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BMW Professional Sat Nav with Head Up Display (HUD) Review

 
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ray951
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Joined: Jan 10, 2005
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Location: Newbury

PostPosted: Mon Jan 10, 2005 8:59 pm    Post subject: BMW Professional Sat Nav with Head Up Display (HUD) Review Reply with quote

Having just recently picked up a new BMW 530d with Professional Navigation and HUD I thought I would do a mini review.

As background, previous to getting this car I used TomTom Navigator on an IPAQ, which I really liked although the in-car system with HUD moves Sat Nav on to an other level. I believe that the BMW 5 series is the first car in the UK available with HUD bar a few LHD American imports and it requires its own RHD windscreen, which I haven't dared ask what the cost would be of a replacement!

In the BMW 5 series, like most BMW's, there are 2 options for Sat Nav - Business and Professional, the main difference being that Business has directions only with no map and is consequently cheaper by about £500.

The Maps are by Navteq and are provided on a DVD, which is an in-dash unit, and covers the whole of Europe. These discs are available separately from the software and so can be updated when the driver wishes. I currently have version 2005-1.

The features in the software are very similar to those in TomTom e.g. you can navigate to a destination via postcode, address lookup or location on a map. You can save frequently used locations in an address book and the most recent destinations are displayed on the screen when selecting a new destination to travel to.

You can set the route to avoid motorways etc. and also to make a detour if there are traffic problems. Traffic data is received via TMC RDS as the in car tuner has 2 tuners so it can pick up TMC on Classic FM and you can still have normal RDS traffic reports broadcast on the radio.

The navigation system can display the route on a map on the centrally mounted screen as well as a arrow directions on a split screen, voice commands are also available. This can be mixed and matched as appropriate.
The map can be zoomed in and out using the iDrive controller (which is a bit like a mouse) mounted next to the gearlever, this is also used to navigate around the menus to set-up the parameters as well as enter the destination details. And this is very much quicker than trying to look select destinations in TomTom.

The directions provided with the BMW system are very similar to those from TomTom although each system is subtly different but the main point is is that it has never got my lost and I have never lost a GPS signal (or if I have I have never noticed). If you are away from a known location e.g. the new A34/M4 junction it will direct you onto the nearest road it can find like TomTom and if you take the wrong direction it will ask you to do U-turn's until it decides that you are taking a different route and recalculates.

But the piece-de-resistance of the navigation system is the Head Up Display (HUD) this projects the arrow view of the navigation system onto the windscreen as well as the speed of the vehicle and any warnings e.g. low petrol, flat tyre etc. It doesn't sit directly in the line of sight but appears at the bottom of the bonnet and is a fantastic and useful gadget. It is definitely the future of sat nav and makes for a much safer drive as I never have to look down at the screen and or instruments to see how fast I am going or which direction I need to take. If my next car doesn't have HUD I am not sure how I will cope! Although I guess the biggest issue is that HUD is only ever going to be available on manufacturers systems as I can't see how it could possible be an after-market add-on (as it requires a special windscreen) which I guess means it will never be cheap.

The good thing about an integrated system is the complete lack of cables all over the dashboard and never having to wait for the GPS to locate the satellites, and not having to take the Sat Nav with you every time you leave the car. It also integrates with the rest of the car for example the steering wheel has a button that allows the driver to repeat the last voice command if they want it repeated. This also dynamically updates, for example if the system says 300 yards to the exit and the button is pushed a few seconds later it will say 200 yards to the exit.

The only missing thing is that it doesn't do 'via's' although the cheaper Business Navigation can according to the manual, and you can't add your own POI's so no speed camera warnings for example.

So if you are in the market for a new 5 series get HUD and Sat Nav at the expense of any other option, you won't regret it.
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Darren
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Joined: 11/07/2002 14:36:40
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 10, 2005 9:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Welcome to the forums and thanks for the excellent information. The HUD display sounds superb, whilst the lack of custom POIs etc is a shame I understand why it's not available in a factory fit system.

Can you explain where the HUD projects it's image from? Is the projector concealed in the instrument binnacle? Also is the portion of the screen that displays the image different in any obvious way? And is the image focussed to match your focus at distance? I wonder if BMW will lend us one for review ;) And finally any chance of some pics?
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ray951
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Joined: Jan 10, 2005
Posts: 3
Location: Newbury

PostPosted: Mon Jan 10, 2005 9:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The image is projected from a projector in the dashboard which is concealed in the top of the dash but it can only be seen if you look down on top of the dashboard. A picture would explain this better!

The screen doesn't look different, the only difference between the screen and a normal screen is that their is a layer in the screen that stops the image appearing twice as a windscreen is made up of several layers of glass, as I understand it.

The image is focussed so that it is not in your line of sight but just so you need to lower your eyes slightly. It is quite difficult to explain and I will try and get some pictures although its obviously difficult to take photos while driving Wink You also can't see the image from the outside or from the passengers seat.
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mark5290
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Joined: May 03, 2004
Posts: 42

PostPosted: Tue Jan 18, 2005 7:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Jason bradbury built a crude in car HUD system cheaply on The Gadget Show, check out the movie link, not quite in BMW's league, but just shows it is possible to do yourself.

HUD Movie



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ray951
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Joined: Jan 10, 2005
Posts: 3
Location: Newbury

PostPosted: Thu Jan 20, 2005 9:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

That doesn't look to bad considering it uses CD cover, although I notice that there is also another image on the windscreen. If you could drive with an extra screen and its support between you and the windscreen then I suppose this is viable. Although unless someone does something really clever I can only ever see it as a built-in option.
I will have to try and get some pictures from the BMW HUD so that a comparison can be done.
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