Navigation 50 v Comand

[mmhpjh]

My New Car

I have oredered a new E350CDI coupe and have one week left to finalise what specification I want and I just cant decide whether to go for Comand or the standard Audio 20 and add the media interface at the dealership.

I currently have a late 53 S320CDI with Comand, so I do have a bit of experience of Comand and feel I know what I will and won't use.

Why cant I decide?

Comand - I would have no need for the DVD, memory card slot, linguatronic, etc. But, I plan to keep the car for a minimum of three years, so will not having comand affect the resale value and sale potential?

Audio 20 With media interface - I am able to use my ipod, essential. I then buy a tom tom.

My gut feeling says Audio 20 with Media Interface and a Tom Tom. £2000 is a lot of money considering I am opting for Pan Roof, Upgraded Alloys and Diamond White Metalic Paint.

Coments please.

 

[SL Boy]

Hi mmhpjh - Based on my own experience with earlier versions of Comand I think I can offer some help here. I have a 2003 SL with Comand and the navigation aspects of this 7 year old satnav system are far superior to the 2010 Comand APS system in our new E class. The presentation of the data, size of screen, TMC functionality of the new system is better but the basic route calculation, clarity of spoken instructions and the POI database are woefully inferior. If you need to use the E class Comand to find hotels and restaurants you might as well forget it. As it looks to me one of the reasons you want Comand is for simple route navigation I have found that Tom Tom or Garmin does the job far better.

One of the issues is Mercedes uses completely different databases/operating systems for their various product ranges. They are not compatable with each other. The Comand hardware of the new C Class and E class look similar but the quality of the navigation could not be further apart. The C's system is as good as on my old SL. The E's system is the worst I have ever seen.

Two months ago, my dealer received my 7 page detailed report covering the system's failures and inadequacies which they forwarded to MB Germany. Some of my observations such as telling you to turn left when you should be turning right at junctions are downrifght dangerous. MB have yet to respond. The dealer acknowledges that I am not the only person complaining and is now in the unfortunate position of wanting to sell satnav systems with new cars but knowing there are significant problems with them.

Regarding resale value it possibly might make some difference but you will not get back anything like the £2000 you spend now. Some say £500. I dont know. But what I do know is that if I had realised the E class system was so incapable of doing its job I would never have specified Comand.

Hope this is helpful.

 

[thebook]

I now wish I had chosen the COMAND option as opposed to the NAV50 - I just do not trust it is taking me where I want to go having been lead to too many wrong destinations...

COMAND has recently received an upgrade to 7 digit postcodes which NAV50 has not received.

 

[SL Boy]

I now wish I had chosen the COMAND option as opposed to the NAV50 - I just do not trust it is taking me where I want to go having been lead to too many wrong destinations...

COMAND has recently received an upgrade to 7 digit postcodes which NAV50 has not received.

I am told it will likely come to NAV50 on the next upgrade. Comand has too many bad features to convince me it is a more cost effective option.

 

[Alfie]

Hi mmhpjh - Based on my own experience with earlier versions of Comand I think I can offer some help here. I have a 2003 SL with Comand and the navigation aspects of this 7 year old satnav system are far superior to the 2010 Comand APS system in our new E class. The presentation of the data, size of screen, TMC functionality of the new system is better but the basic route calculation, clarity of spoken instructions and the POI database are woefully inferior. If you need to use the E class Comand to find hotels and restaurants you might as well forget it. As it looks to me one of the reasons you want Comand is for simple route navigation I have found that Tom Tom or Garmin does the job far better.

One of the issues is Mercedes uses completely different databases/operating systems for their various product ranges. They are not compatable with each other. The Comand hardware of the new C Class and E class look similar but the quality of the navigation could not be further apart. The C's system is as good as on my old SL. The E's system is the worst I have ever seen.

Two months ago, my dealer received my 7 page detailed report covering the system's failures and inadequacies which they forwarded to MB Germany. Some of my observations such as telling you to turn left when you should be turning right at junctions are downrifght dangerous. MB have yet to respond. The dealer acknowledges that I am not the only person complaining and is now in the unfortunate position of wanting to sell satnav systems with new cars but knowing there are significant problems with them.

Regarding resale value it possibly might make some difference but you will not get back anything like the £2000 you spend now. Some say £500. I dont know. But what I do know is that if I had realised the E class system was so incapable of doing its job I would never have specified Comand.

Hope this is helpful.

Adding comand will make your vehicle more saleable in future. It will certainly get people to come and see it over cars that dont have it. Whether you get back that full investment is another issue though. But then you would expect it to depreciate at least as much as the whole car so it is unrealistic to expect to get £2k back when you sell it.

As for its usefulness, with the latest updates and certainly the NTG 2.5 comand system is streets ahead of the pre 2005 versions which were Cd based and didnt have full postcodes or european support.

I actually find comand to be far better than the tom Tom app I have on the iphone. with 7 digit postcode, birds eye view etc it is up there with the best. Its not fair though to compare the purchase cost with something like a Tom Tom as Tom Tom wont give you DVD movie playback, supurb sound system, DVD changer or Sd card support.

Personally I rate comand as very good but then I would say that wouldnt I!

 

[raymont]

The comparison between Comand and TT (or Garmin etc.) is false.

TT is a nav system. Comand is a system which offers integrated ( voice) control over quite a few functions; radio, phone ,DVD, TV, reversing camera etc. as well as navigation
However, I do agree that the Comand nav component is no match for TT. I also think that price of Comand, even given it’s functionality, is ridiculous.
Will you get your £2k plus after , say , 3 years? Almost certainly not. I would guess £500 to £700 residual value. What it will do is make the car more attractive to buyers.

 

[mmhpjh]

Thank You

SL BOY, thank you for your comments and I feel I am with you on this.

raymont, yes, agreed, but as I stated, I won't have a use for DVD, TV, Linguatronic, Hard Disk storage, memory card slot, Reversing Camera. They might impress friends, but not me. What I will use is my Ipod (Media Interface £300 or so), Sat Nav (Tom Tom??? £250 approx) amd my Iphone (Blue Tooth connectivity is standard).

I feel I should opt away from Comand and just go for the dealership fitted Media Interface, and buy a Tom Tom, but, believe it or not, my wife is trying to persuade me to go for Comand!!

 

[SL Boy]

Adding comand will make your vehicle more saleable in future. It will certainly get people to come and see it over cars that dont have it. Whether you get back that full investment is another issue though. But then you would expect it to depreciate at least as much as the whole car so it is unrealistic to expect to get £2k back when you sell it.

As for its usefulness, with the latest updates and certainly the NTG 2.5 comand system is streets ahead of the pre 2005 versions which were Cd based and didnt have full postcodes or european support.

I actually find comand to be far better than the tom Tom app I have on the iphone. with 7 digit postcode, birds eye view etc it is up there with the best. Its not fair though to compare the purchase cost with something like a Tom Tom as Tom Tom wont give you DVD movie playback, supurb sound system, DVD changer or Sd card support.

Personally I rate comand as very good but then I would say that wouldnt I!

Alfie - we are not discussing the merits/demerits of the latest NTG 2.5 system. The 2010 E Class Comand is NTG 4 which is not a patch on the 2003 SL Comand.

 

[Alfie]

Alfie - we are not discussing the merits/demerits of the latest NTG 2.5 system. The 2010 E Class Comand is NTG 4 which is not a patch on the 2003 SL Comand.

I completely disagree with you here. The 2003 Comand system is positively antiquated compared to the newer NTG 4 systems. For starters there is no phone integration, no integrated linguatronic, no DVD playback, no media card support, no european coverage without changing disks, no dual FM tuner. The comand Dx was designed in the late nineties.

With the latest updates the NTG 4 in the E class is a supurb piece of kit.

 

[azazael]

I have a 2010 E250 with Nav 50 with media cable in the glove box, my experiences are:

I am very happy with the media interface which plays music from Ipod / Iphone / USB very well. Telephony (bluetooth) works well as long as you dont use an iphone 4.

The full colour display is slightly smaller than the command version but plenty large enough.

Cant see the need for built in hard disk in the command if you have an ipod connected, and never used the built in dvd drive (except for the map updates)

However I have also have a TomTom go live 950 and compared to this the mercedes navigation system is laughable.

I am pleased I got the Nav 50 (its very different from the APS50) and dont regret not getting the command unit.

 

[smiffo]

I have a 2010 E250 with Nav 50 with media cable in the glove box, my experiences are:

I am very happy with the media interface which plays music from Ipod / Iphone / USB very well. Telephony (bluetooth) works well as long as you dont use an iphone 4.

The full colour display is slightly smaller than the command version but plenty large enough.

Cant see the need for built in hard disk in the command if you have an ipod connected, and never used the built in dvd drive (except for the map updates)

However I have also have a TomTom go live 950 and compared to this the mercedes navigation system is laughable.

I am pleased I got the Nav 50 (its very different from the APS50) and dont regret not getting the command unit.

I agree with all of the above comments

 

[elisetype25]

I agree with all of the above comments

+2

Only issue is the full postcode entry, hopefully this will get resolved in a software update in the near future.

 

[Hammy]

I much prefer having built in sat nav. I could NEVER get a Tom Tom to stay stuck to the windscreen! and hated the rats nest of wiring snaking around the dashboard that went with it. I always thought the Nav 50 was a direction only Sat Nav without mapping. Interested to hear it has maps. My Comand is great, but I never use the music register or DVD player.