The "dead reckoning" advantage is soon to be reduced - the new widescreen Sony satnav units due in a few days have sensors in to give them this abilty, so others will surely follow.
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The built-in ones are expensive but nice to have. Big screens and little things like the car's clock is GPS-fed, so is always right. Can't steal them either.
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Can't steal them either.
Unfortunately I believe that is not the case.
There are apparently a number available on e-bay from Eastern europe that may be stolen. It is relatively easy to remove the units from the dash once you have gained entry to the car. There has been discussion on the Briskoda forum as to the sense in fitting special security fasteners to make it more difficult, but the consensus seems to be that it just means the lowlifes will just cause more damage getting them out!!
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It's todays equivalent to "optional extra - metallic paint £395 - no solid colours available in range". It's not like you'll have it with nothing but primer on, right? It's new, it's flash, it's what everyone wants - it is going to be overpriced. And next to impossible to upgrade.
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[Nissan 2.2 dCi are NOT Renault engines. Grrr...]
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The nav option for my Mondeo is £1750, my recently purchased Navman £140, go figure. The Navman is far better then the Ford unit, more descriptive of the route and easier and cheaper to upgrade. Also at the price I paid if it fails in the future it is not so expensive to replace.
Compare that to the Ford unit. It is effectively a central control for climate and radio, as well as the Sat Nav and has been replaced once under warranty. A relative who works at said dealer says the cost to me would have been £1850 if outside the warranty. The aerial failed as well at one point and I was without the system for almost 6 weeks waiting for a replacement part. And if you still need convincing it is a poor option, consider the cost of the latest DVD map upgrade, an eye watering £235.
As regards a portable unit, so what if you have to carry it around. They are hardly heavy weight bits of kit and my brief experience of the Navman shows it is easy to set up, fits in my wifes Mazda in seconds and does position itself quite quickly.
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Would I buy one as an extra with a brand new car - No!
But my new to me Outback has it and I specifically searched for an Outback with SatNav. Difference in price between roughly similar cars - almost nothing. I lose a small cubby in the dash, but I do not need to keep my A-Zs of the North West in the car and can be relegated to the office, house or boot.
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As previously stated, TomTom is as good as in many respects and better than in some respects the standard BMW kit - but who'd buy a 535 without the Sat Nav ? we're fools.
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Same here, Espada. I wouldn't pay extra but the Legacy came with it as standard. A nice-to-have like a sunroof but not worth the megabucks if you have to specify it new.
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As regards a portable unit, so what if you have to carry it around. They are hardly heavy weight bits of kit and my brief experience of the Navman shows it is easy to set up, fits in my wifes Mazda in seconds and does position itself quite quickly.
Sorry if I'm getting away from the OP a bit but one of the things that slightly troubles me about portable units is that they seem to me to be an open invitation to thieves. OK, so you take the unit out or hide it in the glovebox, but the mountings for them are so obvious that I worry that scrotes would break in looking for the unit hidden away. Or are there ways of mounting them so discreetly that you'd never know that it had been there when the unit's taken out? I'm genuinely curious as I was seriously thinking of taking the plunge and getting one, but this seems far and away the biggest downside against bespoke units.
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You need to take out the mount as well, AND wipe the screen in case the pond life see a round mark where it's been and break in on the assumption that it's hidden somewhere.
It's a sad fact of life that we're all in thrall to this scum. (Apologies, mods, if that's deemed a swear word but it's actually quite polite for the people concerned!)
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Lack of future support makes the built in systems even more overpriced.
I have just bought a car with built in SatNav, an option costing about £2k when new five years ago and being a 'premium' brand often considered a must have. But the manufacturer decided it wouldn't offer any future map updates so most owners are left with obsolete 2000-2002 edition mapping. Fortunately there is a convoluted workaround for my system, which I'm looking into. The SatNav is a 'nice-to-have' for me but I wouldn't pay extra for an old enough secondhand car with it.
If I was in the position of being about to spend £2k on SatNav with the main attraction being a built in system, then the tasty aftermarket Pioneer AVIC HD1BT would be on my shopping list instead. It would need a double-DIN slot (should be ok for Fords) but is a touch screen unit, has full European mapping, multiple map views, 3d gyro, includes a hard disc (no need to bother with a CD changer), bluetooth phone kit, DVD player compatible with external screens, etc. The main downside is that it would be the ultimate prize for a car stereo thief.
James
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>>At least Ford give you the option;you can bet that Honda add the £1500 to their price as well!!<<
Honda are doing satnav and bluetooth for £500 at the moment in the accord which is probably nearer the price people should pay IMO.
They claim it's an offer but these things usually stick with Honda in my experience.
I also find that they are open to negotiation on reading across the offers onto other models as well.
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www.brodit.com
offer after market brackets that fit your particular car and cover all the satnav makes.........not cheap....but
1, bracket fits on to/around air vent on dash so doesn't obscure your view through the window and is therefore legal (which the sucker pad isn't unless out of the sweep of the wipers)
2, the satnav bits and bobs can be taken completely off and out of the car, just leaving the bracket that could be a bracket for anything, not necessarily a satnav, which hopefully should narrow down the likelihood of Mr Oik breaking into your car looking for a satnav.
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Thanks, looks interesting. Doesn't seem too extortianate, I assume you just have to get the car bracket plus the right satnav bracket that fits onto this? Only down side seems to be that you lose an air vent in the process, though it seems to depend on what car you fit it to.
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This may be tempting providence but in two years of having a PDA version of TOM TOM with screen mount I have not (yet) had anyone attempt to break in to the car.
The PDA is never left in the car.
But I am careful about where I park!
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But I am careful about where I park
now that is the key, not just for sat navs.
I always park somewhere lit, busy and visible if possible. Broken glass ont he ground? dont park there!
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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> > Sorry if I'm getting away from the OP a bit but one of the things that slightly troubles me about portable units is that they seem to me to be an open invitation to > > thieves. OK, so you take the unit out or hide it in the glovebox, but the mountings for them are so obvious that I worry that scrotes would break in looking for > > the unit hidden away.
Sorry for not mentioning, I remove the mount as well. That is a levered suction cup that fits very quick. As for leaving rings on the screen, do what I do and keep the screen clean. Better a few seconds removing visible clues than to come back and find your car damaged.
Your right in saying this is a downside to a dedicated unit but you have to do the, ahem!! cost/benefit analysis and the portable systems wins hands down. Think about it for what it costs to have the Ford system installed, you could by a top of the range portable unit and have money left over for a week in the sun. There is simply no logic in paying for a manufacturer system other than what is perceived as the convenience and cache of having it proudly displayed in your car. Unless of course it included in the deal as mine was.
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There is simply no logic in paying for a manufacturer system other than what is perceived as the convenience and cache of having it proudly displayed in your car.
In some cars it does really 'lift' the interior - I'm particularly thinking of Honda Accord. Unless it's been changed recently, then adding Sat Nav get rid of those big ugly round knobs in the middle of the dash and replaces them with a screen.
My MB (bought used) came with COMAND and combines navigation at £1800 and phone (another £600). However the versions without COMAND don't look much different so it would not be a great loss not to have it.
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Perhaps you think it lifts the interior of the Accord. I would disagree - on my car, the large knobs that you think are ugly are accessible without having to look, and completely ergonomically obvious (even my Grandma could adjust her heat without asking how).
In contrast the Satnav unit is inferior to TomTom in terms of map presentation and speed of programming (although as discussed it had many other quite real benefits), hides the radio and (to some extent) heater controls on touchscreens that have to be accessed before they can be used, and is on all the time.
If I know where I'm going, I don't want a satnav just running, especially as it doesn't know about speed cameras, and the radio screen was uncomfortably bright at night. Finally, radio buttons are infinitely less ergonomic on a touch screen than on real buttons that you can feel without looking.
So, in summary, yes it looks nicer, but it was far harder to live with than my TomTom setup, and I was glad to change back to my car from the demonstrator I had for two weeks with the Satnav built in.
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BMW offer a range of Garmin stand-alone units as official accessories (not sure of the prices) - seems they've recognised the high price of dedicated units
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