The mystery road on Mercedes Sat Nav!!

[S500 Pete]

Actually - I'd better throw this into the pot as well:

The Merc Sat Nav thinks that the M3 is "metres cubed" (think about it!!)

And St Albans is "Street Albans"!!

Any advance on those.......??

Bryan

My satnav said to follow to G.T. Yarmouth when the roadsigns are abbreviated from Great.

 

[DerekB57]

SatNav in MB has moved on a bit since 2003 - not saying it is the best ever but I have had no issues worth complaining about in the 5 MBs we have owned.

Mine is a 2014 and has all the peoblems listed on here and the Volvo forun. It is driving me nuts. Even thinks Chipping Norton is Aberystwyth

 

[sonic]

Yep - except it chews data and if you are not on unlimited........££, screen is relatively small, you have to stick the phone in a holder & connect power every time you get in the car, need a phone holder attached somewhere and dangling wires..... and I believe that it is illegal to touch your phone while incharge of a vehicle.

Its very easy going on data never used more than 100MB in a day. Yes screen is a little small & you have to connect it up, takes about 5 seconds.
Its only an offence to touch your phone if you are using it as a phone.
On the plus side I save £100 a year on updates, thats £700 so far. Speed of operation is light years ahead of the OE installed.
I have camera warnings, & much faster live traffic.

 

[Flyinspanner]

I think it only pops up if you have a certain “Talking Heads” (David Byrne) track playing

 

[rorywquin]

Its very easy going on data never used more than 100MB in a day. Yes screen is a little small & you have to connect it up, takes about 5 seconds.
Its only an offence to touch your phone if you are using it as a phone.
On the plus side I save £100 a year on updates, thats £700 so far. Speed of operation is light years ahead of the OE installed.
I have camera warnings, & much faster live traffic.

Who spends £100/year on updates?

I don't see Waze as realistically being a money saver. My updates are free for the first three years and at the rates roads change, I don't need to do annual updates (maybe every 3 years or so and by then, I'll have sold the car). My wife's Becker satnav is 2015 and is still perfectly adequate......and If I'm really stuck, I'll do a quick check on Waze.

 

[flowrider]

Its very easy going on data never used more than 100MB in a day. Yes screen is a little small & you have to connect it up, takes about 5 seconds.
Its only an offence to touch your phone if you are using it as a phone.
On the plus side I save £100 a year on updates, thats £700 so far. Speed of operation is light years ahead of the OE installed.
I have camera warnings, & much faster live traffic.

Agree with all points, Waze and Google Maps are both far superior to any in car system.

 

[flowrider]

Who spends £100/year on updates?

I don't see Waze as realistically being a money saver. My updates are free for the first three years and at the rates roads change, I don't need to do annual updates (maybe every 3 years or so and by then, I'll have sold the car). My wife's Becker satnav is 2015 and is still perfectly adequate......and If I'm really stuck, I'll do a quick check on Waze.

For those of us that dont change our cars every 3 years it is a big saving. Bear in mind that an MB map update is generally already 2 years old whereas Waze etc are mere weeks or months old.

 

[rorywquin]

For those of us that dont change our cars every 3 years it is a big saving. Bear in mind that an MB map update is generally already 2 years old whereas Waze etc are mere weeks or months old.

Perhaps you misread what I wrote.....the one (Becker) in my wife's car is from 2015......and as I mentioned, I'd only do an update (paid) once every 3 years or so .....once the car is out of warranty my next update would "maybe" be when the car is 6 years old....nothing to do with changing cars every 3 years.

And I still don't understand the saving thing - why does satnav street data have to be the most current - the UK roads don't change that much do they?

I tried Waze for a couple of days with CarPlay and the only plus I could see was the live speed trap warnings and only if you are in a good 4G reception area.

 

[Botus]

Yep - except it chews data and if you are not on unlimited........££, screen is relatively small, you have to stick the phone in a holder & connect power every time you get in the car, need a phone holder attached somewhere and dangling wires..... and I believe that it is illegal to touch your phone while incharge of a vehicle.

a few other critical things to know if you don't want 6 points and 200 quid fine

Hands-free phone use: the law
You are not allowed to pick it up and operate it even momentarily.

Any hands-free devices should be fully set up before you drive, so you can take calls without handling the device.

The police still have the power to stop you if they believe you have been distracted by using a mobile phone while driving, even if it’s fully hands-free. Some road safety groups believe mobile phones should be completely switched off while driving, to avoid any distractions.

Using a phone as a sat-nav: the law
It is no excuse to say you’re simply following the mapping on your hand-held device and that's why you've picked it up. The mobile phone law specifically refers to this, stating it is illegal to use a hand-held mobile to follow a map.

If you wish to use smartphone navigation or a mapping app, fix the phone to the windscreen or dashboard, so it’s in clear view for use while driving (but not obstructing your view), without requiring you to hold or interact with it.

 

[sonic]

For those of us that dont change our cars every 3 years it is a big saving. Bear in mind that an MB map update is generally already 2 years old whereas Waze etc are mere weeks or months old.

I keep my car to at least 100K miles. The current one is 8 years old with 55K on the clock, so I will be keeping it a while yet. So in my case MB updates potentially expensive.

 

[flowrider]

a few other critical things to know if you don't want 6 points and 200 quid fine

Hands-free phone use: the law
You are not allowed to pick it up and operate it even momentarily.

Any hands-free devices should be fully set up before you drive, so you can take calls without handling the device.

The police still have the power to stop you if they believe you have been distracted by using a mobile phone while driving, even if it’s fully hands-free. Some road safety groups believe mobile phones should be completely switched off while driving, to avoid any distractions.

Using a phone as a sat-nav: the law
It is no excuse to say you’re simply following the mapping on your hand-held device and that's why you've picked it up. The mobile phone law specifically refers to this, stating it is illegal to use a hand-held mobile to follow a map.

If you wish to use smartphone navigation or a mapping app, fix the phone to the windscreen or dashboard, so it’s in clear view for use while driving (but not obstructing your view), without requiring you to hold or interact with it.

The law sure is an ass. You can fully interact with the inbuilt satnav or a freestanding satnav device but you cant if the satnav is also a phone, that's dumb.

 

[rorywquin]

I keep my car to at least 100K miles. The current one is 8 years old with 55K on the clock, so I will be keeping it a while yet. So in my case MB updates potentially expensive.

At the risk of labouring the point- how often does average Joe really need to update sat nav maps? I don't see many new roads being built!

 

[Blobcat]

At the risk of labouring the point- how often does average Joe really need to update sat nav maps? I don't see many new roads being built!

With SatNavs many drivers have forgotten how to think... so if their SatNav doesn’t have the new junction or bypass they are completely and utterly lost. They didn’t bother reading the road signs along the way so they’ve no idea where they are.

SatNav’s will get you there but almost never the best way.

I like my “Vintage” versions. I can remember when all this was trees

 

[rorywquin]

The law sure is an ass. You can fully interact with the inbuilt satnav or a freestanding satnav device but you cant if the satnav is also a phone, that's dumb.

..........it is because of the morons that will insist on using their phone to message / dial / take a call / look for next song / read the newspaper etc, while driving and they can use the excuse that they were operating the satnav......

 

[flowrider]

At the risk of labouring the point- how often does average Joe really need to update sat nav maps? I don't see many new roads being built!

Around me (Hertfordshire) there have been quite a lot of new junctions and road changes, at a guess I would say over the last 5 years there must have been at least 7 or 8 changes.

 

[Blobcat]

..........it is because of the morons that will insist on using their phone to message / dial / take a call / look for next song / read the newspaper etc, while driving and they can use the excuse that they were operating the satnav......

But I was keeping my snapchat story going...

 

[rorywquin]

Around me (Hertfordshire) there have been quite a lot of new junctions and road changes, at a guess I would say over the last 5 years there must have been at least 7 or 8 changes.

.......you live there, do you really need the latest and greatest to get around? In the "olden days" people managed with outdated paper maps and common sense.....

 

[flowrider]

.......you live there, do you really need the latest and greatest to get around? In the "olden days" people managed with outdated paper maps and common sense.....

Yes I live here but what about anyone that doesn't live here.

 

[Botus]

At the risk of labouring the point- how often does average Joe really need to update sat nav maps? I don't see many new roads being built!

huge number of changes to no turn, no entry, speed limits, roundabouts phased out for traffic slowing lights, and more new roads than you think.... and if you use aboard they do build roads

every two years as a minumum

 

[Flyinspanner]

Waze is great to use abroad.
At the airport, before you jump in your rental car use the free WiFi to set your route.
(In Europe, you can use your data roaming ) - if you are in the rest of the world switch off your data roaming to avoid charges.

With the route set, you are good to go.

If you lose the route, pop into a McD, shopping mall, hotel lobby, etc where there is free WiFi and re enter your destination. - good to go.

Don’t forget to take your car charger on holiday