Retrofitting Comand to a W210

[fwb44]

There are so many W210 Comand units on eBay, mostly from Poland, some from other parts of eastern Europe, going for £300-400, that I've begun to think about retrofitting Comand to my '98 E300 TD. Has anyone done this, can they recommend it or otherwise?

 

[230K]

Hi

Just discovered why i could never find many Comand units on ebay, i have been spelling it command .
Seems the going rate is around £400 for the unit, add £200 for trim and bits and pieces of wiring etc and around £100/disc it all works out costly.
Hopefully someone will explain what units fit a pre facelift 210 like ours. Would love someone who has done it to make out a definitive list of parts needed and units that would fit etc to make it easy for the like of ourselves.

230K

 

[fwb44]

Hi

Just discovered why i could never find many Comand units on ebay, i have been spelling it command .
Seems the going rate is around £400 for the unit, add £200 for trim and bits and pieces of wiring etc and around £100/disc it all works out costly.
Hopefully someone will explain what units fit a pre facelift 210 like ours. Would love someone who has done it to make out a definitive list of parts needed and units that would fit etc to make it easy for the like of ourselves.

230K

Yup, COMAND is a cheesy acronym but I can't now remember exactly what for. Garmin Street Pilot 2620 @ £695, plug and play starts to look like an option ...

 

[fwb44]

Yup, COMAND is a cheesy acronym but I can't now remember exactly what for. Garmin Steet Pilot 2620 @ £695, plug and play starts to look like an option ...

Got it ... COckpit MAnagement and Navigation Display

 

[Madferrit]

i've seen the comands for sale form Eastern Europe.. but i don't think i would trust buying it from that location... its a long way to go in case i have problems getting my money back, or the item in general.. and i for one would not want to part with the money without the reassurance that everything was ok.

It seems the going rate on ebay for retrofitting comands to a W210 is between £1200 and £1500.. but then you have the assurance of a new system and the guarantee that if something goes wrong you can trace the company down.

I think there are a few people on this forum who have done this themselves in the past, or have better knowledge, so perhaps they might voice their opinion. I know someone will mention Steve from Holland.. but i personally haven't experienced his work, though i have heard he is very good... again, i don't know the price.

Remember, a common problem for command units seems to be that the fan continues to run.. which eventually drains the battery... so that little extra might save a lot of headache.

Finally.. if you were buying a comand from EBay.. perhaps stick to those only located in the UK.

 

[Madferrit]

Garmin Steet Pilot 2620 @ £695, plug and play starts to look like an option ...

Is this unit transportable between vehicles? just had a look on the Garmin website, but can't see any mention of it

 

[fwb44]

Is this unit transportable between vehicles? just had a look on the Garmin website, but can't see any mention of it

check out www.garmin.com/products/sp2620/

 

[230K]

Hi

I bought a Medion MDPNA 100 from Halfords about a fortnight ago and am well impressed all for £297 which included a family members staff discount.
Got it for going to France and programmed in all 4 campsites yesterday and they compared turn for turn with the AA route planner.
Can someone explain what detail Comand 2.0 goes to and is it any better than the like of these handheld jobbies (Trying to convince myself that the cost of comand is not worth it).

230K

 

[fwb44]

i've seen the comands for sale form Eastern Europe.. but i don't think i would trust buying it from that location... its a long way to go in case i have problems getting my money back, or the item in general.. and i for one would not want to part with the money without the reassurance that everything was ok.

It seems the going rate on ebay for retrofitting comands to a W210 is between £1200 and £1500.. but then you have the assurance of a new system and the guarantee that if something goes wrong you can trace the company down.

I think there are a few people on this forum who have done this themselves in the past, or have better knowledge, so perhaps they might voice their opinion. I know someone will mention Steve from Holland.. but i personally haven't experienced his work, though i have heard he is very good... again, i don't know the price.

Remember, a common problem for command units seems to be that the fan continues to run.. which eventually drains the battery... so that little extra might save a lot of headache.

Finally.. if you were buying a comand from EBay.. perhaps stick to those only located in the UK.

Funnily enough a couple of COMAND units on sale in Poland were withdrawn by eBay today for infractions of the selling rules. I take your points, they're very valid ones, I just think £1500 is a little steep for supplying and fitting a basically obsolete COMAND unit tho' it might be worth paying for a more recent version for a later, lower-mileage car than mine. I don't need it - it would just sorta be nice ...

 

[Madferrit]

I don't need it - it would just sorta be nice ...

I know the tempation... i know i'll rarely use comand, but it does make me kick myself when i see the merc next to me in traffic with the little screen... the Audio 10 is nice.. but not that nice

 

[Madferrit]

Can someone explain what detail Comand 2.0 goes to and is it any better than the like of these handheld jobbies (Trying to convince myself that the cost of comand is not worth it).

230K

I think you pay a little premium for the 3 point star, and a little more to have it flush fitted in the dash... but good question... how does the Comand compare to other products on the market? I guess one bonus with Comand has to be the fact that you can update maps etc.. perhaps not all possible with every system out there.

 

[fwb44]

I think you pay a little premium for the 3 point star, and a little more to have it flush fitted in the dash... but good question... how does the Comand compare to other products on the market? I guess one bonus with Comand has to be the fact that you can update maps etc.. perhaps not all possible with every system out there.

Yeah, with discs only available from M-B at £132 a pop, or so I gather

 

[Guy]

I went through the same temptation about doing a retrofit Comand to our 210 estate, but couldn't justify it as against a portable unit, which at least the kids can use when needed.

In the end, I probably spent too much - on a Navman ICN630, but it was still much less than Comand, and came with mapping for Europe, which was what we wanted it for. It has been very good, very reliable, and is now about £200 cheaper than when I bought it

Just don't like having wires trailing from the cig lighter, or a sucker on the windscreen...

 

[Madferrit]

but couldn't justify it as against a portable unit, which at least the kids can use when needed.

What do the kids use it for... out of interest? Or are your kids older and move it into their own cars?.. just curious

 

[Guy]

Yeah, it's not that the house is that big its just that I'm that old

Son 23, Daughter 19

 

[Madferrit]

HAHA... at least you have the cars to keep your sane

 

[fwb44]

Yeah, it's not that the house is that big its just that I'm that old

Son 23, Daughter 19

Ha, and to think they'll follow your example and go on to be Mercedes-Benz owners as soon as their pocket money runs to it ... get ready to convert your cellar Guy, you'll have KellerKinder for the next 10 years ! (= German for 'cellar children', i.e. those who never leave home. Blimey, if they can't afford to leave home in Germany, what hope have we got? )

 

[Guy]

... get ready to convert your cellar Guy, you'll have KellerKinder for the next 10 years ! (= German for 'cellar children', i.e. those who never leave home. Blimey, if they can't afford to leave home in Germany, what hope have we got? )

Help Ten years

 

[fred_raven]

i saw those polish comands - was very dubious - tried emailing - even tried phoning - got not much sense so left well alone - eventually bought a Becker single din sat nav cd player which is almost as good - i need a sat nav for my job. paid 220 quid for it - hope its here tomorrow. will let you all know if installation goes well but have seen posts where they say these units are plug in replacements for std cd radio .

 

[fwb44]

i saw those polish comands

Two of them were pulled by eBay the next day for infractions of the selling rules (or that was what I could make out, the email was in French), after that I began to lose confidence. My other half has a £1500 Panasonic navigator in her Volvo but even with that the GPS is temperamental, apparently the satellite has good days & bad days