hi all,

we recently had our GPS replaced due the cold weather GPS problem where the screen won't come on. now i know this may be a bit obsessive (as i believe a lot of us on this list are, or we wouldn't have minis) but now our mini has has a SEX CHANGE! what i mean is we had a fine and lovely woman's voice on the GPS with a english accent (nice touch with the accent we thought) now it has been switched to an 'merican male voice. frankly we don't care for it.

we really loved the english accent thing as trivial as it may be. questions:

1. of other GPSers out there who has the english accent and who doesn't?

2. if they swapped your GPS unit due to the cold weather problem, did they change your car's voice?

we are esp. POed because we expressly asked to have the same voice as we found out it is in the hardware!

:evil:

curt + jamie

sad silk green and gender confused mini cooper

 

MINI was deliverd Jan 29, with a JAN 10 build date, female voice with no accent. The other language choice is Spanish. According to our Motoring Advisor ours was the first they had gotten without an English accent.

 

I was thinking about the navigation system but then it gets rid of the sweet centered speedometer. I also have heard that they will only tell you one way to get to a place and if you know a shortcut it will tell you to go back and follow its directions.

 

>>I was thinking about the navigation system but then it gets rid of the sweet centered speedometer. I also have heard that they will only tell you one way to get to a place and if you know a shortcut it will tell you to go back and follow its directions.

About the cold screen problem. I had this happen once but it cleared up after a day. If it happens again should I take it in for replacement? Mine is the English accent female with French female as the other language.

Thanks,
Frank

 

My car was an Oct. build and I have the British female voice.

 

Mine has a nice and slightly accented female voice and I do not have to take my eyes too far off the road to take a quick glance at the map.

Anyway, for those that want a GPS system and do not have the factory version, this Garmin unit is great. Very programmable for advanced users and plugs into my laptop for route planning, map updates, etc.

 

Mine has a nice and slightly accented female voice and I do not have to take my eyes too far off the road to take a quick glance at the map.

Anyway, for those that want a GPS system and do not have the factory version, this Garmin unit is great. Very programmable for advanced users and plugs into my laptop for route planning, map updates, etc.

 

I just picked mine up last Friday (Valentine's Day), and I FOUUND A DEAD PIXEL ON THE SCREEN! I've emailed ASKMINI as to fixing the problem. I'll report back on what they tell me. Anyone else with this problem?

By the way, I'm in Chicago, but the Mini sleeps in a heated garage; therefore, I don't think it was sparked by the cold.


As for the voice issue, I, too, was disappointed when I heard about the accent change. My salesman, contrary to some posts I've read, informed me that it could not be changed but could not tell me exactly why. I'm nervously waiting for my NAV CD to arrive to find out how it sounds. I've read so many rumors on what to expect, including the voice of someone who sounds like Foghorn Leghorn ("Boy! I say boy! You best be turning right at this here intersection.&quot

Seriously, here is a link to a thread on Mini2.com discussing possible solutions (Look for a post by woodman438 from October 11, 2002.). USE AT OWN RISK!
http://www.mini2.com/forum/showthrea...p;pagenumber=2

 

thanks for the responses.

as far as i understand the voice is in the hardware so that's why ours chaged when they swapped the unit. we want the female voice back!

however the swapped fixed the problem of the cold start up. comes on every time now cold or not.

if you have the problem you may want to think about the replacement (should work all the time for the money we all paid), just make SURE you tell them you want the unit with the female voice -- if you like it.

curt

 

>>I was thinking about the navigation system but then it gets rid of the sweet centered speedometer. I also have heard that they will only tell you one way to get to a place and if you know a shortcut it will tell you to go back and follow its directions. :smile:

 

update:

so i have found out that if you go in for a fix or update to your GPS software -- mini usa will NO LONGER OFFER the british accent. it seems there is a bug in that release of the software and they are abandoning the accent.

if you do have the mini GPS system AND you like the british lady call 866-ASK-MINI and complain so when they do the NEXT software update it will include this voice again. it seems to me the mini could have nothing else (well, maybe a german accent, but hey, the royal family is german too and they don't have german accents, but i digress...)

otherwise we are stuck with either the 'merican male or female voice from here on out (both are available upon request from the mini dealer when they program the system).

god save the queen!

curt