Is the cost of a Comand Unit worthwhile?

[Andyt]

Hi

I am looking at the cost of a comand unit and wonder if the cost justifys pretty much a Sat Nav. After all I already have a radio & CD player.

Any views to convince me or otherwise.

Andyt

 

[dowtherz]

I recently purchased a new SLK200 without COMMAND. Prior to this I drove an SLK280 for the weekend with it. The Sat Nav function is very comprehensive and the real bonus is a great TMC (Traffic Update) service which routes you around the jams. I've been quoted £1,000 for a retro-fit COMMAND, which I may well do once I've built up some funds this year. This sight of a £30K+ car with a £200 TomTom unit on the dash board doesn't look right to me (may be I'm a snob!). Ultimately it depends how much you would use the Sat Nav function.

I hope this helps, Dowtherz

 

[BTB 500]

A high-spec. Tom Tom (for example) is probably a better satnav system - you have TMC and Tom Tom's own Traffic service, dynamic re-routing, spoken place and street names, the ability to load your own POIs in addition to all the supplied ones, update anything whenever you want by connecting to your PC, add colour schemes and voices, real-time update of mobile speed camera sites via your mobile phone, etc. Then it's also a bluetooth hands-free for your mobile phone, will read out text messages as they come in, etc.

I completely agree that a built-in system looks better and is more secure, but if you have more than one vehicle (we have 3) a portable unit that can be used in any of them makes a lot of sense.

I'm looking at spending about 30k on a new vehicle soon, and won't be ticking the satnav option.

 

[splang]

I think it can boot resale later on in the cars life. I know I insisted on Comand on my new old car!

 

[BTB 500]

I think it can boot resale later on in the cars life. I know I insisted on Comand on my new old car!

You are right in that it will probably make it easier to sell on. Doubt it would affect the actual value though.

 

[glojo]

Horses for courses.

As a technical gadget then it can be argued it doesn't contain all the bells and whistles of the latest navigational systems.

It is always a good idea to let folks know the model of car you have because different models have different spec COMAND systems.

I personally think they are a nice option that offer lots of features including the ability to play Mp3's whilst still having the map displayed, but again different models, different specifications.

John

 

[DieselE]

Hi

I am looking at the cost of a comand unit and wonder if the cost justifys pretty much a Sat Nav. After all I already have a radio & CD player.

Any views to convince me or otherwise.

Andyt

There was an article in Autocar not so long ago that reported that second hand Mercedes and BMWs fetched about £1,500 more with Sat-Nav built in. If that is correct then as long as you install it properly you should get your investment back at sale time.

Mind you, as others have said there are better Sat-Navs out there than the one that is part of COMAND.

 

[BTB 500]

There was an article in Autocar not so long ago that reported that second hand Mercedes and BMWs fetched about £1,500 more with Sat-Nav built in. If that is correct then as long as you install it properly you should get your investment back at sale time.

I stand corrected!

 

[jaymanek]

I stand corrected!

I would say thats a load of rubbish. It makes the car easier to sell but would only add a few hundred at most. remember that comands are more prone to getting stolen too.

I recommend TomTom all the way.

 

[BTB 500]

As a technical gadget then it can be argued it doesn't contain all the bells and whistles of the latest navigational systems.

For most people the biggest shortcoming of built-in satnavs is probably the inability to have speed camera warnings (since these are always located at accident blackspots ).

 

[Alfie]

I would say its always worth it but then I would

Adding it to my wife's C180 when I sold it made it far far easier to sell and I got over £1,000 more for it than I thought I would/had been offered before!

 

[glojo]

I would say thats a load of rubbish. It makes the car easier to sell but would only add a few hundred at most. remember that comands are more prone to getting stolen too.

I recommend TomTom all the way.

I have read on this forum about someone having a COMAND stolen, but by crikey there have been far, far more ICE systems stolen.

Where do you base your statement from regarding the theft of COMAND systems? I do NOT doubt you, I am simply concerned.

If you log onto the Mercedes-Benz UK site, then look at the second-hand section. A car equipped with COMAND is far more expensive than one without, and yes some are indeed in excess of £1000 more expensive.

Certainly do not disagree about speed camera's. I wonder if the new S-class hard-drive version can be updated to have these 'POI' added?

I love all the phone book options the music information etc etc etc. The list is endless and the instruction book quite thick

John

 

[jaymanek]

Glojo, my comments are generally for cars worth up to say 15K. Of course the newer and more expensive cars will do better to have comand - the cost is relatively small to the value of the car.
and If we are talking about a car that has a high spec in otheer ways then of course the absence of comand would have a negative impact on the cars value, but its just not true to say that spending £1500 on command will be an investment returned when selling in general.

Theft of comand - i read this in ME and also an article in the telegraph a while back. At least with a tomtom you can take it out at night..

Overall i like comand and would have it if i were keeping the car, but would not buy it with the hope of ever getting back what i spent on it.

 

[glojo]

Overall i like comand and would have it if i were keeping the car, but would not buy it with the hope of ever getting back what i spent on it.

Totally agree

Regards
John

 

[SimonsMerc]

I am looking at the cost of a comand unit and wonder if the cost justifys pretty much a Sat Nav.

Frankly, no.

I got one of these for Christmas (thank you wifey - she certainly knows how to buy presents for her man!). For £200, I have a device that:

- has the latest GPS chipset, which even picks up a signal indoors
- has an integrated bluetooth hands-free kit
- has street level mapping of all of Europe (including Poland, which is important for me)
- has a TMC receiver, which picks up traffic messages and is able to route around them automatically
- does automatic warnings of speed camera locations
- tells me when I'm going over the speed limit in a given area (not been wrong yet; also you can configure this eg. mine warns if I go over 10% faster than the speed limit)
- plays MP3s from an SD card
- shows photos from an SD card
- goes for over four hours on battery while navigating (I forgot my cable for a long trip on Thursday and it lasted for four hours easily)

It has a huge display (3.5"), and the routing is extremely fast - it took nine seconds to calculate a route from my house in London to my mother in law's house in Poland (for comparison the Audi A8 had built in sat nav and took over a minute to calculate this route; tom tom takes around 40 seconds).

And that's just out of the box. If you're more of a techie type, you can unlock it and use it as a full pocket PC, to play videos, connect to the internet over bluetooth and a phone, and run other sat nav software (including the latest TomTom software if you're so inclined).

This thing is superb; it easily beats comand for functionality. For £200 it also beats command hands down on value for money!

-simon

 

[DieselE]

Glojo, my comments are generally for cars worth up to say 15K. Of course the newer and more expensive cars will do better to have comand - the cost is relatively small to the value of the car.
and If we are talking about a car that has a high spec in otheer ways then of course the absence of comand would have a negative impact on the cars value, but its just not true to say that spending £1500 on command will be an investment returned when selling in general.

You're right that for a car worth £15k or less you wont increase it's value by £1500 by fitting Comand. I can't remember the age of the cars that Autocar compared but it was probably around the two to three year mark.

 

[Dieter]

Hi,

I went the Navman/iPod conection route as this gave me all the functionality I needed.

I wouldn't be without the Navman as it's positioned in my line of vision and I can see speed/directions and Gatso POI's without looking down/taking eyes off road (as I would have to @ speedo or Command, if I had it).

I'm sure that when I come to change my car (probably @ Dealers) I won't lose more than I didn't pay .

Once Command-like systems are upgradeable (maps/POI's etc. via memory sticks?) and are realistically priced I may consider it.

Cheers,

 

[Rose Chap]

I fitted COMAND to my W208 last year and I can't recommend it high enough. Not only is the satnav excellent, it puts little navigational arrows in your speedo display, is fully integrated into the car and looks factory fitted, and works perfectly.

Also, the COMAND sound quality is significantly better than the Audio 10 I replaced, making it an upgrade there as well.

Well worth it in my opinion.

 

[gary350]

With the R171 the radio is the same as in the comand to get better sound it means buying the sound system HK.

gary

 

[Andyt]

Agree on the Tom Tom

I recently purchased a new SLK200 without COMMAND. Prior to this I drove an SLK280 for the weekend with it. The Sat Nav function is very comprehensive and the real bonus is a great TMC (Traffic Update) service which routes you around the jams. I've been quoted £1,000 for a retro-fit COMMAND, which I may well do once I've built up some funds this year. This sight of a £30K+ car with a £200 TomTom unit on the dash board doesn't look right to me (may be I'm a snob!). Ultimately it depends how much you would use the Sat Nav function.

I hope this helps, Dowtherz

Thats how I feel - my merc with a Tom Tom on the dash - just no way.

Andy