COMAND Upgrade

[rholmesa]

Hi All,

Very happy with my 2008 EClass Estate 320CDi Sport Brabus.

BUT...

SatNav in COMAND works well, but just is useless with postcodes. Does anyone know whether there has been any upgrade for this - it drives me nuts when I have to ask people for a full postal address when just about any SatNav these days is happy to use only postcodes.

Thanks

 

[television]

I do not think that there is anything,,member npuk should be on line later, he knows better than me

 

[npuk]

The unit in your car only supports 5 digit postcode input. Only way to get 7 digit postcode input is to upgrade the Comand unit as below.

You can upgrade to the latest unit fitted to MY09 W211 the Comand NTG2.5 which supports full 7 digit postcode input. http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_f...313&_nkw=ntg2.5+211&_sacat=See-All-Categories

Fore more info NTG2.5 section: http://mercupgrades.com/W211+E++W219+CLS+and+R171+SLK+Audio+Systems-article-77.html

You will need the NTG1 to NTG2.5 conversion set sold here: http://www.comandonline.co.uk/W211-W219-Comand-Retrofit/ along with the Comand NTG2.5 unit and GPS antenna.

If you have the HK audio system then both HK amps need replacing for the new model HK amps that NTG2.5 needs. The two amps and HK wiring conversion kit are are over £1.5k alone so add considerable expense to the upgrade. All three items are on: http://www.comandonline.co.uk/W211-W219-Comand-Retrofit/

If you do a search on the forum there has been a few past threads on upgrading from NTG1 to NTG2.5 in W211.

 

[orb the Impaler]

Or simply buy a fifty quid Tom Tom and endure the humiliation of The Sucker of Shame.

Comand is very pretty but the satnav is, generally, crap from a usability point of view although I do love the display of roundabouts and stuff in the instrument cluster.

 

[Blobcat]

Post code entry is useful as it's fast however it doesn't work so well where the post code doesn't exist or where there isn't one. I have many many many sat navs with and without 7 digit post code entry, I invariably check where I'm going before I get in my car and usually print (killing the environment I know...) an A4 map of the location, I then put that into my Comand and have yet to miss where I'm going. I've used the Post Code in my VW & Smart and then had to search round and round until I get to the correct location of worse still had to search on my phone for the place as the post code isn't recognised.
With my system if technology fails then you still have a paper copy

 

[television]

Post code entry is useful as it's fast however it doesn't work so well where the post code doesn't exist or where there isn't one. I have many many many sat navs with and without 7 digit post code entry, I invariably check where I'm going before I get in my car and usually print (killing the environment I know...) an A4 map of the location, I then put that into my Comand and have yet to miss where I'm going. I've used the Post Code in my VW & Smart and then had to search round and round until I get to the correct location of worse still had to search on my phone for the place as the post code isn't recognised.
With my system if technology fails then you still have a paper copy

I have driven in many countries all over the world without any sat nav, just how did we manage years ago

 

[Troon]

I have driven in many countries all over the world without any sat nav, just how did we manage years ago

We used maps and understood geography. There's anecdotal evidence[decent citation needed] that the "sat-nav generation" have far less awareness of the geographical layout of their region and country.

 

[Blobcat]

We used maps and understood geography. There's anecdotal evidence[decent citation needed] that the "sat-nav generation" have far less awareness of the geographical layout of their region and country.

I agree with that! I was naviagting with an OS map on the IOM last week which was very nice (I was pax)

 

[amb67]

I'm an ARMY Cadet instructor and can vouch that the youth of today know absolutely nothing about the geographical positioning of countries in the world we live in.

My favourite subject to teach is map and compass... the kids gain real skills from my lessons that undoubtedly assist them in day to day life.

We used maps and understood geography. There's anecdotal evidence[decent citation needed] that the "sat-nav generation" have far less awareness of the geographical layout of their region and country.

 

[Walenut]

No point in having Comand then? Its a navigation system and as such should it not offer all the facilities of a £100 Tom Tom, how did it end up only having a 5 digit post code facility anyway, is this a German thing? Also, what I can't understand, surly this is just a software issue why can't it be upgraded?

Some of the features of Comand are excellent and not available on the Tom Tom I use at work, the ability to decipher RDS traffic and to plot it on your map is very useful and on what is essentially an old system NTG2. To what I understand this feature has been upgraded through software updates so why not the post code issue?

 

[television]

I think that the post code thing was because in the UK we have more post codes than other countries in Europe and the memory was not big enough to hold them all

 

[whitenemesis]

Or could it be Germany only uses 5 digit codes?

 

[Walenut]

Does Comand upload all of the information from the DVD and then hold that in its memory?

 

[whitenemesis]

Does Comand upload all of the information from the DVD and then hold that in its memory?

No, AFAIK it references the disc to build the route. It then loads a block of info to display the map. This is updated periodically as the journey progresses.

 

[television]

Or could it be Germany only uses 5 digit codes?

True,,something like that we did have the correct answer once on here,, Sweden and Norge only have 5 figures too

 

[Walenut]

I'm not an electronics or software expert but it would seem that something as simple as post codes would be updated via the DVD or available from the DVD so I'm struggling to see how this couldn't be done via a software or firmware update?

Or a marketing move perhaps to make us buy new cars with 2.5 in, or is that me just being cynical?

 

[television]

I'm not an electronics or software expert but it would seem that something as simple as post codes would be updated via the DVD or available from the DVD so I'm struggling to see how this couldn't be done via a software or firmware update?

Or a marketing move perhaps to make us buy new cars with 2.5 in, or is that me just being cynical?

Well when the first started off they only had a 4 figure post code, the newer disc that came out after about 2009 on the early Comand 2 that I have offered a 5 figure code, I do not have a problem with that as I just go to the road and enter the number

 

[S500 Pete]

I did find the short postcode thing a problem but now just get to the town and either go for address or POI. Since most of the places that I need satnav for are golf courses or hotels they normally show up on POI.

I also love the display in the speedo centre which is right where I want it.

 

[television]

I did find the short postcode thing a problem but now just get to the town and either go for address or POI. Since most of the places that I need satnav for are golf courses or hotels they normally show up on POI.

I also love the display in the speedo centre which is right where I want it.

Yes the in the speedo head as very nice, the other good thing is that it is real time as well as gps