BMW Navigator III - Should I buy?

[JohnnyBoxer]

Hang on their Bud! I paid good money, over the top money for this device, I never had a chance to try it out as this appeared to be the last boxed one they had - albiet it opened boxed one at that! You maybe the type of guy who just gets an idea then buys it without a second thought but me - mr fussy - likes things right, and the last straw for me was finding out that the unit won't display safety cameras from Garmin! I mean COME ON - what GPS now a days won't do speed cameras???

For what you pay, the top of the range Garmins or TomToms for cars are cheaper and way better!

Anyway, I never went back to Oceon, decided to keep it.

PS; I'm 5'10" tall. I do look over the screen no problem but never the less the sat nav draws you in - maybe because it's new?

Nothing to do with whether you wanted a Zumo 550 or Nav 3, I'm sure they were very obliging

But you've bought a very expensive motorcycle in Dec and now you're paying top dollar for a BMW branded Garmin - which if you'd bought a normal Zumo 550 or 2820 - you'd have saved a packet -that's what my comment was directed at

Have fun

 

[gsbiker]

Nothing to do with whether you wanted a Zumo 550 or Nav 3, I'm sure they were very obliging

But you've bought a very expensive motorcycle in Dec and now you're paying top dollar for a BMW branded Garmin - which if you'd bought a normal Zumo 550 or 2820 - you'd have saved a packet -that's what my comment was directed at

Have fun

Ah

I have expensive taste and I tend to buy the dearest gadgets and sometimes I make mistakes - I try to avoid regretting things hence why I perhaps ask so many questions

 

[gsbiker]

BM disagree with you on their website:

How can I use Custom POIs with my BMW Motorrad Navigator III?

In order to use Custom POIs with the Navigator III, please download the POI Loader from the Garmin website at
http://www.garmin.com/support/download_details.jsp?id=927
Use of the POI Loader described in detail in the help messages after being started.

And page 26 here: http://www8.garmin.com/manuals/BMWMotorradNavigatorIII_OwnersManual.pdf

That looks promising but my experience was somewhat different. I registered my Nav3, updated the maps to 2009, updated everything possible, lastly tried to subscription to Garmins safety cameras and their website said device not found? I have since subscribed to PocketGPS and have installed their speed camera database for £17 BUT I would still prefer the garmin one?

When I went to subscribe, the website said this

Activate your free trial
Activate your 30-day trial subscription for safety camera updates, included with compatible Garmin devices**.

**Compatible Garmin devices:
StreetPilot c510, c550
nüvi 200, 200W 250, 250W, 270, 300, 310, 350, 360, 370, 600, 610, 650, 660, 670, 750, 760, 770
zūmo 400, 500, 550

If theres a way then I'm all ears!

 

[PDiddy]

Why stick with the Garmin Speed Camera database when the PocketGPS database is both more accurate & frequently updated -

 

[John Armstrong]

Why stick with the Garmin Speed Camera database when the PocketGPS database is both more accurate & frequently updated -

Don't bring reason into this thread

 

[MikeP]

Is this one of those "technology breeds technological need" things?

Do you need the speed camera database now because you are sitting on the bike with your eyes glued to the SatNav?

 

[karlp]

Ah

I have expensive taste and I tend to buy the dearest gadgets and sometimes I make mistakes - I try to avoid regretting things hence why I perhaps ask so many questions

You are supposed to ask the questions and research the product before you buy - not after.

You have paid top price for the bike

top price for the panniers

and top price for the garmin

 

[JohnnyBoxer]

You are supposed to ask the questions and research the product before you buy - not after.

You have paid top price for the bike

top price for the panniers

and top price for the garmin

Agreed

Hope the stuff is for keeps..................if not depreciation is a bitter pill

 

[NorthernBoy]

Is this one of those "technology breeds technological need" things?

Do you need the speed camera database now because you are sitting on the bike with your eyes glued to the SatNav?

That's a bit unnecessary, isn't it? Perhaps it is because when he goes through five different countries in a week, it can get a bit of a pain to remember just how close the street lights need to be together in this latest land before the lower local speed limit is enforced. There are also times on the bike when I am, well, let's say "pressing on", and prefer to spend 100% of my time looking at the road, with none of it looking down at the speedometer. A beep to point out when I am approaching a camera is a useful extra piece of information. You could argue that "tight bend" or "adverse camber" signs are equally unnecessary to some apocryphal perfect rider, but most of the rest of us are happy to take in whatever piece of useful extra information we can get. The speed camera database gives you one extra thing to help you choose the appropriate speed for any given time, that's all.

I can never really understand these comments that seem to deride people's use of new technology. Only a few years back, I had exactly the same sort of thing when first fitting a GPS to the bike. People would say "Do you really not know how to read a map", which is a similarly unnecessary way to view it. I can read maps pretty well, but like to have a GPS on the bike. It has proved invaluable when I wanted to head up an interesting looking trail, for example, and just keep riding until I was bored. Much quicker to simply pick up the GPS instructions again when it was time to head on to the next stop than to get a map out in the rain and dark and start working out which mountain I was on top of.

Now, however, to return to the question of which GPS...

I have just ordered a Nuvi 255 from Halfords for £110, to replace my Miomap. The Miomap is still OK, but the maps are a bit out of date, and I fancied a change. It does not allow route planning, but lets you put in enough waypoints that I never found it to be an issue. If I want to go on a particular road, I'll stick in a waypoint along it, and that always seems sufficient. I like the very small size of the unit, and the very few touches needed to get me to the closest petrol station. The more expensive units definitely do have many more features, but I personally find that the entry-level systems do all that I need. I prefer to keep my phone and music separate from my GPS (an iPhone in an inside pocket, with the micrphone inside my helmet works very wekk, and I have a Belkin sportCommand control that sits on my left arm for changing tracks), and so want only something that will direct me via the route that I choose to my final destination.

 

[NorthernBoy]

You are supposed to ask the questions and research the product before you buy - not after.

You have paid top price for the bike

top price for the panniers

and top price for the garmin

It's not that large a price overall, though. By a reasonably sporty car, and you are looking at over £10k depreciation per year. Despite this, many people are still happy to buy something new, from a main dealer, rather than scratch around trying to save the pounds. When I bought my current car, it was an end of the line model, and there wasn't one with the interior that I wanted. I had to pay the dealer £1,000 extra to order my choice of trim and fit it, despite it having been a zero cost option had I ordered the car from the factory. In exchange, I got exactly what I wanted, at the time that I wanted it, brand new, from a dealer that I trusted. For me, the extra cost was worth it.

Everyone picks the level at which they are comfortable. I know that vegetables are cheaper at Asda than at Waitrose for example, but I don't really feel that foolish "wasting" an extra 50p on a turnip.

On the other hand, I found a voucher to save £20 off my new Nuvi. On that, I am happy that I am getting an identical unit from a shop that will replace it with no questions (Halfords), and so I preferred to take this route.

We all pick our price-points and method of purchase depending on the value function that we each apply to varying amounts of money. It is no more rational to criticise someone for paying £1,000 extra to go with a dealer they trust than it makes sense to ask why someone would bother to go into work when their nine hour day earns them less than they could get if they put in some effort to find a higher paying job.

 

[MikeP]

Sense of humour bypass? Or have you not read the earlier comment about becoming fixated upon the GPS?

That's a bit unnecessary, isn't it? Perhaps it is because when he goes through five different countries in a week, it can get a bit of a pain to remember just how close the street lights need to be together in this latest land before the lower local speed limit is enforced.

Does your GPS tell you the limit wherever you are in the world then?

Strikes me that having a warning about a camera isn't much good if you don't know the local speed limit.

There are also times on the bike when I am, well, let's say "pressing on", and prefer to spend 100% of my time looking at the road, with none of it looking down at the speedometer.

Well that begs the comment that if you are concentrating on the road and not your speedo, you should spot the camera.

 

[John Armstrong]

Well that begs the comment that if you are concentrating on the road and not your speedo, you should spot the camera.

The aural camera warning can be usefull as it's using another sense to warn you.

But, becomes a PITA at the top of the M6 / A74 as every other bridge is an accident zone

 

[NorthernBoy]

Sense of humour bypass? Or have you not read the earlier comment about becoming fixated upon the GPS?

Does your GPS tell you the limit wherever you are in the world then?

Strikes me that having a warning about a camera isn't much good if you don't know the local speed limit.


Well that begs the comment that if you are concentrating on the road and not your speedo, you should spot the camera.

It tells me the limit throughout Europe, yes, which is pretty useful. I have not used it outside Europe yet (when I have done major desert trips, I have been a long way from any form of speed limited road). It also, very usefully, tells me when my average speed, through an average speed check area, is over the limit.

 

[MikeP]

It tells me the limit throughout Europe, yes, which is pretty useful.

Let me get this straight, your GPS will tell you what the speed limit is, wherever you happen to be within Europe?

So on a French Auotroute, it will tell you what the limit is? Does that include wet and dry limits according to the conditions prevailing at that time?

Does it tell you the reducing limits on off-slips, or those approaching toll-booths?

All this in a presumably, water-proof, bike friendly package.

It sounds as if I need to replace my ancient one. Who makes this piece of kit?

 

[John Armstrong]

Let me get this straight, your GPS will tell you what the speed limit is, wherever you happen to be within Europe?

If there's been a report of some nasty men with cameras, or fixed cameras at that location then yes. Otherwise no.

If the speed limit for every inch / mm of road was known, then I'm sure the GPS control of vehicles speed would be up and running now

 

[NorthernBoy]

Let me get this straight, your GPS will tell you what the speed limit is, wherever you happen to be within Europe?

So on a French Auotroute, it will tell you what the limit is? Does that include wet and dry limits according to the conditions prevailing at that time?

Does it tell you the reducing limits on off-slips, or those approaching toll-booths?

All this in a presumably, water-proof, bike friendly package.

It sounds as if I need to replace my ancient one. Who makes this piece of kit?

It tells me the dry weather fixed daylight limit throughout Europe, yes. Mine was a dirt-cheap Mio C510.

It has been extremely accurate in all the countries through which I have ridden, generally updating very quickly when I pass a sign telling me that the limit has changed.

As I mentioned above, it gives two diferent tones as I approach a known camera. One tells me that I am approaching a camera below the limit, and one tells me that I am approaching above the limit, changing tone once I get back below.

I am going to assume, in line with your previous tone, that your question about knowing the change in limit in the wet was facetious, trying to make some sort of smart-arsed point, so you presumably do not need that one answered...

 

[Bumpkin]

I have TomTom7 on my phone and that gives the speed limit for most, but not all roads. It displays your current speed alongside this and flashes red if your speed is significantly over the limit that the mapping thinks applies to that stretch.

At heart I'm a Garmin man but I must say I'm quite impressed with TomTom Navigator.

 

[MikeP]

I am going to assume, in line with your previous tone, that your question about knowing the change in limit in the wet was facetious, trying to make some sort of smart-arsed point, so you presumably do not need that one answered...

I'm simply trying to ascertain whether your device will tell you what the speed limit is wherever you are (as per post #51).

I'm not being facetious. You can tell when I am, I will use this.....

I'm simply making the point (again) that a camera warning isn't much cop if you don't know the limit at that particular point.

Now you may have been super smart and bought a GPS that tells you what the limit is wherever you are (or software compatible with your unit) and your unit may well tell you whether you are above or below said speed limit (not that a glance at a speedometer wouldn't do that ) but your responses are fast diminishing my will to live.

If you had bothered to read the thread, you'd see that the OP has already purchased a BMW Nav III and what he wants to do now is download the fixed camera sites as POI's (or similar). The last thing that he needs now is you telling him what you've purchased and implying that he has made a mistake in his choice.

 

[Wapping]

There is no car kit

In this pic, from another thread http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1669807#post1669807, you can see the mat and car power / speaker lead I referred to. It also shows the egg shaped locking device, used to mount it 'permanently' in a car.

PS The bloke is selling the lot for £100. Would have suited you well, perhaps?

 

[gsbiker]

Thanks Mapping, only today Oceon have loaned me the accessories you mention. I have to say I have been really impressed with Oceon BMW Plymouth - Bill is a top bloke! Trying it out now but a spanner has hit the works! Zumo 660 coming out soon with better map drawings, lane assist etc etc but no external buttons and at a premium price! As I sit here typing this post I have yet again a Zumo 550 on loan next to my Nav3 and TomTom910 (for the car) and the Zumo screen shines. I'm starting to see the benefits of the Zumo 550 over the Nav3 but I also like the customisation of the Nav3 - maybe the Zumo 660 will combine the two?

http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php?t=170898