- Joined
- Nov 6, 2007
- Messages
- 13,876
- Location
- North Oxfordshire
- Car
- His - Denim Blue A220 AMG Line Premium / Hers - Obsidian Black R172 SLK55
I know that the COMAND vs portable Sat Nav debate has been had a few times, but until my wife’s new SLK 350 which is fitted with the latest (i.e. HDD) COMAND arrived I couldn’t really add much to the debate other than comment that circa £2k is lots of money these days for a navigation device. So, here are some musings from someone who has been a “power” automotive GPS user for the last four years having now had the opportunity to use COMAND in anger.
First thing is that as others have said before, COMAND is more than just a navigation device and I must say that the Music Register, SD Card facility and six-disc DVD changer are all pretty slick in operation. I would say however that the speed of copying mp3’s from an SD Card to the Music Register is p-a-i-n-f-u-l-l-y s-l-o-w (around 45 mins for 1.8GB) and that the 4GB of usable memory is mean when memory is so cheap, but once the music is copied it all works fine and avoids the need to keep discs in the car. I haven’t tried the Multimedia Interface as I don’t have an iPod, but I do think that having to spend another £60 on a cable set to allow connection of said iPod or a USB stick is penny pinching. So, onto the navigation system. I must say that some of it is very impressive: The displays (especially the split screen when approaching a junction) are a model of clarity; the route calculation speed is very fast; the dead reckoning feature is great when satellite visibility is against you; the TMC implementation is good and the integration with the instrument cluster is excellent. However…
I may have missed something in the voluminous instruction manual, but the inability to define multiple via points (“Stopovers” in COMAND terminology) is a serious omission as it makes the manual tuning of a route essentially impossible. It’s OK if you just want the quickest or shortest route to a destination, but useless if you want to use the navigation technology to work as a talking roadbook to guide you on a particular predefined route. Even the most basic portable Sat Nav devices allow you to set multiple via points, and most will automatically re-order them for you to provide an overall quickest or shortest route through all the via’s to the destination. COMAND’s lack of ability to store a predefined route is a further handicap which relegates its navigation functionality in these respects to weaker than that of a sub £150 portable device.
Another irritation is that the annunciation of turn instructions is purely distance based rather than the much more useful time and distance based voice guidance on Garmin’s devices. Frankly, the annunciation “Prepare to turn left/right” a mile before the turn when travelling at low speed in town is an unnecessary distraction as it can easily occur 3 minutes before you need it. Contrast this with Garmin’s implementation that gives you the equivalent instruction at an appropriate (and variable) distance before the turn, based upon current speed, and you’ll see what I mean.
I know that this topic has been done to death, but the inability to define Proximity Alerts (for SpeedCams) is another major drawback. I know that some countries prohibit the use of GPS-based SpeedCam alerts, but most don’t. Bearing in mind that COMAND “knows” what country it’s in at any given time – knowing the current location is, after all, a primary function of a GPS Receiver – it would be incredibly easy to disable the functionality automatically for countries in which the technology is illegal, so there’s really no obstacle to including it.
But enough of the moans, back to the good bits. The Linguatronic system, far from being a gimmick, is really useful and allows the driver to interact with the car’s systems without losing focus on the primary task of driving. It’s a bit like asking a passenger to change the radio station or select a different CD, or enter a destination into the Sat Nav. Give the instruction and it all happens as if by magic. Being able to just get out of the car when you stop rather than having to disconnect & lock away a portable GPSR is a liberating experience, and one of the by-products of COMAND being so well integrated with the car.
So there you have it. COMAND is, in my view, a 21st-century Curate’s Egg: wonderful in some ways but seriously lacking in others. The infuriating thing is that it would be so easy to fix the bad bits and make it a truly superb all round solution befitting its price tag.
First thing is that as others have said before, COMAND is more than just a navigation device and I must say that the Music Register, SD Card facility and six-disc DVD changer are all pretty slick in operation. I would say however that the speed of copying mp3’s from an SD Card to the Music Register is p-a-i-n-f-u-l-l-y s-l-o-w (around 45 mins for 1.8GB) and that the 4GB of usable memory is mean when memory is so cheap, but once the music is copied it all works fine and avoids the need to keep discs in the car. I haven’t tried the Multimedia Interface as I don’t have an iPod, but I do think that having to spend another £60 on a cable set to allow connection of said iPod or a USB stick is penny pinching. So, onto the navigation system. I must say that some of it is very impressive: The displays (especially the split screen when approaching a junction) are a model of clarity; the route calculation speed is very fast; the dead reckoning feature is great when satellite visibility is against you; the TMC implementation is good and the integration with the instrument cluster is excellent. However…
I may have missed something in the voluminous instruction manual, but the inability to define multiple via points (“Stopovers” in COMAND terminology) is a serious omission as it makes the manual tuning of a route essentially impossible. It’s OK if you just want the quickest or shortest route to a destination, but useless if you want to use the navigation technology to work as a talking roadbook to guide you on a particular predefined route. Even the most basic portable Sat Nav devices allow you to set multiple via points, and most will automatically re-order them for you to provide an overall quickest or shortest route through all the via’s to the destination. COMAND’s lack of ability to store a predefined route is a further handicap which relegates its navigation functionality in these respects to weaker than that of a sub £150 portable device.
Another irritation is that the annunciation of turn instructions is purely distance based rather than the much more useful time and distance based voice guidance on Garmin’s devices. Frankly, the annunciation “Prepare to turn left/right” a mile before the turn when travelling at low speed in town is an unnecessary distraction as it can easily occur 3 minutes before you need it. Contrast this with Garmin’s implementation that gives you the equivalent instruction at an appropriate (and variable) distance before the turn, based upon current speed, and you’ll see what I mean.
I know that this topic has been done to death, but the inability to define Proximity Alerts (for SpeedCams) is another major drawback. I know that some countries prohibit the use of GPS-based SpeedCam alerts, but most don’t. Bearing in mind that COMAND “knows” what country it’s in at any given time – knowing the current location is, after all, a primary function of a GPS Receiver – it would be incredibly easy to disable the functionality automatically for countries in which the technology is illegal, so there’s really no obstacle to including it.
But enough of the moans, back to the good bits. The Linguatronic system, far from being a gimmick, is really useful and allows the driver to interact with the car’s systems without losing focus on the primary task of driving. It’s a bit like asking a passenger to change the radio station or select a different CD, or enter a destination into the Sat Nav. Give the instruction and it all happens as if by magic. Being able to just get out of the car when you stop rather than having to disconnect & lock away a portable GPSR is a liberating experience, and one of the by-products of COMAND being so well integrated with the car.
So there you have it. COMAND is, in my view, a 21st-century Curate’s Egg: wonderful in some ways but seriously lacking in others. The infuriating thing is that it would be so easy to fix the bad bits and make it a truly superb all round solution befitting its price tag.
