I started a stopwatch before opening the door to get in a "cold start" Mini. It took me 2 minutes and 7 seconds to find Pindar winery on Long Island. Not bad, considering I'm in St. Louis and had to choose Riverhead, New York before starting my search.


I got it on the first try. About my worst searches take three attempts, which could jack the time up to 4 or 5 minutes.

 

Very interesting. I asked my wife to find Pindar Winery. She has never used my nav and I gave her no hints. She didn't know how to use the joystick at all. Her first search, under restarants didn't work. Her second search, Recreation and Attractions, Attractions, Tourist Attractions, found it. 5 minutes and 11 seconds.

It's interesting because I searched under Banking and Shopping, Food and Beverage, Wine and Liquor. I didn't know that any POIs could be found in more than one catagory!

 

Yes, I didnt use a stopwatch but it definitely took less than 5 minutes. I centered around Lynbrook NY (just cause I know a girl that lives there) and searched within a 100 mile radius. It did take me 2 tries to get the right category because I started in under restaurants first. However, now that I know to start in banking and shopping, I won't make that mistake again. To be clear, I searched under wine and liquor and typed in the word "Winery" to weed out all the liquor stores. The search came up with tons of wineries in the area. If I knew the name of the actual winery you're looking for I'd probably just type it in before searching.

 

And i know a brilliant Audio Engineer who can design a audio circuit for anything you want in a matter of minutes. But ask him to add 3+3+3 and get nine. it will never happen.

Just because someone is a genious in one persons eyes, or many persons eyes or can get 1600 on a SAT does not mean that they can search a Perfectly Usable GPS System.

The people that complain about this kind of stuff in the way you have will never get it to change. Calling someone STUPID, SUCKS etc. make them not want to deal with you. And in fact MINI may be very glad to have lost you as a customer. They will always have more.

Now on to a real question to you Birdman.

Why did you not test the Navigation function before you spent money on it?

That my sir is YOUR MISTAKE not Mini's or any one else's fault. Your and only yours.

 

and to all of you that complain about not being able to find the Target or Starbucks that went up last week in the next town over. Myabe you should read this article.

http://www.gpsreview.net/outdated-gps-maps/

And to the person complaining about the restaurant French Laundry on Long Island. Take a look at the picture below. Even Google did not find it inthe top search so how could you ever expect a GPS unit to find it.

 

Sorry, but you messed up on this one. The post said:

JLLG's location is Fenton, Michigan and Google finds it easily.

 

rkw, thanks for clarifying my "complaint" about searching for the French Laundry. Yes, it’s in my location.

schatzy62, I brought up searching for Target earlier (not sure this prompted your statement) and the whole intention was that I would like to be able to search POI's without first selecting a category. If the query to the POI database takes a bit longer, I would rather have that than having to possibly keep changing the category and re-entering the search name. I am not sure where the updated POI’s issue first came up in this thread, but this is and will always be an issue with GPS systems. That was a good point to bring up. A lot of times, I end up using Google maps on my phone and get the address of the destination and enter that in.

If MINI reads these at all, searching all POI's would alleviate some frustrations with the system and make it a bit friendlier to the novice. Don't get me wrong, the categories are real nice at times, but if you know the name of the POI you are looking for, they are not needed. If there is a legitimate reason for not allowing the searching of all POI's, I would really like to know.

 

rkw,

You are right. I got the french laundry all wrong. Sorry for the mistake.

 

Hey Birdman

Have you had any success with the POI in the mini? I got one about 3 weeks ago and have also found the POI search to be a bit useless. Whats the deal with that Pimp-my-POI or whatever it was, doesn't it work?
Look forward to what you have to say.

Cheers

 

Well, maybe the software on the new 09 Cabrio is different. I looked up Mother's restaurant this morning and it took me right there... I was really worried about paying the extra money because of Birdman's complaints, but it has worked WONDERFULLY for me. It is better than my husband's Garmin

 

Please clarify... can you search for a business name directly, without having to choose a category first? That's the main topic of this thread.

 

Yeah, just type in Mother's and search. I do that with my Blackberry using GoogleMaps and it works great every time.

 

Is your Nav the factory ordered or dealer installed unit?

 

Sorry, this is a Blackberry phone. I don't have the Nav. The category concept for search is the problem with the Mini's Nav (duh). I have a TomTom and it too has categories but you can just start typing Star.. and stuff comes comes up.

 

Wow, this thread is still going on?

 

Has anyone been able to find Autozone or Pep-Boys? If so what Category is it?

 

Call your Mini service dept. There is an update to FIX your navigation software.

 

 

What does the update change? Are you now happy with your Nav system?

 

My friendly neighborhood MINI service dept. says the new disk is only for updated maps, with no change in the search functions. Cost is $199.00.

Keith

 

$199? For new maps?

 

Was told the same thing...AND that there was NO software update.

 

Birdman swooping in to drop this BS again. He did before, in July.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...0-post511.html

 

Yeah. Available from Navteq as well. If you buy from Navteq's webite and you have a 2007 Hatchback, make sure you get the professional DVD, not the High version it comes up with when you enter 2007 for the year. Just pick a newer year to get the right one. There's been a few thread here about folks buying the update and getting the wrong one. I confirmed which version was correct with Navteq and they never corrected the site.

 

There is not even a new map update. The newest disk is 2009.1 released in October 2008 (Navteq website incorrectly states March 2008). Navteq says that new disks are 12 to 18 months apart and they only know about a week before a new release.

Guessing that anytime in the next six months, a new disk will be released, I would not buy spend $200 on the 2009.1 update at this time.