Aftermarket Sat Nav suggestions - not Tom Tom

[Baghdad or Bust]

What after market Sat Nav have people had experience of? Good or bad? however do not bother with the TomTom thingy - it looks naff and not befitting of a car of the status of a merc, it looks all Halfords.

 

[guydewdney]

Garmin www.garmin.com do a streetpilot series - i have the older III series one (as do several people on here iirc). Im happy with it.

 

[Baghdad or Bust]

Must say i am pretty happy with Garmin myself never used the vehicle systems - always had a set in my bug out bag. Also i wear one of the Forerunner series on my wrist when out working for an immediate fix in case of contact and it works pretty well even in the vehicle.

 

[Apial]

Becker High Speed Ttraffic Pro

I've got a Becker High Speed Traffic Pro. Its a 1-DIN type that replaces your existing radio. It can play cds whilst still navigating and comes with the whole of europe on 2 cds. A removeable lcd front gives you basic instructions and diagrams of intersections and turns ahead. You don't really have to look at it much as the spoken instructions usually are more than sufficient.

The system has an inbuilt navigational gyro and needs a speed pulse and reversing signal from your car. The accuracy is excellent. I am still amazed at how the instructions change as your wheels travel over the junction white line. The eta is spot on, and you will know well in advance if you are running late or not.

There are some good offers on www.beckeronline.co.uk with the whole system available in several different colours at £379. More advanced versions are available, but at the end of the day you really want to get from A-B with the minimum of fuss, without added complexity of un-needed gadgetry.

The only other system I have used is was a fully integrated Mitsubishi one in a Shogun, however in comparison it was a poor second to the Becker one.

 

[andy_k]

Becker gets my vote as well - it looks neat and tidy, the sound quality is respectable, it's easy to use and understand and the directions are very accurate.

Andy

 

[nicky]

Have you looked at Alpine units,they run on Dvd discs and are very acurate,better than cd units....

 

[nicky]

What after market Sat Nav have people had experience of? Good or bad? however do not bother with the TomTom thingy - it looks naff and not befitting of a car of the status of a merc, it looks all Halfords.

i have seen the tom tom unit in action,and there is not a lot out there that comes close to the performance of that unit,,the 500 and 700 models do bluetooth hands free for you mobile phone...assuming your mobile has that option...it must,you drive a merc...

 

[nicky]

i also run one of the large screen garmin marine units in a landrover,it has os maps downloaded on the memory card..

 

[Apial]

Have you looked at Alpine units,they run on Dvd discs and are very acurate,better than cd units....

How much would one of these units cost, and how much more accurate could they be?

 

[nicky]

How much would one of these units cost, and how much more accurate could they be?

You will pay about £2000 for a decent Alpine unit.....

 

[progrockman]

Sat Nav?????

What after market Sat Nav have people had experience of? Good or bad? however do not bother with the TomTom thingy - it looks naff and not befitting of a car of the status of a merc, it looks all Halfords.

All of us here own a Merc, however get real ! I have tried them all, and the only one that really works well is TOM TOM 700. Yes it looks cheap but beleive me it's far more superior to Garmin, Navman and all the other high street stuff. It all depends on how much you want to spend. I have been using TOM TOM 700 for 5 months without so much as a hick-up. And it tells me where all the radars are. If your not carefull you'll end up in such a muddle you won't know which one to buy. As far as halfords is concerned...Find a branch near some other outlets. Compare prices...then tell them that there's a cheaper one round the corner. They have to sell it to you at the reduced price as Halfords do Price Matching!!! Good Luck!

 

[anyweb]

I use a dell axim X5 (handheld pocket pc) with a seido GPS mount

more info here http://www.aximsite.com/articles/link.php?id=219

the software i use if called Navigon http://www.navigon.com/site/int/en/mobile_navigation/pda and its pretty good stuff (sits on my SD card)

I use it frequently when visiting customers, and its very useful for that !

cheers
anyweb

 

[jberks]

I have to agree, certainly for the money there is nothing to touch the tomtom. Sure if you swap out the din unit you have many options, but these options include installing a Merc command unit, depending on the model, for less than £2k. Or there is the Merc APS (30?) unit for a few hundred, both of which will continue to integrate with the wheel controls and dash readout.

Personally, the majority of places I go, I've been before so in reality I rarely need a GPS, I know where I'm going. I suspect aside from cabbies and truckers, most of us are in that situation. For those rare occasions - probably once a month, my Ipaq with TomTom works just fine, the rest of the time, I have a PDA to use.
I can't really see the point of the garmin or even the pure tomtom units (aside from the cheaper ones where price is a factor). They don't offer anything that the PDA based systems don't have so you simply miss out on the additional PDA features. Fitted ones using gyros and speed signals are more accurate but you pay heavily for that extra 2-3 feet of accuracy. (I just look out of the window, I can usually tell what it's getting at!)

 

[angus falconer]

I've got a Becker High Speed Traffic Pro. Its a 1-DIN type that replaces your existing radio. It can play cds whilst still navigating

I have an older din-type Alpine/Kenwood set up in mine. There a 5" screen hidden in standard radion DIN slot. The screen drives radio, CD, TV and sat nav. You can run sat nav whilst listening to radio or cd's. You can also close screen and still have voice guidance (and cd/radio at same time too if required).

It's a neat install, invisible at rest.

 

[Supercue]

There is only one Sat Nav for me and thats the.

Panasonic DV2300N - Its the bizness!! DVD rom based, does the whole of Europe on one disc!! never need to touch the CD ever again!! Just as well as the Sat Nav DVD is under the front seat never to be seen ever again.

Thats is then linked into the

Pansonic CY-M1500EX 7" Widescreen TV.

Then all that is linked through a

Pansonic CQ-HX2083N Head unit (Touch Screen) Navigator Voice comes through the main speakers so does the DVD when thats playing.

Not also forgetting the Pansonic DVD that also plays while your going along for all the passengers.

Just one last thing the Rear Parking Colour Parking Camera which comes on automatically as soon as you slap it in reverse which gives you a crystal clear pic.

All this can be purchased for the mere price of £22k and you get a free Merc ML270CDI Inspiration chucked in for good measure!!

 

[996jimbo]

I've had 3 nav systems -

1.Alfa's own brand - works OK but slow (but integrates nicely in to range, ETA etc)

2. VDO Dayton - cost £2.5k, worked well, had DVD player with rear screens - the system accepts lots of plug in extra's (DVD, reversing camera, digital TV tuner etc)

3. Tomtom Go 300 - cost £300 and frankly as a nav system is the best of them all. Screen despite being small is easiest to read thanks to '3-D view' (though someone has a shakey understanding of what 3-D means). Two issues though (a) having lead dangling around (b) siting it to avoid glare. Would have gone for the TTG 700 but prefer 'proper' phone handsfree if only to make sure phone battery's always charged.

 

[nicky]

All of us here own a Merc, however get real ! I have tried them all, and the only one that really works well is TOM TOM 700. Yes it looks cheap but beleive me it's far more superior to Garmin, Navman and all the other high street stuff. It all depends on how much you want to spend. I have been using TOM TOM 700 for 5 months without so much as a hick-up. And it tells me where all the radars are. If your not carefull you'll end up in such a muddle you won't know which one to buy. As far as halfords is concerned...Find a branch near some other outlets. Compare prices...then tell them that there's a cheaper one round the corner. They have to sell it to you at the reduced price as Halfords do Price Matching!!! Good Luck!

your correct in what you say,tom tom is as good as the £2000 system,and if you want to go a few extra pound you can hard wire it into the car..It is very acurate and has a lot more features than a more expensive system..........

 

[Baghdad or Bust]

Finally settled on an Alpine Unit. Going for the IVA-D310R and 099 bundle - found a dealer that sells them at around £1550, with a free iPod connector thrown in.

 

[dogsbody]

Aftermarket Sat Nav Suggestions - Not TomTom

I have posted some technical questions in the next thread. I am going for a system which is SAT/NAV, speed camera alert and MP3 player, and which will be built into the space for the cigar lighter and removeable ashtray.
It costs about £300

 

[Baghdad or Bust]

What next thread? And if they are to do with this thread why not post them here - or are you just advertising your thread in which case how odd.