Looking for a Cheap SatNav Update

jberks

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A lot of sat nav updates seem to be £60 or so - I just paid £80 to bring my 2018 Discovery Sport bang up to date.
So we thought we'd update my Dad's E Class.
It's a 2016 'facelift' W212.
Mailed one firm and they said "You have a Comand APS system installed" and they only do Garmin (which are £60).
CommandOnline told me I need this one "https://www.commandonline.co.uk/eu-map-and-media-ntg5.htm" - Obviously they're well respected guys and I trust them implicitly so that would be the obvious option.
Only problem is that's £200 and he's living off a pension (and after seeing £60 updates we'd hoped to find a cheaper option).
When I search for Command APS NTG 5 - most of what I find is much cheaper but says 4.7, 5.5 etc which I assume wouldn't work.
Anyone know?
Is ours a rare, short lived one and simply not well supported ?
Is there a cheap (hookey?) option/supplier that's trustworthy?
Is a legit version from CommandOnline my only option?

thanks
 

rf065

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There are a couple of sat nav dealers on ebay, not sure if 100% legit though. £89 appears to be the cheapest.
 

NJS5

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I have found Waze to be infinitely better than either the MB SatNav or JLR, and better still free.

NJSS
 
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jberks

jberks

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sonic

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I have found Waze to be infinitely better than either the MB SatNav or JLR, and better still free.

NJSS
I have a 212 bought it 6 months old in 2011, it still have the original map version. Its been about £100 PA to update the mapping, so had I done so it would have cost me over £1,000.
I use WAZE, its free & light years ahead of MB in speed of route calculation & traffic update.
 
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jberks

jberks

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I have found Waze to be infinitely better than either the MB SatNav or JLR, and better still free.

NJSS
Fully agree. I use that or Google maps in my Jag - (my phone sits perfectly on the dash cluster!!) and only use the in dash one - which is now 10 years out of date, when I basically already know where I'm going, but my Dad's 81 and thinks his in car sat nav is the best thing ever - only problem is, it's a tad out of date so if I can get one for reasonable money it's probably worth it in his case.. The wife equally won't complicate things with her phone. Plus of course, even touching your phone in the car can land you in trouble these days so even responding to a re-route message could get you 6 points.
 

Chrishazle

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As you can see from the comand.co.uk listing, with your car you need not just the update DVD's but also a PIN specific to the VIN of your car, so it's not quite as simple as for instance the NTG4 and NTG2.5 in my cars where I just needed the DVD's - and could use "second user" DVD's then re-sell them. All changed about 2011 with NTG4.5 and later versions. At least you can still update yours, the last updates issued for both of mine were 2018-19!

I believe there are "after market" sellers who supply DVD and PIN, updating Comand is frequently discussed on here and MBClub forum, along with warnings that sometimes aftermarket stuff can "brick" the Comand unit irreversibly - although I'm sure there are posts stating the aftermarket in their case worked perfectly!
 

Larkone

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Plus of course, even touching your phone in the car can land you in trouble these days so even responding to a re-route message could get you 6 points.

Not quite

Using devices hands-free​

You can use devices with hands-free access, as long as you do not hold them at any time during usage. Hands-free access means using, for example:

  • a Bluetooth headset
  • voice command
  • a dashboard holder or mat
  • a windscreen mount
  • a built-in sat nav
The device must not block your view of the road and traffic ahead.
 

Larkone

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... and that is something that should be enforced. How often do you see a satnav/phone smack bang in front of the driver!
Agree

A friends daughter working as a copper for the Met followed a gentleman in Newham who was rolling his head left to right as he turned the steering wheel. When they decided to pull him to see if there was problem he was watching a film on a ipad strapped to the steering wheel boss - expensive film in the end.
 
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