Hi
For those who have the factory Nav how happy are you with it? When compared with other factory nav systems how does it stack up?

 

I've had my Bruiser for about three weeks now and not happy with nav system at all. I'm amazed that it doesn't give street names - and my dealer said I'm the only one that has ever brought that up. While driving on a freeway, I was instructed to make a left turn into the center divider . . .

 

The nav system on BMW's has been a disaster in the past. The iDrive system was very difficult to use. I had heard that they improved it since I bought my BMW in 2008, but maybe not. I didn't order it on my MINI, but that was partially because I also had to get the $2,000 Connect system to get the nav and I don't have a smartphone. In fact, I have about the dumbest phone they make.

 

Your not alone I had the same thoughts. I also find it difficult to customize its view vs other ones I've had. Had Lexus in the past and despite the hate people had of the Toyota system it was easy to use and customize to find your way.

 

Factory nav w/ Connect $2000+ ; Garmin $129.99. Please......

 

Unfortunately a $130 Garmin doesn't do anywhere near what the OEM navi does. If the ONLY reason you got it was for the navi then I agree with you, but Connect/Navi adds a lot of funtionality.

The navi in my M3 is miles better than Connect and it's sad because it's basically the same software with a different front end.

 

The refresh in 09 made iDrive VERY easy to use. I hated iDrive when it first came out but my '10 has it and it's great.

 

Thanks so much. I think I'll have to spend some time and get more familiar with my owner's manual. The dealer said they have not had any complaints about the system, so I know it must be better than what I've seen so far.

 

Strictly talking about the Nav side of it, what is different from what a Garmin can do nowadays?

 

I agree 100%. Why doesn't it speak the street names like my Garmin that I bought in 2006 does?

I need to read the manual, but can anyone figure out what "Dynamic Guidance" means? I turned it on the other day thinking maybe it would make it speak street names or do something to make it more awesome. I don't see/hear any difference from before.

I get an occasional "veer right on to I-465..." but only on major highways (interstates) and not consistently. Otherwise every street I've driven on is called "Next Street".

 

Had a Nav in my 2006 MCS, but never again. BMW stopped making the map update DVDs and stopped supporting it after 2010, plus an update DVD cost $200. I think money was well spent on buying a $80 Garmin Nuvi (with traffic updates).

 

Nothing at all. In fact, portables do a lot of things very well and some thing better than OEMs. One thing a portable will NEVER do it integrate like an OEM unit does. If MINI had put a DVD drive in the car instead of a CD drive (they gave the BMWs DVD drives...) I'd have gone with Connect and a portable navi unit.

 

Dynamic Guidance just means it will reroute as you're driving if need be. It's nothing that EVERY navi doesn't do.

The voice thing might just be the voice. Both of my portables will only do street names with specific voices.

 

Or my all-time favorite, in downtown San Francisco, "450 feet ahead turn right."

 

I hate to admit that I have no idea where 450 feet is, or any other amount of feet for that matter.

 

I cant remember exactly how to do this but. You can have it show up in the corner of the screen an arrow to show you which way to turn. It will also have a bar that gets shorter the closer you get to the intersection. I think that this system is one of the better ones I have had. I agree I wish it would say street names and auto nightime mode. But I have never had it not be able to find a location. If it can't find it in the POIs all you have to do is use the Mini Connect side of it and do a google search. With me I try to plan my trip before I go. I usually look it up on google maps. With Mini connect you can send the location right to your car from your computer. You really can't do that with any garmin I had.

 

Thanks for the tips SO/JCW. I'm going to spend some time with my book and see if I can be better expert with this system.

Pat

 

Are you talking about CD vs DVD in the entertainment system? Because neither are used in Nav systems anymore.

 

Makes me so glad I didn't spend $2K for it... Infotainment? Really? It's a MINI, how much more entertaining could it be....lol Now if I hadn't spent $1000 on the sunroof, (oops, I mean solar oven...)

 

Yes, for the entertainment system. I probably should have put dvd player instead of drive for clarity's sake. I know they're HDD-based navi units now. Having a DVD player would have made life SOOOOOO much easier.

 

If you mean a dvd system to watch movies then the connect system still works. If you have videos on your ipod you can watch them through your connect. I have the Hangover on my iphone and while I am waiting for someone I can watch it through my screen.

 

What Spice was talking about earlier with the center pop-up and the bar countdown....if you have your entertainment on (CD, radio, iPod, etc.) then a small navi pop-up will appear a bit before you have to turn. I find this way more useful than the regular navigation screen itself.

 

You can also have that on when you are in the navi screen. It will then be on the right hand side. You will see the map and it will show you the direction you need to go. What is neat is when you are driving and the road curves the arrow will point that way. As you get closer to a turn it will show you the name of the road with a distance. It will also show you the distance and time of arrival. I will have to look when I get home. There is a YouTube video showing it.

 

Nice gadget, but for $2,100 I made a mistake. Mine is in a 2007 Justacooper, and at this price point I thought the nav system would be top of the line. And it IS nice for showing most of the ECU functions that are user accessible. But as for maps and navigation, it's really disappointing. Updates are late in coming, and still not all that accurate, and if you throw in a couple of new interchanges on major interstates, it's downright dangerous in what it suggests for directions.

Another beef is that it doesn't show the entire nav screen since the edges are covered and rounded off by the dash trim ring. There's a lot more info that it can display (and probably does) but it's covered up by a piece of chrome. The worst part about that is, more often than not the blocked out part is the name of the road I want to turn onto and sometimes the direction.

Save your money and buy a Garmin. Really.

Oh yeah, another beef. The speedo on most, if not all BMW products is usually inaccurate. Really inaccurate. BMW's standard line is that no speedo can read less than actual speed, and any reading within 10% plus 2 mph OVER the actual speed is within factory spec. Really? So at 60 mph, the speedo can read 68 mph and it's okay with BMW. And they REFUSE to even look at it. Now, common sense would indicate that the nav system has to be able to calculate speed based on satellite input, right? All the others do it that way. So why can't the nav system also display speed, or feed directly into the car's speedo? Gosh, that would make too much sense.

/rant off

 

I could not find a video of what I was talking about so I made one. My car is away for the winter so I could not show it is use. I do show what it looks like and how to turn it on. Forgive the shakyness I made the video with my iphone.