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Is the cost of a Comand Unit worthwhile?

Thats a bit of a worry

Dieter said:
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,

I had not considered upgrades - is it the case at a £1k or more that the unit cannot be upgraded?

Andy
 
Yes I agree but...

BTB 500 said:
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.

Its just the sight of a Sat Nav stuck on the dash - so I guess that makes me a snob! Andy
 
Saw an LG Sat Nav in Halfords

Dieter said:
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,

Looking around I saw an LG Sat Nav in Halfords that was so tempting - it looked like a normal Radio/CD player all Black so would look ok in car but at a press of a button out came a 7 inch screen which offered Sat Nav / DVD / CD / Radio (no blue tooth). I thought why can't MB come up with that - reckon they would get knocked over in the rush. Tempted to replace with this or something similar - only draw back I can see is that there would be no connection to screen in instrument panel - shame.

Andy
 
Hi Andy,

POI's on Navman are upgradeable from web sites.

I believe Command needs a new CD/DVD every now and then (years?). Don't know about operating systems (I upgraded my ICN510 to ICN520 spec) but I suppose operating system (for Command) could be updated at service.

Whilst I agree Command is aesthetically more pleasing you still have to to take your eyes off the road to look at it.

I like the 'portable' system because you can have it in your line of sight. I can also use it as a (substitute) speedo (GPS system = speedo + 2mph), in fact I rarely look at MB speedo any more.

So location is important (to me).

Cheers,
 
My E320 has Comand, my Smart has a Road Angel Navigator and my wife's C8 has a Pioneer AVIC (DIN-sized unit with fold-out screen that replaced the factory stereo).

I hate having to take the Road Angel off the windscreen of my Smart every time I park up, and I find the touch-screen has to be operated with a pen to be accurate. The Pioneer is as good as Comand but I prefer the graphics on Comand.

For my next car, if I couldn't have Comand or similar integrated unit I would install a Pioneer unit. Road Angel/Tom Tom/ whatever just don't make the grade, IMHO
 
jeremytaylor said:
My E320 has Comand, my Smart has a Road Angel Navigator and my wife's C8 has a Pioneer AVIC (DIN-sized unit with fold-out screen that replaced the factory stereo).

I hate having to take the Road Angel off the windscreen of my Smart every time I park up, and I find the touch-screen has to be operated with a pen to be accurate. The Pioneer is as good as Comand but I prefer the graphics on Comand.

For my next car, if I couldn't have Comand or similar integrated unit I would install a Pioneer unit. Road Angel/Tom Tom/ whatever just don't make the grade, IMHO
The AVIC costs around £900 installed though, no? That's four and a half times what I paid for mine ;-)

-simon
 
i am considering the mercedes command system. It is looking to cost a little over £1000 and thats not including fitting.
Another option i have come across is the Alpine IVAW200RI system. Which has all the facilitys of the mereceds command and a very nice big wide screen.It is only £520. This is a doubl;e din size so same size as the mer command but has a much bigger wider screen. Looks great fitted in the car.
Something worth considering especially as the car is on a V/99 and a Mercedes command is not going to increase the value by a large amount if any, on sale of the car.
 
Kam said:
i am considering the mercedes command system. It is looking to cost a little over £1000 and thats not including fitting.
Another option i have come across is the Alpine IVAW200RI system. Which has all the facilitys of the mereceds command and a very nice big wide screen.It is only £520. This is a doubl;e din size so same size as the mer command but has a much bigger wider screen. Looks great fitted in the car.
Something worth considering especially as the car is on a V/99 and a Mercedes command is not going to increase the value by a large amount if any, on sale of the car.

You can certainly get a COMAND for your car including fitting and genuine Teleatlas 2006/2007 disk for under £1,000.;)
 
Yuo can't beat the real McCoy.
 
Andyt said:
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

I wouldn't have a car without built-in sat nav. COMAND is excellent. It makes the interior so much better unlike the naff add on units stuck in the corner or in the middle of the windscreen.
 
something i will look further into.
Alfie could you advise me the best place to go to get such a system.
 
Kam said:
something i will look further into.
Alfie could you advise me the best place to go to get such a system.

Best place would be www.comand.co.uk ;)
 
I realise I'm reviving an old(ish) thread here but having read it, I though I'd throw my tuppence in.

new member, just bought my first merc, which is an R170 SLK320. it's got the audio 10 cd system in which works but ain't great. I want to do something about nav but I'm not currently sure what. The following options seem to occur.

a) do nothing and stick your tomtom to the window when you need it
as others on this thread have said, tomtom's and similar uinits are fantastic navigation units. very highly featured, very fast, text to speech good gui etc. but as others have said, I don't like to have wires trailing across my dashboard and I hate having to put it up and take it down when required. also it's not there if I find I need it whilst already driving, ie maybe a motorway junction I know is closed so I need nav to get me to my destination but I'd have to stop to pull it out of the boot etc. cheap though as I already own a tomtom 910.

b) get shude to sort me out with a comand system
well this involves hacking up the centre console and making ti look neat and like it's supposed to be there. also, the thing is, I'm just not wildly keen on the comand system (unless they have markedly improved since the last one I saw. they seem quite old fashioned by current standards (am I wrong?), possibly expensive but nothing to remove from the car when I park up.

c) get a dual din third party unit, pioneer, alpine, kenwood etc
still have to hackup the console and make it look neat, but at least the unit itself is a modern design, nice gui, ought to be quick to process, also bluetooth, tv and dvd etc. again, possibly expensive but nothing to remove from the car when I park up.

d) get a single din third party nav, pioneer x1bt or similar
no hacking up, looks like a normalish head unit but should have modern gui, fast processing, bluetooth, tv, dvd etc. possibly expensive but easy to put back to normal for resale, no hacking away at anything, nothing to remove from car, except a little faceplate I suppose. but it does block the aircon controls when the screen is out, I could live with this.

any other major options come to anyone's mind?

the only other thing that occured to me was if I could install the tomtom permanently in the car somehow, so it looked like it was supposed to be there and not easy to steal yet always available for me to use, perhaps that little cubby hole in front of the gearstick could be repurposed? not sure how one would do this, anyone any ideas, or better yet, anyone done something like this?

I don't want to have to spend 3 mins tidying up when I leave the car if I've needed nav.

on a different note, anyone with something like the pioneer x1bt, is the 1din unit everything or is there a seperate box, if the latter does the sep box have the nav dvd or do I need to leave that in the headunit when required?

cheers
dave
 
Hello,

I don't do the miles to justify a proper 'unit' but I will admit I do like the look of the interior with one fitted. I like gadgets!!

I have used all sorts of Tom Tom, PDA's etc and currently find my XDA Orbit phone great.

Always have my phone with me, and the TomTom works a treat. Small and easy to take from car to car.

Cheers
 
It does rather depend what you need it for. I prefer the Tom Tom for its portability, but if I knew I would never need sat nav in any other car and planned on keeping what I had for a goodly while then I would prob look at a more permanent solution.

We all do the same thing start to look at solutions before working out what the problem is, fully scope the problem and the solution will present itself ;) My prob was using three or four, sometimes more, different cars every month and needing to be able to use the phone handsfree too. TomTom was the best solution. It;s why I also did the iTrip for my iPod.

I've thought about a more permanent solution as I had stopped travelling as much - but it's all change again and find I'm back on the road/train so will stick with the tomtom.

Good luck in what decision you do come to;)
 
As an aside, I very rarely connect the power lead to my Tom Tom in the car as it will run for 4-ish hrs on the internal battery. I tend to charge it up when I get home, then it's always ready for immediate use.

I completely agree about a built-in satnav always being there, though. I don't tend to have the Tom Tom with me for local or 'routine' trips, and very occasionally something happens (road closed etc.) where it would have been useful.

But the speed camera warnings on the TT are a big plus, it's swings and roundabouts.
 
If I could just add a designer's typically shallow comment: They look SOOOO much better with them in! The shiney MB logo comes on the screen and everything!! :bannana:
 
to be fair, you can configure quite a few of the third party nav's with a custom boot logo :) including the new pio double din d3BTi which seems to be their new "cheap" nav with bluetooth and ipod control, seems an good choice actually...
 
If I could just add a designer's typically shallow comment: They look SOOOO much better with them in! The shiney MB logo comes on the screen and everything!! :bannana:

My shiny R129 comes up on my Tom Tom :)

Got a custom 'shutdown' screen image on it too.
 

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