Sat Nav. ( non boaty )

[Alistairr]

Has anyone tried the Birds Eye Satalite Navigation system that Nissan seem to market?
I have just ordered a double cab pick-up, and that is the system they use, I was wondering if it was any good, and worth the £1500+vat that it costs?

Or can anyone suggest another in dash system, about the same sort of price?

Cheers..

Alistair..



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[Happy1]

We have a system in the new Merc E Class, I must say that it is useful now and again but the womans voice does get on your nerves. I used it in London and found that the suggested route was not the one I would take, and that it took a lot longer than the back doubles I know, but I have found it pretty accurate and it almost ensures you will never be lost. I use my Garmin 176C in the 4x4 on the car bracket with the street map chip,I find this excellent value for money as it is used on the boat as well. It doesn't talk to you, but you get a clear display like a roaming A-Z of where you are, it is portable, works on 12v or batteries, and has all the places of interest, petrol stations, street names for the whole UK e.t.c. You can also unclip it and hide it when not in the car.

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[Alistairr]

My father has an Sclass Merc, with Sat Nav,And i have used it on numerous occasions. I think its pretty good even the Ladies Voice, It great how when you don't listen to her and go your own way, She never ever gets upset, or starts shouting/forums/images/icons/laugh.gif.
However it did concern me once when she politely asked me to do a 'U' turn while driving along the M3./forums/images/icons/shocked.gif



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[jfm]

Alistair, best to find out who makes it for Nissan. The merc COMAND system is made by Blaupunkt, the BMW is made by VDO Dayton. SWMBO has the merc and I have the beemer, so easy to compare, and while the merc is ok the beemer system is much better imho. Nicer ladies voice in the beemer too, much smoother and sexier than the merc lady . although beware some pre 1999 Beemers - the voice was a bloke's, ugh!

Both ours are CD based. The latest generation are DVD so you can have all Europe and more data just on one disc. I haven't used a DVD system, but they are currently fitted in Volvo, Honda, new EClass, and maybe some others

BUT the best of all is a system that includes Trafficmaster. Satnav is ok but many times you just dont need it, though its a nice toy. However, a colour screen in the dash showing the actual speed of the traffic on all the A roads and MWays in real time is seriously useful. The merc system doesn't offer this, even in the new EClass, but the beemer system does. Worth asking re your proposed new purchase imho

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[Deleted User YDKXO]

I've had both systems too. Currently have a Merc with Comand and I find it a little more intuitive to use and faster to react than the Beemer system (at least the pre 2000 model), both in terms of initially determining routes and changing to a new one. OK, the Beemer lady is more human and the current screen is bigger
But, you're right, the latest DVD based systems are much better and incorporating the SatNav and Trafficmaster onto one screen is such a no-brainer that I wonder why every SatNav system cant do it.
The latest Jag SatNav is good as well. Very useable touch screen and address input by postcode
Personally, I would'nt buy a car without SatNav although I would say that the map based systems are much more useful than the simpler voice/diagram based systems which IMHO are not worth having

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[Alistairr]

Thanks jfm, I will look into who makes it, At the moment all i know is its called Birdseye. But will make more enquires.

The Merc we have only covers British roads, you have to buy seperate disc for the different Europeon Countries, I believe the nissan System covers most of Europe on one disc, So i dont know if that is a good thing or not, Either not as much detailed information, or the system is more advanced than our 1yr old merc.

We picked the merc up from the factory in Stuttgard and drove it home, It was a pain that the sat nav didn't work until we came out the euro Tunnell, At over a £100 a disc for other Countries (we needed 2 Germany and France) we weren't going to buy them for the one journey.

Alistair.


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[Alistairr]

Thanks for Replying Mike.

I will need to find out if its Cd based or DVD.
I would doubt if its as good as the systems in the Merc or Bemmers.



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[Alistairr]

Oops Sorry, Just found out its called Birdsview and not Birdseye.



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[Alistairr]

Oh Dear, I believe its made by Hitachi.../forums/images/icons/shocked.gif.



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