BMW - built in or Nuvi 610T?

[jeglet]

Got a new BMW 5 series (lucky me!) but the order got screwed up. Now the dealer is offering me a Garmin Nuvi 610T instead of retrofitting the 'Business' version of the built in sat nav.

Ignoring the price difference, can anyone help me make up my mind as to which to accept? I really like the idea of having a system built in but do I gain vast amounts of functionality by getting the 610?

Help! and thanks...

[swing]

I don't know much about the BMW SatNav solution, but let's go through a few points.

It would have cost a lot more (over £100 more) than a Nuvi, so I assume there will be some form of compensation involved...

The Nuvi will offer extra functions, ability to upload your own POIs (*), ability to alert on speed cameras, ability to give you traffic updates (**), ability to be used in other vehicles / whilst walking.

On the other side, it's an extra thing on the dashboard (and a theft risk), as opposed to being built in, it will be slower to startup, and with most exec cars now, the second hand price assumes builtin SatNav, so they have also devalued your car by more than just the cost of the missing feature.

(*) This may now be possible with BMW Nav, but not supported by BMW
(**) This may be a function on the BMW system, I simply don't know

Also, you may find the BMW would have come with full European mapping - the 610T only has UK maps, as opposed to say the 660 which would have full European mapping (and also speak the road names, a function the BMW system also probably has).

You will probably find over all the Nuvi would offer you better functionality, but I would potentially stand your ground, and then buy yourself a Nuvi at a later date if the missing functions annoy you enough...
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[Darren]

I'd accept the Nuvi. I have yet to see any mamufacturer solution that is as capable as a Garmin or TomTom etc. You can add speed cam warnings etc to the portables which you can't do on the factory or retro fit solution.

Not as tidy I admit but far better. As has also been said, I assume they aren't going to charge you for the BMW Nav System?
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Darren Griffin

[jeglet]

No, there will be on extra cost. The BMW does have TMC.

Thanks for your opinions.

[Skippy]

The other thing that many built-in systems have is dead reckoning so it maintains it's position information better when you go through a tunnel or heavily built-up area.

Map upgrades for your built-in system can be expensive.

I think I would prefer a sat nav on the dash (ie Nuvi) rather than one built-in to the console as many of the in car ones are.

On the other hand, it would be nice to have a built-in system so the toe rags can't nick it and you don't have to mess about putting it in and out of the car all the time...

Does the BMW system have a head up display? If so then this might be a "must have" feature on the second hand market.

Good luck!
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Gone fishing!

[gIzzE]

The BMW nav system is far better at route calculating that the Garmin, and try and sell a 5er without Nav, you will take a bigger hit than the Nav actually costs you!!

I had a 535d and the monthly repayments for a car without nav and bluetooth were £9 a month more than a car with them.

I used the BMW Nav for a year and and did 25k miles with it, not once did it take me the wrong way or annoy me, and that was all over Europe, then put a Garmin in my wifes 120d for a trip up to Scotland and sold it after 9 days, complete bag o' shite!!!

For a start there is no option to keep you on motorways whenever possible, so drive 15 miles up a single track to join the dual carrigeway 15 miles up the road, where as I know the BMW will take me 2 miles down away from my destination to get me onto the dual carrigeway.
Why give you an option for off road and not motorways??!

Maybe if it had been anywhere else but Scotland I would have liked it better??
Then again maybe not as my brother has a 310d and he says it is shockingly bad compared to the Nav he had in his Audi too.

[Skippy]

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