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Hi guys,
As many of you know a navigation install is something I've wanted to do to my car since the dawn of time. Once I'd decided to keep it for the forseeable future last year I decided that it really was about time to stop talking about it and start doing something about it. I thought some of you might appreciate a writeup - everything I'm about to say applies almost equally to the E53 X5 and the E46 3 Series as well.
Shortly after my last double DIN thread where I decided to buy a Sony unit, one of the chinese manufacturers updated the E39 GPS system they sold. It had moved from being a crappy looking pile of junk into something that actually looked worth considering. It's an absolute ripoff at £600-£700 depending on the version but then there are limited options for what i want so what can you do?
I decided that if it wasn't a pile of crap I'd much rather have an option like that, therefore what I'd do is order one and send it back under the DSR and buy the Sony if it sucked.
That was November.
It took an age to come out - the E46 ones appeared first - and finally, this weekend, I actually got it fitted.
Before I ordered I had a choice - there are two units. One is Android powered, one is Windows powered. The obvious choice was Android. I mean how totally cool would it be to have a load of apps in a car stereo? You could play Angrybirds! So, with this in mind I ordered a Windows unit instead.
Why? Once I'd got over how cool Android was I realised I just wanted a functional, good looking navigation system to rival the functionality of the OEM system but with more modern features. The Windows version will autoboot Nav software so you never see its backend - you just have Nav. This seemed more sensible really.
First impressions were quite different to what I was expecting. It was actually well made. The quality of the plastics was excellent - the volume control knobs were proper rubber not cheap plastic and it looked like it would blend in with the dash brilliantly. First test passed!
So after a weekend of faff, it was fitted.
What do I think?
Some of it is absolutely sensational. Some of it is truely shockingly crap. But overall the stuff thats crap is easy to ignore leaving behind a system thats actually pretty good. The SD card/USB interface is beyond dire - it looks like something from 1994 and I will never, ever use it.
But the iPod interface, Radio and menu system looks and works really well - and the navigation side is simply incredible. It runs two seperate systems in one - one for nav, one for the radio/music. Switching to nav is a simple button press - no lag, no delay, it just instantly swaps over. The nav side runs Windows and I'm running a Navigation package called iGo Primo which is absolutely excellent - its modern, looks great and is absolutely crammed with functionality.
I'll let the pics do the rest of the talking!
This is the basic navigation view, you can have 2d or 3d. It'll also just show the position of the car when no route is set. It has full 3d mode with 3d buildings and elevation models like the newer BMW CIC iDrive. Though I've not really bothered getting that working yet.
This is the screen I leave the unit on 99% of the time - 2d map mode. It autoboots to this location (you can choose) - so thats what i see in the dash. Music is all controlled via the steering wheel controls, but I can switch into music mode if I want to tweak.
The unit has a seperate radio receiver for TMC signals and Igo Primo supports TMC via Trafficmaster. This means it picks up realtime traffic information and can re-route dynamically as a result, or offer detours, or take road closures into account when setting up a new route.
It's also got all the features you'd expect from a modern nav system, like lane guidance, sign display, etc etc.
This is the iPod interface. It looks good and works well. Sadly though the album art you can see is.... a picture of some albums. It is entirely static and doesnt change. How irritatingly crap - it would have been very easy just to have a generic background that didnt look like fake album art. Grrr. Not a huge deal though as I only see this screen when changing music etc.
This is the Radio interface. It may be familiar to some as it appears to be a direct ripoff of the VW RNS systems. I guess I'm pleased they decided to copy a good interface rather than make a crap one themselves.
This is the menu. It looks quite nice but in practice you rarely see it for more than a few seconds when selecting options once you've finished the initial setup.
This is the visual PDC. When you engage reverse, it pops up and visually shows the distance things are from the sensors. It works perfectly with my factory PDC. Touch the screen to bring up the reversing camera image. Sadly once you disengage reverse it goes back to normal which is fine if you've got an E46 but it means I cant really use it for front PDC.
There is also an OBC screen which reads info from the IBUS - displays coolant temperature, outside temperature and litres left in the tank. On E46's you also get remaining fuel range and average economy as well. On VW's you get oil temp etc.
So there we go. I'm really happy with it - I think it looks great. It's quirky in places but once you get used to the odd randomly nonsensical 'feature' and you pretend it doesnt have the horribly crappy SD card/USB interface, it is in my opinion the absolute best solution for Navigation in an E39, E46 or E53. It's not perfect - there are some boneheaded 'features' like the fact the radio presets on the unit only work in radio mode (ie they dont do anything if you are in nav). Annoying, but you can use the steering wheel to move presets instead. Igo can also get a bit sluggish at times but I've ordered a Class 10 SD card to replace the Class 2 one I run it from atm.
Thoughts and questions are welcome
As many of you know a navigation install is something I've wanted to do to my car since the dawn of time. Once I'd decided to keep it for the forseeable future last year I decided that it really was about time to stop talking about it and start doing something about it. I thought some of you might appreciate a writeup - everything I'm about to say applies almost equally to the E53 X5 and the E46 3 Series as well.
Shortly after my last double DIN thread where I decided to buy a Sony unit, one of the chinese manufacturers updated the E39 GPS system they sold. It had moved from being a crappy looking pile of junk into something that actually looked worth considering. It's an absolute ripoff at £600-£700 depending on the version but then there are limited options for what i want so what can you do?
I decided that if it wasn't a pile of crap I'd much rather have an option like that, therefore what I'd do is order one and send it back under the DSR and buy the Sony if it sucked.
That was November.
It took an age to come out - the E46 ones appeared first - and finally, this weekend, I actually got it fitted.
Before I ordered I had a choice - there are two units. One is Android powered, one is Windows powered. The obvious choice was Android. I mean how totally cool would it be to have a load of apps in a car stereo? You could play Angrybirds! So, with this in mind I ordered a Windows unit instead.
Why? Once I'd got over how cool Android was I realised I just wanted a functional, good looking navigation system to rival the functionality of the OEM system but with more modern features. The Windows version will autoboot Nav software so you never see its backend - you just have Nav. This seemed more sensible really.
First impressions were quite different to what I was expecting. It was actually well made. The quality of the plastics was excellent - the volume control knobs were proper rubber not cheap plastic and it looked like it would blend in with the dash brilliantly. First test passed!
So after a weekend of faff, it was fitted.
What do I think?
Some of it is absolutely sensational. Some of it is truely shockingly crap. But overall the stuff thats crap is easy to ignore leaving behind a system thats actually pretty good. The SD card/USB interface is beyond dire - it looks like something from 1994 and I will never, ever use it.
But the iPod interface, Radio and menu system looks and works really well - and the navigation side is simply incredible. It runs two seperate systems in one - one for nav, one for the radio/music. Switching to nav is a simple button press - no lag, no delay, it just instantly swaps over. The nav side runs Windows and I'm running a Navigation package called iGo Primo which is absolutely excellent - its modern, looks great and is absolutely crammed with functionality.
I'll let the pics do the rest of the talking!
This is the basic navigation view, you can have 2d or 3d. It'll also just show the position of the car when no route is set. It has full 3d mode with 3d buildings and elevation models like the newer BMW CIC iDrive. Though I've not really bothered getting that working yet.
This is the screen I leave the unit on 99% of the time - 2d map mode. It autoboots to this location (you can choose) - so thats what i see in the dash. Music is all controlled via the steering wheel controls, but I can switch into music mode if I want to tweak.
The unit has a seperate radio receiver for TMC signals and Igo Primo supports TMC via Trafficmaster. This means it picks up realtime traffic information and can re-route dynamically as a result, or offer detours, or take road closures into account when setting up a new route.
It's also got all the features you'd expect from a modern nav system, like lane guidance, sign display, etc etc.
This is the iPod interface. It looks good and works well. Sadly though the album art you can see is.... a picture of some albums. It is entirely static and doesnt change. How irritatingly crap - it would have been very easy just to have a generic background that didnt look like fake album art. Grrr. Not a huge deal though as I only see this screen when changing music etc.
This is the Radio interface. It may be familiar to some as it appears to be a direct ripoff of the VW RNS systems. I guess I'm pleased they decided to copy a good interface rather than make a crap one themselves.
This is the menu. It looks quite nice but in practice you rarely see it for more than a few seconds when selecting options once you've finished the initial setup.
This is the visual PDC. When you engage reverse, it pops up and visually shows the distance things are from the sensors. It works perfectly with my factory PDC. Touch the screen to bring up the reversing camera image. Sadly once you disengage reverse it goes back to normal which is fine if you've got an E46 but it means I cant really use it for front PDC.
There is also an OBC screen which reads info from the IBUS - displays coolant temperature, outside temperature and litres left in the tank. On E46's you also get remaining fuel range and average economy as well. On VW's you get oil temp etc.
So there we go. I'm really happy with it - I think it looks great. It's quirky in places but once you get used to the odd randomly nonsensical 'feature' and you pretend it doesnt have the horribly crappy SD card/USB interface, it is in my opinion the absolute best solution for Navigation in an E39, E46 or E53. It's not perfect - there are some boneheaded 'features' like the fact the radio presets on the unit only work in radio mode (ie they dont do anything if you are in nav). Annoying, but you can use the steering wheel to move presets instead. Igo can also get a bit sluggish at times but I've ordered a Class 10 SD card to replace the Class 2 one I run it from atm.
Thoughts and questions are welcome
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