Sat nav

[Mickey690]

Just wondering if any of you guys have the sat nav in your altea's.

I test drove one on saturday and me and my 7 year old son loved it. Gonna order a 2.0 tdi sport with nav and a few other options.

Was hoping someone might be able to tell me about the nav. I have read the forums but think a lot of replies are about older models and not sure if there is a new one out.

So does it come with TV on, or can you add it?
Does it have aux input for mp3 or do you need to get another cable?
Does it have tmc that works no matter what radio station or does it need classic or a cd on?

Any answers would be appreciated.

 

[Harv]

i can answer this as i have nav on a year old leon (the newer widescreen now available is slightly different but not much

no tv option but you can fit the audi tv tuner.

no tmc as standard you neeed to purchase a tmc disc from teleatlas and no you don't need to have the radio on classic for it to work.

yes you can get a cable to give you an aux input for dvd , mp3 or ps2

hope that helps

 

[LEON_FR]

erm... whats TMC??

 

[aceman]

erm... whats TMC??

Highlights traffic jams for you via data supplied through the RDS system built into the radio.

 

[LEON_FR]

Highlights traffic jams for you via data supplied through the RDS system built into the radio.

Nice one!

 

[Mickey690]

Cheers for that.

I actually emailed seat and they sent me a user manual through the post.

I also realised that it is the same unit as in the golf and a friend of the family has one so i played around with it at the weekend.

 

[Harv]

yep same unit in all VAG cars.......

 

[Lem]

I read on some of the other posts in here that you need a tmc receiver as well. Does anyone know the situation with the latest factory units?

 

[loadswine]

How much more is the satnav option than a Tomtom? I always thought that the factory items were horrificly expensive. Maybe they are more reasonable now.

 

[Mickey690]

Nope still expensive but i just prefer the whole in built ness of standard options.

 

[loadswine]

Fair enough, I can understand that. Is the display nice and clear?

 

[Tell]

Well I considered Sat nav at the time but thought all those buttons and a large screens would be an invite to have the car broken into. I'm now getting a taste for satnav and think I will settle on the Becker Traffic Assist 7914 which does cover Europe, is portable so you can take it on a walk about it has it's own batteries for this. There is a use in that when you're on a bus and need to get off at the right place or visiting a city on foot you got your navigator with you. It doesn't seem to have info on points of interest which you can upload ie. speed cameras. Doesn't have the fancy RDS thingey.

Welcome comments. The editor of Wireless World who wrote in the Telegraph recently said it was the best etc.

If someone said yes you can fit the Golf V ones and they have the RDS, Europe maps etc and so forth I might reconsider. Having a unit that you can take out has some advantages if you don't plan to use it often, which to use it between cars and need the portable direction finding option for walk about.

Soon driving to Austria so I'll get it for that.

 

[Mickey690]

I could only see pepole breaking in to steal sat nav if its aftermarket. I wouldn't have thought stealing a factory fit one would have much appeal unless they owned a VAG car. Most thieves would be selling the unit on, and if someone asked for a nv unit i dont think they would have the brain capacity to steal and know how to fit a factory unit.

I have factory nav in my mini and love it. I had a play around with a friends in their new golf and it isn't quite as clear with the bmw one (although the BMW is only clear as its just had a firmware upgrade) bt the vag one has a lot more functions.

One dissapointing feature is you cant get a DVD with the whole of Europe on it. You have to obtain one for each country you visit.

 

[Jaytee]

I could only see pepole breaking in to steal sat nav if its aftermarket. I wouldn't have thought stealing a factory fit one would have much appeal unless they owned a VAG car. Most thieves would be selling the unit on, and if someone asked for a nv unit i dont think they would have the brain capacity to steal and know how to fit a factory unit.

I have factory nav in my mini and love it. I had a play around with a friends in their new golf and it isn't quite as clear with the bmw one (although the BMW is only clear as its just had a firmware upgrade) bt the vag one has a lot more functions.

One dissapointing feature is you cant get a DVD with the whole of Europe on it. You have to obtain one for each country you visit.

That's precisely the problem - the VAG unit is CD Rom based, you can't get all of Europe on a CD! You need a DVD based system to get this function - I would have had the factory fit unit if it was a DVD system, it would have represented better value as well!

John.

 

[Tell]

That's precisely the problem - the VAG unit is CD Rom based, you can't get all of Europe on a CD! You need a DVD based system to get this function - I would have had the factory fit unit if it was a DVD system, it would have represented better value as well!

John.

That answers my question, I want a system that works across Europe and the world if it's portable. It seems that at each border that I'd be loading up a new map... hmmm. Doesn't seem to be that brilliant to me.

 

[Harv]

even tom tom needs a map swap at a border

 

[Tell]

Becker Traffic Assist has them on the SD card for 21 countries out of 27... sounds less fiddly than playing with CDs on the move .

 

[loadswine]

With a tomtom, just use a bigger Sd card or swap them over, there again a tomtom is only about £250, so only to be expected really.
The satnav technology has come a long way in a short time. I only experienced satnav for the first time recently and use a tomtom one occasionally. These items can be really useful when you are driving in areas you don't use everyday. Speed camera warnings are very useful, plus you can check your speedo accuracy too( as long as you are on the level). Excellent pieces of kit.
One question, only asking this cause I haven't used a factory fitted unit, what does the factory installed item do over and above one of the portable units like a tomtom or a garmin?

 

[TonyC]

One question, only asking this cause I haven't used a factory fitted unit, what does the factory installed item do over and above one of the portable units like a tomtom or a garmin?

I've got factory SatNav in my other car & there are a few things I can think of.

I've not used a TomTom, but I've borrowed a Garmin. I've found the unit can get lost if the GPS signal is a bit weak - the integrated system gets positional data from the car (it knows how fast you're going & in what direction) so it can keep the map updated pretty well, even if the GPS signal is lost.

The TMC works well in the factory system. I think some portables now have it, but I think you'd have to link it to a mobile.

Lastly, security. The factory system will only fit in one type of car. A friend had his car broken into & his TomTom nicked (even though the unit and holder were in the glovebox !) as the thieves apparently had identified the tell-tale suction mark on the windscreen .

Factory systems are pretty poor value though - you generally pay a hell of a lot more than the <£300 TomTom prices !

 

[Tell]

I'm going for the Becker one since it is the Wireless World editors recommended choice....

I'm not too sure on loosing signal strength. The car will tell the sat nav what speed you are going etc since all of that is passed through the cars bus to the back of the integral uni but unless it has a compass in the sat nav it won't know which direction you have turned. Doubt it has the compass myself. So one could assume that it assumes that you have carried on going down the plotted route until it makes contact again.

Hmmm.

Best to wipe off the suction marks. I've had my first car broken in for the parcel shelf speakers and they took the parcel shelf, back window and speakers so I'm adverse to showing anything expensive in the car whether part of the car or not. I did also have a failed break in via the rear door with nasty dents where the lock tried to come through the door in my old car...

Granted it would be nice to have the inbuilt system but the thought of loading a new CD between countries and not being able to swap between cars for those summer weekend trips into the country and having something flash to nick whether it's worth anything to anybody else put me off the inbuilt solution.