[Raayman]

Originally Posted by BeeEmDubU

sometimes it takes me so long to enter/calculate a route that by the time i finish entering a destination, I'm already at my destination.

If you are allready there, then why would you need the navi?

Originally Posted by poiney

Raayman,
Well kudos to you for relaying your thoughts to the manufacturer. Maybe I'm naive, but given all of the negative publicity about Idrive, I would have thought BMW would consolidate repeated complaints covered in popular news groups. It's quite efficient in the electronic age with fast search engines (but then again that doesn't seem to be BMW's strength based on the OS of my Navi! )

Yeah I know. On the other hand the real enthusiasts usually know every nook and cranny and will be found on boards that are not necessarily commonly known to a manufacturer. I used to work for Logitech and I still find my own replies to e-mails in places where I would have never thought they would end up. And even now you sometimes find a really good idea where you would just wish that the people mail you their complaint. I mean I agree that a manufacturer should also pro actively try to solve problems or test a product to prevent problems in the future, but another problem is that when you work on something all day long for five days a week, at a certain point it always makes sense to you. Just like writing a paper back in college, at a certain point you would not see your own mistakes anymore because you are so focussed on the paper itself.

Why do they even need this feedback? Can't they try a Garmin and quickly realize most of their design flaws immediately? It seems they must know the weaknesses of the system, but to fix these must not be as profitable as it seems. I just can't understand it.

Yeah, that one puzzles me a bit as well, but on the other hand it is very unlikely that you will find an official statement about that one from BMW (I sure as hell wouldn't after such a long time... )

[NFS]

Originally Posted by mikepinkerton

That's the main problem. What subcategory would that be in? And since they're sorted by distance, not name, you can't tell if it's in that category w/out scrolling through the entire list, which could be long.

It's like finding a needle in a haystack, while driving. Hardly the best design.
-Mike

The categorisation and sorting by distance is pretty much the same as TOMTOM.

I would agree that the POI set up on the BMW system is poor - my main gripe is the inability to easily add custom POI's (although it can be done with some work) lack of audible warnings and inability to display more than one poi at a time.

I tend to use the poi's for instance to find a petrol station near my current position.

I wouldn't rely on POI data to find a restaurant etc.. If I knew where I was going I would get the address of the net before I left and navigate to that.

So why are BMW not bothered about the quality of their system vs Garmin or TomTom?

Because they don't need to be, they have a closed market. Aftermarket satnav systems have to directly compete with each other. The BMW system has the unique USP that it is built in. It just has to be OK enough that it's lack of functionality does not outweigh the advantage of having a clean dashboard.

[poiney]

I haven't tried TomTom, but I don't recall my Garmin being as hiearchial. Frankly, I wish that all of these systems would tend to be less that way, since inevitably the categories are quite fuzzy (e.g., shopping).

I wonder how much the categories are tailored to languages. I wonder if part of the difficulty is that there is a blending of categorizing from other languages.

[NFS]

Originally Posted by poiney

I haven't tried TomTom, but I don't recall my Garmin being as hiearchial. Frankly, I wish that all of these systems would tend to be less that way, since inevitably the categories are quite fuzzy (e.g., shopping).

I wonder how much the categories are tailored to languages. I wonder if part of the difficulty is that there is a blending of categorizing from other languages.

Actually - I think tomtom IS simpler. From memory, you could select your favourite POI's and have them display as icons, then have a second longer list with all the other ones on it. There was no hierarchy.

However, it IS easier with the BMW system to find POI's near your current position or destination.

My feeling is that the aftermarket systems are more intuitive to use and a little more flexible that BMW. Having said that once you get to grips with voice control, the BMW system is quite serviceable.

[MBrown1003]

My E92 is the FOURTH BMW I've had with nav -- my first was a 1997 E39 528i, and the POI functionality on that (and two subsequent E39s) is FAR superior to the E92. On the E39s, I could put in a destination (such as Manhattan, NY), then select hotels, and get an alpha list. I can easily find "Ramada" that way. Getting the list based on distance from some unspecified point in a city I don't necessarily know is USELESS.

[spark227]

Why doesn't the nav screen perform a reverse color contrast when the headlights are on? This is a very basic function with other portable and integrated units.