SAT NAV HELP Please?

[wavey11]

Hi,

Am new to this so be gentle please!

Have a C- Class 180 Komp and was silly enough to not get sat nav fitted when i bought it just over a year ago.

I now want to get sat nav but only have a budget of £1000. (may stretch for the right gear I reckon)

I hear its best to avoid retro fit merc sat nav and go for a pioneer or alpine......is this true?

Also I would like something with touch screen monitor included.

Is this possible (or am I expecting too much for budget?)?

Also anyone know any good companys that fit them? Sell them?

Would be grateful for any all help.

Thanks,
Wavey 11
(The newbie in town!)
:wink:

 

[landover]

Go for pioneer or Alpine .But not with £1000 budget . Some of the pda systems are ok and can be changed from car to car.

 

[wavey11]

Go for pioneer or Alpine .But not with £1000 budget . Some of the pda systems are ok and can be changed from car to car.

Cheers Landover.

What do you think my budget would need to be to buy reasonable touch screen sat nav?

 

[wavey11]

Does anyone know if the Pioneer AVIC-X1 is any good? (see link below)

http://www.pioneer.co.uk/uk/product_detail.jsp?product_id=8188&taxonomy_id=25-111

 

[landover]

Does anyone know if the Pioneer AVIC-X1 is any good? (see link below)

http://www.pioneer.co.uk/uk/product_detail.jsp?product_id=8188&taxonomy_id=25-111

I fitted that system last month to my own car . It is one of the best on the market. I cant fault it They vary in price From £1600 to £2300 If you cant fit it yourself Halfords do that model x free fitting .

 

[wavey11]

Does anyone know if the Pioneer AVIC-X1 is any good? (see link below)

http://www.pioneer.co.uk/uk/product_detail.jsp?product_id=8188&taxonomy_id=25-111

I fitted that system last month to my own car . It is one of the best on the market. I cant fault it They vary in price From £1600 to £2300 If you cant fit it yourself Halfords do that model x free fitting .

Was this an easy system to fit? Also is it easy to fit to a c class?

Thanx again for help.

 

[200e]

Go for a the best make of in car unit that you can afford, don?t waste you money with a pda they are quite good if you are in a good reception area but most of the time they cannot pick up enough satellites in a built up area with bad reception hence the in car unit it is running of the 12v system in the car witch has a stronger receiver built into it also has a external gps antenna just watch what kind of software you get with the model you a thinking of buying the pioneer CNDV-30 All all the maps on a single DVD
the software is not up to much.Also stay away from tele software. If you are going for a portable stay away from hand held pda, s the antenna is the size of a matchbox not very good signals in discreet areas. Go for the Navman 630I the best handheld around but is expensive for a handheld nearly a grand. Try this site below.
http://www.caralarmuk.com/acatalog/Pioneer_GPS_Navigation_Systems.html

 

[Arnie]

I would check out the VDO-Dayton units too, which have excellent GPS mapping and are a little cheaper than Alpine, but just as good, if not better.

http://www.vdodayton.com/

Fitting is not that difficult if you are used to removing some interior trim panels and would not have any problem with simple wiring such as with fitting an oridinary car stereo.

The retrofit of MB units is also not that complicated and there are plenty on ebay. However, no touch screen. The touch-screen facility is actually of dubious benefit, since finger prints will lead to poor visibility and even scratches, and also the touch-screen membrane tends to reduce contrast some-what.

My brother bought a brand-new Honda (Alpine OEM) DVD GPS unit on ebay for about £350. This was a standard 2-Din size unit that was quite easy to fit, so if you have a bit of DIY know-how, you don't necessarily need to spend very much.

As mentioned above, the navman 630 is not too bad as a portable, but can now be had for around £500 new.

I also read that the Pioneer DVD systems have excellent graphics, but the routing algorithms (software) are not up to much compared to others.

 

[Bruce]

For those with a smartphone (ie the SPV 200 or C500) you can buy GPS software/hardware.

Follow the http://www.pocketgps.co.uk/copilot-live-smartphone-5.php for a review and more info. It sounds very good and I will be placing my order soon.

Prices for smartphone navigation are as follows.

Smartphone, software and bluetooth GPS reciever £400 ish (very good phones)
Software and bluetooth GPS reciever £220
Software £135
Europe upgrade £85 ish

The software includes fixed safety camera locations.

They also sell a range of PDA systems and stand alone systems as well as accesories. There is a forum that is worth checking out as well if you are thinking of buying.

From the reviews the above software maps are more accurate than the Tom Tom systems although the Tom Tom systems are cheaper and will also work on smartphones.

As to the size of the antena the smartphone uses a blue tooth GPS unit that can be placed in the window (placed on the dash) and if thats not good enough a booster that sits on the roof of the car is available.

Also, its not the power the unit consumes but the chip set the GPS reciever uses. The above link will explain it better.

PAys your money takes your chance.

Bruce

Usual disclaimer, nowt to do wit' me etc, etc

 

[wavey11]

Cheers for the help!

think I am going to go with an in dash (not pda or removable based) with motorised screen like the AVIC -X1.......unless someone has a better in dash option or knows anything wrong with it.

Is this an easy model to fit to a year old C-Class?

Also, am not doing ti myself, so does anyone know any good places that would do it for me that are reliable and wont break the bank?

Thanks again for all the help!

 

[200e]

Cheers for the help!

think I am going to go with an in dash (not pda or removable based) with motorised screen like the AVIC -X1.......unless someone has a better in dash option or knows anything wrong with it.

Is this an easy model to fit to a year old C-Class?

Also, am not doing ti myself, so does anyone know any good places that would do it for me that are reliable and wont break the bank?

Thanks again for all the help!

If you fancy the pioneer try ths http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI....;item=5703207056&rd=1&ssPageName=WD1V

 

[200e]

Cheers for the help!

think I am going to go with an in dash (not pda or removable based) with motorised screen like the AVIC -X1.......unless someone has a better in dash option or knows anything wrong with it.

Is this an easy model to fit to a year old C-Class?

Also, am not doing ti myself, so does anyone know any good places that would do it for me that are reliable and wont break the bank?

Thanks again for all the help!

If you fancy the pioneer try ths http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI....;item=5703207056&rd=1&ssPageName=WD1V and this one http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=14946&item=5703209046&rd=1

 

[wavey11]

thanks 200e

but found it for £10 cheaper at empiredirect.co.uk

http://www.empiredirect.co.uk/Content/Products/Details/index.asp?modelcode=PIO-AVICX1

 

[wavey11]

Actually, was wondering did anyone know about the standard COMAND APS?

Can it be retrofitted to a c class and if so how much can I get one for?

Also, is it any good?

Cheers

 

[landover]

Does anyone know if the Pioneer AVIC-X1 is any good? (see link below)

http://www.pioneer.co.uk/uk/product_detail.jsp?product_id=8188&taxonomy_id=25-111

I fitted that system last month to my own car . It is one of the best on the market. I cant fault it They vary in price From £1600 to £2300 If you cant fit it yourself Halfords do that model x free fitting .