So I see that most of the members here are drooling over 3-D, perspective, bird's eye view NAV...call it what you want, but I can tell you that it's useless.

Isn't NAV suppose to help with street names and such...no such thing in persepctive mode. I noticed that as I was fiddling with it yesterday, no street names even in the closest view.

So I get a nice picture...not a map.

my2cents....now is there ANOTHER UPDATE FROM THE STEALER to fix this or was it just not thouroughly thought through. Or is it another funk that my car is going through?

 

I don't think anyone has street names with the perspective view--it might have been too hard to program at this point, and it's not "useless" to me. I use this window almost exclusively when driving. It's excellent when you program in a destination (and are not just viewing the map), as it's easier to see which street to turn on. You don't always need to see street names for the nav system to be helpful.

 

I totally agree perspective view is the best screen when you need to relate nav to the road layout especially when in complex city centres. Road names are always shown on the arrow view anyway!

Just HO.

 

I agree with Breae60. The picture is nice to look at, but is pretty much worthless for Nav unless you already know the area. I would think one of the upcoming software versions will put the street names on it. The nav disc has the info, it just needs to be displayed.

 

Now, MY two cents..

These "software issues" with BMW are beginning to piss me off. We just bought a Tom Tom GO 300 for the ol' E34 Bimmer and my other cars. Got it at Media Markt on Friday, walked to the parking lot, got in my car, took it out of the box, hung it on the windshield, turned it on and navigated back home. Flawlessly. The 3-D view HAS every street name that you will be crossing on display as you drive by and your position is an arrowhead on a highlighted road. You can switch between this view or the plan view and you'll always have street names. The unit cost me 499 Euro (minus VAT, around 419 Euro).

I'm hoping the 550i's NAV has all that shit fixed because it makes me sick that a 500 dollar GPS unit that you can put in your pocket, take on your bike or move from car to car displays better functionality that what BMW wants me to buy for 1500 dollars PLUS 1000 for the heads-up display. If I weren't hung up on HUD I would not even consider BMW NAV.

It makes me sick that a 60K luxury car has all these issues, and God only knows why we - as a collective buying public - put up with it. It's going to REALLY piss me off to have to go back to the dealership for "software upgrades" everytime something doesn't work right or as it should for the cost.

Regards,

Santiago

 

I'm awaiting delivery of my 550i in a little over a month. I've never experienced BMW NAVI systems yet since I've never owned a BMW. (I have, however, experienced touch-screen NAVI, a'la Honda Motor Co.) So does that mean BMW's system WON'T tell you what street/highway you're currently on (despite voice-directed instructions)???

 

The system has three different views (to be selected by you at any time).

1) Map directed to north (street names are visible)
2) Map headed in direction of travel (street names are visible)
3) Perspective view (3D). (Street names are NOT visible)h

 

Wow, 3 views? Cool! Thanks for the info! By the way, I did a search but couldn't find out whether or not the BMW NAVI system has a zoom in/out feature like Honda (and online maps like Mapquest) does. Is there a zoom feature?

 

It actually has a very nice zoom feature. There are about 15 diff levels. The closest level is almost too close to have functionality. The highest level shows most of the US. For all the whining it all works pretty well - could be a lot better but still.

 

To add a UK perspective . Even in perspective view there are some road numbers shown on the map, typically motorways and A roads. Of course it doesn't go down to local street names. I hadn't really noticed that they weren't there as I nearly always have the position window open on the right that gives you the name of the street you are on. If guidance is running the name of the street to turn onto is also given.

To me the bases are covered. The normal map views - with street names - is just too busy for me. Although the majority opinion seems to be that the perspective view should have more street names, I hope if it comes to be that they are deselectable.

For me I would like to see symbols for petrol stations and maybe the actual junction number on the motorways.