Had delivery of a new E60 last week after many weeks of waiting (or at least it seemed that way).

Very pleased with the car - both a fantastic drive and very comfortable, however I was very disappointed with the Professional Navigation-system.

Compared to the sat nav in my Mini, the graphics aren't as good and it seems to take an age to calcualte a route.

I also find that the TMC isn't as useful*. In the E60, I'm told that there are problems on my route - end of story. Whereas the Mini tells me there are problems, where the problems are and the expected delay. I know the E60 has dynamic routing, but having spent an hour sat in traffic last week, I didn't think it did very much.

(* this may be due to my in-experience with the car - I'm still working my way through the manual)

Is all this normal? I guess I just had higher expectations given how good the new navigation software is in the Mini (see A New Look For The MINI's Nav).

John

Nav on my e60 is also very slow. I hate it for that reason alone.

I dont think there is a big difference in graphics (don't know about the speed of calculating).

If you get "problems on your route" message, go to "traffic information" to get full details. If you have voice command, just press the voice button and say "traffic information" and you'll get there.

I have the business nav and am always surprised at how slow the pro nav is by comparison when I've had it in a loan car. TMC is not brilliant in UK - you can see what the problems are and where they are (in the map screen), but more often than not, when you get there, the hold up has disappeared. I treat the warnings a bit like the overhead warnings on motorways - useful advice but not to be taken as gospel.

If I had had the option, I still think I would have opted for the pro nav - despite being slower, it is that much more sophisticated. BTW, there was a marked increase in speed on a late 05 645i nav which I tried compared to a late 04 535D. Perhaps the next software upgrade will speed it up for you.

Don't you find the most irritating thing with the nav system, though, is when you are quite happy for it to negotiate its way to your destination, which it does very well IMHO, only to have your passenger constantly telling you that you are going the long way round, or "I wouldn't have taken you that way - stupid car!"?

I'm getting the nav system for my US E60 - will i be getting a system comparable to business or pro nav for the UK?

does everyone have problems with a slow Nav in the States - are the new systems on the 2006 builds faster?????


i hope my 1800.00 wasn't spent in vain...

The navigation system in North America is the same as pro nav in the UK.

I love my nav system. I use it all the time -- even if I know where I'm going! I don't have any complaints about the speed.

My only complaint is when looking for a destination from the "Information" screen, you can't search by name. You typically have to scroll through a list of potential destinations based on one of several categories.

I've found the "calculating route" step to be very slow too. :thumbsdown: I would say it takes 10-12 seconds, or longer sometimes. I put an MK4 Nav computer in my 740 and comparable calculations were nearly instant.

However, the address input is fantastic with this computer ... it's very quick to deduce city or street names. :) And when you drive off-route, the computer seems to pick it up quickly and recalculates a new route in just a few seconds. :) I'm not sure why this would be quicker than the initial calculation, but it is. :think:

Another short-coming, as rob525i points out, is the Information screen. I wanted to find a parking garage today near my destination and I had to navigate down 7 layers of hell to find that option burried in some deep, dark corner of the menu sub-system. Hey BMW software engineers - this is a car, see, and it needs only 3 things: roads to drive on, gas stations, and 100% of the time when you arrive somewhere you need a place to park. :thumbsdown:

I love HUD with navigation ... very cool feature. :wub:

All-in-all, the navigation system works well. I think I'll keep it. :P

Well the Nav in the E60 may not be perefect but we also have a 2005 Lexus GX470 with NAV and a 2005 SL55 with NAV and overall they all have pluses and minuses but we find the E60 no less usable than the others. In order of speed and accuracy I would rate them in this order...Lexus, BMW then Mercedes. And the BMW takes the lead with the HUD option.

I have been very impresed with the Pro Nav in general

Certainly worth it. But beware the ripoff prices for DVD updates. Buy on e-bay and save ?200

I would agree - I love the lexus nav on my rx330 but the HUD definitely makes it unique -

Does the HUD display the street names as you drive or only whether to go left or right?????