Disapointed with the Sat Nav
11-01-2005, 03:56 PM
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Originally Posted by BMWFan' date='Nov 1 2005, 05:50 PM
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.
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- Sean
11-01-2005, 05:08 PM
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My Ride: 2005 545i Black Sapphire, BLK Anthracite. STEPTRONIC, NAV, Cold wthr Pack., Logic 7, Style 116, Bluetooth, Moto v710, CIP 18.x
I had a 2002 540i w/ navigation and I could say "Gas stations at current location" or "Parking at current location" and up would pop my choices along with mileage and direction. You can't do that with this system(at least not that I have figured out), you must say "information", and manually find the station or garage.
11-02-2005, 11:46 AM
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My Ride: 2010 550i M Sport Package - Alpine White/Blk Nasca Leather, Premium hi-fi system, Sat Radio, Nav, Cold Weather Package, Value Package, Shift Paddles, Comfort Access keyless entry, Power rear Sunshade, Front Ventilated seats, Split fold-down rear seats, Heated rear seats, Automatic high beams
One small feature i like added that's missing: When I'm zoomed at 800FT I like to look ahead to see what streets name are coming up by moving the joystick around.
11-02-2005, 12:38 PM
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Originally Posted by Mercy' date='Nov 2 2005, 08:46 PM
One small feature i like added that's missing: When I'm zoomed at 800FT I like to look ahead to see what streets name are coming up by moving the joystick around.
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I just picked up my shiny new e60 today and the pro nav is quite quick (dealer said I had the latest software). However the womens voice is crud. On my old 7 the voice used to be sexy, sweet and human - on the e60 its a bit butch and robotic.
11-03-2005, 12:37 AM
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My Ride: 05 530d M Sport Saloon; Auto; Silver Grey; Navigation System Professional; Sun Protection Glass; M Rear Spoiler; No Model Inscription; Bluetooth Telephone Preparation; BMW 6 Disc CD Changer
Originally Posted by SKK' date='Nov 2 2005, 10:38 PM
[quote name='Mercy' date='Nov 2 2005, 08:46 PM']One small feature i like added that's missing: When I'm zoomed at 800FT I like to look ahead to see what streets name are coming up by moving the joystick around.
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I just picked up my shiny new e60 today and the pro nav is quite quick (dealer said I had the latest software). However the womens voice is crud. On my old 7 the voice used to be sexy, sweet and human - on the e60 its a bit butch and robotic.
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[/quote]I agree - on the Mini we have a very nice female voice, compared to the robotic E60.
I've also noticed that the E60 will say things like "take the 2nd exit at the next roundabout". In a similar situation the Mini will say "straight over at the next roundabout".
The Mini also has very acurate overhead maps (i.e. those maps that show the actual junctions when you're just a few hundred yards away) - the E60 just approximates the juction.
11-03-2005, 11:04 AM
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Originally Posted by groovemasterj' date='Oct 31 2005, 01:16 PM
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
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
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Whenever you use the controller it feels as if its not connected to the system. The address input reaction time is a joke and route calculating seems to take as long as the journey itself. :thumbsdown: The Nav Bus in my last E60 was superb, ok it had no maps, frills and big screen, but the commands from the controller were instantaneous and the route calculations were done in about 2 seconds. The lady also had a lovely friendly voice compared to the old trout doing the Nav Pro circuit.
Those of you who have never experienced nav bus will not really understand my frustrations. Believe me when I say you should try it because you will not believe the difference.
BMW need to address this problem now!
I'm no computer expert but those of you who know a bit about them tell us what they should do to make the system faster. 
11-03-2005, 11:10 AM
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Originally Posted by groovemasterj' date='Oct 31 2005, 01:16 PM
I guess I just had higher expectations given how good the new navigation software is in the Mini (see
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11-03-2005, 05:13 PM
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My Ride: Arrived 3 June 2005: 2005 545i - Orient Blue, Black interior, Sport, Steptronic, Cold Weather, NAV, Sirius, Logic7, Comfort Seats, Sunshades. What a glorious ride!
After spending some time with an outboard navi system (by Garmin) recently, I have come to a fuller appreciation of the Bimmer nav. BMW system is fast, accurate, and easy to understand. The Garmin is buggy, inaccurate (it was at least 0.2 miles off in actual location in some cases), and gives unintelligible directions (switching between e.g. "turn southeast" and "turn right" in illogical ways). The Garmin may be great for pilots, but the built-in Bimmer system is far superior for the driver.
11-05-2005, 05:49 AM
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My Ride: MY06 530i, US Spec, Premium, Nav, HUD, Comfort seats, CWP, Sport package, Rear side airbags. Produced Sep 06.
Originally Posted by MaxBuck' post='193202' date='Nov 4 2005, 03:13 AM
After spending some time with an outboard navi system (by Garmin) recently, I have come to a fuller appreciation of the Bimmer nav. BMW system is fast, accurate, and easy to understand. The Garmin is buggy, inaccurate (it was at least 0.2 miles off in actual location in some cases), and gives unintelligible directions (switching between e.g. "turn southeast" and "turn right" in illogical ways). The Garmin may be great for pilots, but the built-in Bimmer system is far superior for the driver.
The BMW NAV beats the Garmin as for quick zoom feature using the I-drive cntlr and when you marry the HUD directions it is clearly superior, but not adequate for a $50K+ vehicle in my opinion. Here's what BMW could do to improve, and these could apply to systems on all their cars:
1. Increase processing power to drive down response time and calculation time
2. Add a save route feature
3. Give us ability to program on a PC and then transfer custom routes to the vehicle--could easily do it thru memory stick or compact flash card in the car or even a USB port. (This would also open the door for other car/user interface options...they could get very creative here!)
4. Give us voice choices. Hmmmm...they could even offer celebrity voices for download (Nicole Kidman would sound great in my 530!
5. Make common Finds like fuel and parking more accessible (maybe display them on map and then use I-drive to "point-click" and designate as new destination)
Bottom line: BMW NAV plus HUD is a good system, but could be truly worldclass with some improvements.