I'm still getting used to it, but..

I would agree that this section is VERY confusing - it looks like filling out a form or something. However - and maybe it's just my area - I don't have to fill out a neighborhood or any such thing. So far, it's worked very well with just a street, city and a house number. I'll have a closer look next time I'm entering an address (now that you mention it).

I don't use the voice guidance at all. I think I listened to it for all of 10 seconds (no exaggeration). I didn't use it in my Lexus either, though, where, incidentally, it was perfectly fine - I'll give the BMW another chance there.

I use only the "visual" guidance, although this was another VERY big reason I added the HUD option, which I LOVE. It isn't just that I get to see my speed, but directions are in that charming "European" style, which I find much more useful.

It SEEMS to handle lanes (Lexus still doesn't), although that may be an odd coincidence that it says there are three or four lanes and there actually are (it could depend on the type of road). It does an EXCELLENT job with "complex" turnoffs, ramps, traffic circles, etc. The TeleAtlas data seems weak on POIs, but it seems dead on when it comes to where everything is.

If it will actually SHOW me turn-by-turn directions, I haven't figured out how to do it yet - I've been too busy actually driving it (1050 miles in 2.5 weeks now) but that was always a nice thing with the Lexus.

I primarily use my NAV for time and distance, and turn-by-turn directions if I need to go somewhere I'm unfamiliar, even in my own town. Now, this is another "comparison" - the Lexus "time to destination" was very good. The BMW is, for whatever reason, completely unrealistic. For example, if I punch in the office, it says I will arrive in like 50 minutes, even though it's 30 minutes without traffic. I don't know what it's algorithm is - distance, type of road, current speed, traffic maybe? No clue, but it always GROSSLY overestimates the time required, although it gets much, MUCH better the closer I get, but that's a lot less helpful. The Lexus was generally correct with "time to destination," although it's assumptions were very simple, i.e. "local road = 45mph, highway = 55mph, interstate = 65mph" (and I could SET these speeds).

I don't suppose anyone knows where this fancy, sexy NAV system I have now makes these calculations?

Oh, I will vouch for the traffic info, however. Yesterday it showed a nasty red line along my destination and kept trying to reroute me. I knew what it was trying to tell me, but frankly I thought it was full of crap. Sure enough - both lanes blocked, nasty wreck. I really never thought it would be USEFUL, but since it comes free with the feature, I thought I'd try it, and that's twice now it was spot on for traffic problems.

I know some people really hate it, although I've noticed that this is not unusual - most people feel that an inexpensive consumer unit is far superior to their very expensive, integrated NAV. So far, however, I'm actually very impressed with it. It's not PERFECT..

- POI data could be more extensive
- address entry could be easier (NO arguing with you there!)
- it seems a bit slow for a hard drive-based system
- why on earth does it take it a minute to start up? it's not even consistent about it!
- either I need to learn about "trips" or it's route management is inadequate

Example.. Enter three destinations, and put them in the correct order. Go to destination one, park, etc. Fire it back up, go to destination two (sometimes I have to tell it), park, etc. Fire it back up for a short trip, but I cannot SUSPEND it - I either have to say "resume guidance" or give it up, i.e. I can't "break" my trip and resume later. I very frequently set up all my destinations for the day (or so) when I leave the house, so this is really kind of annoying. I guess I have more reading to do..