Comand APS sat nav not very good..

[fredT]

Having said that you can't compare Comand with TT etc. as Comand is supposed to provide an integrated interface enabling you to control Nav, Phone, CD, radio etc.

IMHO the interface to all these functions is pretty poor and the Nav component, which is very important to a lot of people, is too far off the pace as to be excusable.

Also the junction schematics the nav displays are too often inaccurate and I do have the latest DVD.

no you have to compare it to tomtom etc, what else would you compare it to?

yes it does radio phone etc as well, and itegrates it in a stylish way, however when you are buying something like this from a "premium" manufacturer at a silly price (im sure you could build a far superios system out of componets at probably 1/3 of the preice) i dont think its too much to expect the functionality and performance to be at least on par with the competition.

and yup, the junction schematics really is a joke.

Seems from a lot of posts that it might actually not be broken since a few of us have problems, i will take it to mb anyway.

cheers

 

[raymont]

no you have to compare it to tomtom etc, what else would you compare it to?

yes it does radio phone etc as well, and itegrates it in a stylish way, however when you are buying something like this from a "premium" manufacturer at a silly price (im sure you could build a far superios system out of componets at probably 1/3 of the preice) i dont think its too much to expect the functionality and performance to be at least on par with the competition.

and yup, the junction schematics really is a joke.

Seems from a lot of posts that it might actually not be broken since a few of us have problems, i will take it to mb anyway.

cheers

I'd want to compare it with built in systems from, e.g., Audi, BMW, LR / RR etc.

Stylish integration does not, in my opinion involve cigarette lighter plugs and suction cups.

I'm not sure I'd agree that the schematics are ' a joke', they're really quite useful when accurate. It's just that sometimes they aren't.

Price is clearly an issue. Haven't looked recently so wonder how price compares with offerings from BMW etc.

 

[BTB 500]

Tom Tom is by no means the best portable sat nav out there

TomTom make a range of devices ... different prices, different features. Constantly changing, as are Garmin and all the others. So it's difficult to say what is 'best' at any point in time, plus of course that's subjective to some extent.

 

[Rory]

it probably is broken though, yesterday it tried taking me in a 1.5 mile loop to my house instead of going straight there at about half the distance!

That could simply be because it thinks the other route will be quicker. Mine always takes the back way out of our village on to the bypass. In practice there's no delay driving through the village so I ignore the nice lady.

 

[jdrrco]

Having had both Comand and TomTom with different cars, I would add my two penn'orth as follows:


Comand has the advantage of a vastly superior sound system over the standard MB radio/cd, plays MP3 DVDs (enabling my entire 800-CD collection to be stored on 12 DVDs and selected by name, track name etc), bigger screen and no faffing with recharge cables and taking it in and out of the car to avoid it being pinched.


TomTom has the advantage of being easily upgradeable (and backup-able via the internet) at a much lower cost than buying a new Comand DVD, being able to programme it from the comfort of your armchair (very useful when planning a recent trip across France, we entered all hotels and places we planned to stop while browsing the net at home) instead of having to sit in the car and do it, being transferrable to courtesy car when main car is in for a service (very useful for finding one's way back to work from a garage in the middle of a town you never visit otherwise!) and therefore also easily transerrable with all favourites, history and other memorised places (points of interest) when the car is replaced (and all transferrable via the website when upgrading to a new TomTom device). One final advantage I noticed recently, when on the phone to someone (handsfree of course) directions are still spoken in the backgound, so you don't need to hang up on a call just to find out which exit you are need to take!

Personally, I would now go for TomTom with the price advantage as well, but it's all a matter of what suits individual circumstances.

 

[Alfie]

I have a 54 reg C Class and your experience is exactly the same as mine.

Which disk have you got? My car came with 2.0 and the dealer said they would update it - they put 2.1 in.

Bizzarely, it called the turns late everywhere *except* on the roundabout outside my MB dealership. So they take the car out and say it's fine.

I bought version 6.3 of the DVD myself - this is the first edition to have TMC. It is better with that - it's only late on some junctions now! I think most people probably have some idea where they're going and are using the nav more for interest so late calls are not a big issue in everyday use, but I was in Hemel Hempstead (not a huge place) the other day for the first time, and COMAND just isn't quick enough to stop me making a couple of wrong turns.

The postcode thing is wierd - I believe the data is there on the disc as the mapping companies supply it, but the Mercedes interface doesn't pick it out. Maybe it's a German thing, as they only use 5 digits? Again, it's a real pain if you don't know an area - the the address picks up on local place names is no good if you don't know them. It's certainly put me in the wrong place.

If I'm going to a place for the first time I take a multimap printout to the car and use that to find the location using the map, then store it. Absurd!

6.1 was the first version with TMC in the A/B/C/C/CLK/ML/GL/R class range.

 

[raymont]

I read somewhere that TT have entered into a deal with Renault to supply a factory installed nav system with traffic, safety camera and speed limit info for which Renault will charge Euros500.

 

[popuptoaster]

TomTom make a range of devices ... different prices, different features. Constantly changing, as are Garmin and all the others. So it's difficult to say what is 'best' at any point in time, plus of course that's subjective to some extent.

Tis true, but me and my mate both had £200 (ish) units and while my garmin street pilot had less features than the tom tom (it wont display coordinates for example, or height above sea level) it was quicker to update both its position and its traffic info and most of the time faster to recalculate a route, the times it was slower were generally motorway journeys, plus the screen is clearer as it has less info on it, which could be better or worse depending if it not displaying your speed or heading while navigating is an issue for you, routes all over europe came out almost identical in most cases.

As you say, differnet models may well come out differently, but i have never had the opertunity to test.

This is our travel equipment for a 1000 mile in 12 hour dash to Trento in Italy to collect a half ton stone water feature needed to finish a development 30 hours before the penalty clause started costing LOTS of money.

2 sat navs and a crate of Red Bull.

 

[hawk20]

I had COMAND on the S class and have had Garmin since. Tried TomTom but Halfords reckoned much higher failure rate than Garmin.

COMAND is integrated which is nice, but Garmin is way better in many respects. Postcodes are usually only 4 houses so in most streets you are spot on. With Garmin we bung in the postcode and then it asks for house number: can give it if you wish to be spot on.

We suction cup to the glass screen on the radio so out of site and I just use the voice comands which are excellent.

Huge advantage is the speed camera alerts for fixed cameras, and it also shows latest locations for mobile units and reminds you of speed limits wherever you are. Can update camera locations on our home computer.

Used all over France and on trip to Spain. Excellent. And in each new town, after we parked, we saved our position, took the Garmin with us to explore the town (so useful) and then at the end of the day let the Garmin lead us back to the car. Lots of POIs and restaurants, fuel stations, cashpoints etc.

Garmin has a pin number so no point in stealing -but we put it away after each trip and that is the only advantage of COMAND in my experience.

On the latest A class and B class you can have a hard wired Garmin. Nice.

 

[BTB 500]

2 sat navs and a crate of Red Bull.

Yup when we drive to/from the in-laws in the south of Germany we travel overnight and always have some Red Bull in the cooler bag

We've got a TomTom 910 (hard disk) that's coming up for 4 years old I think, and it's been excellent. No faults or problems.

 

[pos.k]

Hi guys - I have used both TomTom and more recently COMAND, and this is what I have found:
Firstly, the convenience is way better for an integrated unit, compared to the get it out, stick it on, pick it up and stick it on properly whilst going round the corner.... battery going - wheres the lead? remember to put it away etc.
OK that said the TomTom is a dedicated unit, that has a decent, intuitive user-interface, and is pretty good at accepting and finding the right locations - especially postcode driven - much better.
BUT - had trouble with satellite pickup particularly in city centres - I had trouble in London, Manchester and Glasgow with poor connectivity, and inability to locate and re-route.

Ability to add POI's is a big plus.

The COMAND input is not the best - postcode lookup is just about usable, although you can switch to the map to tweak it - but this assumes you have any idea where the hell you are going!, but if you are traveling between known destinations, and store the locations, then the directions, traffic updates and re-routing are spot on - with or without satellites visible due to the 'dead-reckoning' that is inbuilt.
I had a tortuous day last Thursday between Portsmouth - Barbican - Docklands - Barbican - Euston - Mile End.
COMAND worked a treat, from directions to carparks close by etc.

I would thoroughly recommend COMAND to anyone over a portable unit unless the ability to adapt the maps or add POI's is so key. I do miss the speed camera warnings, but now just have to stay closer to the speed limit.

 

[trainer]

I have Tom Tom on my PDA and I have Comand fitted to the my new car. Running both together on a recent trip I found that the Comand unit was great apart from some sections on retail estates.

Comand is a fantastic integrated device which covers a multitudfe of functions. The fact that the Nav has the turn by turn guidance in the instrument display is a bonus.

Tom Tom can also be late in announcing turns and I have found that I have been almost on a turn before it is announced. At the end of the day it is down to the individual as to which they prefer.