[Adit]

Hi guys can't decide between the factory fitted satnav or just buying a tomtom satnav. Any opinions would be appreciated.

Does the factory fitted satnav give any other advantage over tomtom than being inbuilt?

Thanks for your help...

[T-bone S]

TomTom - More functionality imo and cost is much much less. Transferable from car to car.

You can spend the money you save from not speccing the inbuilt SatNav on other options or pocket the change

[ALD0]

Tom Tom, Main reason being price and other functionality, if you can afford the R56 Nav, go for that!

[minicabrio]

If you have the money to burn, go for the in-built nav - the centre console looks better with it, no dangling wires in the cabin, and no vandals breaking in to steal it.

Otherwise go with the Tom Tom....

[Washy]

From a functionality/value point of view the Tom tom wins everytime...Personally though I just prefer the look of the dash with the sat nav system in and given I had specced bluetooth and USB it just integrates everything together...

[Adit]

Thanks for the quick replies. Don't really have the money to burn would just be getting a greater loan then i guess.

Washy I am speccing the bluetooth and USB option. Does the satnav system offer greater functionality to this.

[Washy]

Quote: Originally Posted by Adit (original)

Thanks for the quick replies. Don't really have the money to burn would just be getting a greater loan then i guess.

Washy I am speccing the bluetooth and USB option. Does the satnav system offer greater functionality to this.

If you have the nav too you get full voice control of the phone/nav/audio and settings as well as the display screen is more user freindly than the two lines you get on the stereo head unit....







Just some of the different displays...

[dazel66]

well would go for a tom every time as is much better value and more use full as if have tomtom one you can use on my bike or foot,, as well other cars to. so build in system are very limited .and are not as updateble as portable items. well that is thinking.daz

[ratbag98]

R56 advantages:

1. What price integration? For me, the price was reasonable. My TomTom/Palm solution was a tangle of wires (just power, Bluetooth dealt with the GPS-Palm link) and needed rebooting with alarming regularity. Whilst the GPS receiver was generally good and occasionally amazing at getting a signal, it would occasionally throw a wobbly and refuse to get a lock for half an hour. The R56 setup has so far worked perfectly every time. Also, you obviously need to take the TomTom unit (or Palm) out of the car and disconnect the (separate, in my case) receiver from the 12V socket - tedious if not life-threatening.

2. Interior looks. Firstly, the Satnav looks better than the speedo/radio combination, IMHO. Secondly, see above for cable/cradle comments. I don't want the interior of the Mini spoiled/cluttered with extraneous paraphernalia (spot who didn't have a liquid lunch).

3. iPod/DAB information display - the clincher for me. Given the huge size of the speedo, surely they could have fitted more than two lines into the radio display for the non-Nav setup?

Equal honours:
Whilst a TomTom can in theory be updated easily, they seem remarkably slow to get the maps up to date. A local example - the A21 bypass at Lamberhurst took over a year to register with TomTom. The mapping company knew about it within a couple of weeks, but TomTom weren't interested. On the flip side, BMW charge a bit more for their updates!

TomTom advantages:
Price, portability (car-to-car or even walking/skiing/cycling), capable of updating to some theoretical new technology, should it arrive during your ownership of the car.

Your mileage may vary, as ever. I haven't regretted speccing the satnav for a second.

[TheOfficeMaven]

I wouldn't own another TomTom unit even if someone offered to give it to me!

Here in North America TomTom delivered many of their top-of-the-line Go 910 units to their customers infected with a virus. I bought a unit for my father-in-law as a birthday gift and it ended up infecting his PC (how embarrassing is that!). While the virus seemed to be benign for the most part, and didn't cause any real harm, it was TomTom's really poor attitude about the whole episode that drove me away from them (FOREVER!).

It took them months and months to admit publically that the units were infected, and when they finally did admit it, they didn't even bother to give an apology. I now make it a point to tell all of my friends to avoid anything from TomTom like the plague. I bought the unit through Amazon.com and gave them complete and total hell about it. I finally forced them to take the unit back and replace it with a Garmin nuvi 350 unit instead. All around a MUCH MUCH MUCH better unit than the CrapCrap 910 unit.

So good luck with your TomTom guys. Personally, I'll stick with the built in nav (which is awesome!) or go with a Garmin hand held instead.

We have the built-in nav in our new R56 and while the TomTom and Garmin units have many more "flashy" features, I've run them side-by-side many times and the OEM unit always comes out on top as far as routing is concerned. It always gives more accurate routing directions, and the voice/directional commands it gives (even without Text-To-Speech) are MUCH easier to follow while driving.

If I'm just playing around in an area I know pretty well, then the portable units are fun to toy around with. However, when I'm in a pinch and really need to get somewhere in an area that I'm unfamiliar with, I'll take the OEM unit over the portable ones any day. This has been proven to me time and time again (even with the older MKIV system in my 1st gen R53).

[supa-dupa-cooper]

I voted for inbuilt, but then I have just ordered it on my new Dooper

[CTurbinado]

Factory Built in:

[SeldomSeen]

Am I missing the point here but isn't regarding a gps device as something for navigation slightly old hat?

They all do a reasonable job of that although I strongly prefer TomTom. The software is so good it is sold separately.

My TT910 is used as an accident blackspot warning device. The UK roads are so dangerous these days that new blackspots appear each week and a monthly update of the POIs is needed to ensure that I and other road users can make safe progress at a speed appropriate to the conditions.

I heartily recommend the pocketgpsworld website for TT OV2 POI file downloads (small charge applies).

Can you download POI updates into the integrated satnav?

[FergusM]

I vote TOMTOM(or similar).... you can get one for £150... and the built in one is 10x that price !

Don't like wires on dash??...just wire it in...

[Martin F]

With Tom Tom I have regular updates of speed camera locations; and voices which remind me of the speed limit as I approach the camera site. I find this really helpful. Doubt you can do this on the factory satnav.

[neilobe]

The factory sat nav is far too expensive in my opinion, buy a portable sat nav and spend the money on other options.. or save it...

[Adit]

Thanks for the replies everyone....

I think i am probably going to go for the tomtom option and get the wires tucked away (is this easy to do myself or will I have to get it done professionally?).... I still cant deny that the inbuilt satnav does look alot better and does integrate the phone, ipod, pdc better.

I think i will use the saved money and get the JCW body kit and viper stripes for the mcs when i place the order soon...

[FergusM]

Quote: Originally Posted by Adit (original)

Thanks for the replies everyone....

I think i am probably going to go for the tomtom option and get the wires tucked away (is this easy to do myself or will I have to get it done professionally?).... I still cant deny that the inbuilt satnav does look alot better and does integrate the phone, ipod, pdc better.

I think i will use the saved money and get the JCW body kit and viper stripes for the mcs when i place the order soon...

Contact Mike at NewMINIStuff.com he had various TOMTOM cradles if you wanted to mount on the dash above where the key slots in.

The switched power you can pick up from back of the cigrattte lighter..should be a doddle to do.

[Yoastie]

Built in - and yes, it is mainly for looks (although it does do a good job of showing the PDC and iPod info)

[ratbag98]

Quote: Originally Posted by Martin F (original)

With Tom Tom I have regular updates of speed camera locations; and voices which remind me of the speed limit as I approach the camera site. I find this really helpful. Doubt you can do this on the factory satnav.

Martin, you can in part, but it's definitely more difficult than the drag and drop simplicity that the TomTom offers. The principle is to take a copy of the DVD, tweak a few files, then write them back to a DVD. Have a look at Adding Speed Camera POI to your BMW Professional NAV DVD. I have not tried this myself.

You don't get sound warnings, just an icon, so it's a million miles from a complete solution. Maybe MINI will add a proper POI system as a firmware update.