the benefit of built in sav nav is: I cant be robbed, you dont have to remove it to stop your windows getting smashed, it always charged, it neater, you dont have suction cups like a cabbie, and while it wont help reslae value it will help you get a sale over a non nav model.

Blazer

Remember I got the Sat-Nav in my Primera as I got the upgraded model.
It was ok to start with..however before long it was way out of day..
When I went to the dealer to get the newer model DVD he wanted €450..
the hell with that...much cheaper to use to my phone and Garmin maps on it...and it's upto date..
so beware of what your sat-nav uses...if you can upgrade it yourself via software it's ok...if it uses a dvd then basically forget about it..works out too expensive.

flamegrill

FYI your dealer isn't the only place you can get the upgrade disk. Also the dealer I bought from charged me didly all, as they got in 1 disk for all cars. If the dealers cop the hell on, then this should become more common place. Infact they probably are getting one disk in and riding everyone :-(

btkm8unsl0w5r4

Sat Nav Disc's are available from a range of sources. The dealers get "torrents" of abuse for trying to keep the "priates" at "bay".

flamegrill

Adelaide Nutritious Grail wrote: »

Sat Nav Disc's are available from a range of sources. The dealers get "torrents" of abuse for trying to keep the "priates" at "bay".

ROFL

Tea 1000

In-car sat navs are neat. However that's about all you can say. I don't know how people on boards use their sat navs, but myself, my family and all friends all use theirs when going on holidays, cause we tent to know our way around this country. I'd use mine in Dublin, that's all. I'll find everywhere else. But abroad it's invaluable.
Unfortunately, it's not easy to pack your car when going on a flight, so you're paying to store your in-dash sat nav in the long term car park, and also paying the rental company to hire one!
Portable sat nav's FTW!
On another note, the 3.5mm jack for aux input to car stereos - I can't believe they're advertising these as "iPod connectors" as if they're great! Such a cheapo option, it costs them around 1 cent to add. My first car, a 96 Civic had an Aux input in it's head unit by default. The fact that you have to pay for these now is laughable.

Owen

Adelaide Nutritious Grail wrote: »

I do however think that the benefit of built in sav nav is: I cant be robbed

Tell that to a BMW Dealer here in Ireland who had the iDrive, control units, jog dials and all other entertainment systems stolen from nearly every 5 series they had in stock a year or two ago.

I've got the BMW e46/X5 SatNav in my Rover 75 with the latest maps, and its fine. Is it worth the original 3000 Euro it would have been originally? No way. Car manufacturers need to realise if they dropped factory SatNav to 500/1000 Euro, they'd sell more, which would mean more overall profit.

I've got 2 other SatNavs, one on my iPhone from Navigon (Which graphically is the best I've ever seen), and a Garmin unit built into my JCW. They're both as good, if not better than the original BMW system.

rebel.ranter

I was considering doing a retrofit of the factory sat nav into the e39 5 Series but it was more about the challenge of doing it & changing the look of the centre console than the actual ability of the Sat Nav.
The €650 price tag for the various bits & pieces (2nd Hand) is a hard one to justify though as you could get two top of the range Garmins with plenty of change left over for that money.
I have read that the BMW system is not nearly as good as a standalone Garmin, even if you factor in the TV function witht he factory system it doesn't seem to be worth it (analogue TV will be switched to digital soon so that function will be redundant).

Then of course there is the fact that I rarely need to use of a Sat Nav, a compromise might be the iPhone version....

Harcrid

Forgive my ignorance on sat nav, but isnt there more to integrated sat nav units than your standard portable units?

As far as I am aware, integrated sat navs can use speed pulses taken from the car wheels which allow for a more accurate tracking and in theory can function without being able to receive a satellite signal.

Absurdum

The satnav part is usually crap - however they look good as cars without them often have an empty space (or filled in with storage space things), and integrated reverse cameras are useful.

Blazer

Celtxx wrote: »

Forgive my ignorance on sat nav, but isnt there more to integrated sat nav units than your standard portable units?

As far as I am aware, integrated sat navs can use speed pulses taken from the car wheels which allow for a more accurate tracking and in theory can function without being able to receive a satellite signal.

never heard of this and no mention of it in my hand book..
As fas as I know the only advantage is it's built into the display unit etc..
The Nissan one is excellent but it's updating is a load of bollíx and too expensive..
for the price of the DVD kit itself I could buy a top of the range Tom Tom or Garmin and get the updates needed as well..
For now I'm running it on my Nokia N96 (Garmin Maps) and it's excellent.

nogoodnamesleft

Rather than using an OEM option and paying through the nose for it you could get a decent offering from Pioneer and Kenwood for a double Din install in your dash, they even do adaptor plates for a range of vehicles to keep it need.

http://www.kenwood-electronics.co.uk/products/car/multimedia/multimedia/DNX5240BT/

They are around 700- 800 euro depending on model but they have a range of features, DVD player, Aux connection, Bluetooth for your phone, TV tuner, DVD player, The GPS uses TeleAtlas maps so the garmin map updates will work rather than paying car manufacture for them.

Whats the going rate for factory fit satnav as an option on say a BMW? 1-1.5k?