Aftermarket Navigation - recommendations?

[racelance]

Originally Posted by rbensmithX3

I bought an '05 x3 over the summer and, too, was very disappointed in that I wanted NAV, but there were just too many good things to pass up in the one I got. I drew my line in the sand, and ultimately, if you find a top quality used vehicle that has everything you want BUT nav, you have to let it go--it's just a gadget. That being said, I bought the Garmin Nuvi from Costco. They have a great price on it, it is touch screen, 3.5", and you can get very creative with mounting options. I've got mine all the way down by where the dash meets the windshield just a hair to the right of the cluster, mounted on the windshield. You can hardly see the mount behind it, and I don't have to take my eyes off the road. It has a legitmate 4-6 hour battery life (so you don't have to have it plugged in all the time), choice of 8 voices, calls out street names (i.e. "turn right on Main street" rather than "turn right in 500 feet"), is 3-D and 2-D, night mode and day mode, comes with free updates from Garmin via email and USB connection, extremely accurate, handy trip computer, Compact Flash card slot for viewing photos, calculator, MP3 player (the newest ones have bluetooth), and the best part--you can travel in any car with it wirelessly (as long as it's charged). It also has expansion slots for Europe and a translator.

This thing is a great tool--a product of a navigation-specific company that has been honing it's offerings. More good news--I got it at costco.com, and I can return it to costo whenever I feel dissatisfied.

My friends with Nav have been telling me that it's a waste of money--$2000-$3000 for technology that is difficult to upgrade (just look through the posts on this site), is regionalized, or just inaccurate. The Nuvi is $450 on Costco.com.

Good luck--don't miss out on a sweet X if you find one. . .

I appreciate your input & agree with you 100% - if this X5 is sweet, I'm going to own it. I've been in the market for over 5 months and haven't found one up to par yet. Most have been beat a bit & I'm looking for a clean one for the right price (I'm also a stickler on the color / silver). I'm hoping the one I'm looking at today is as clean as the dealer is promoting it to be. I'll let you guys/gals know this evening...

Do you happen to have a picture of how you mounted it in your X?

Thanks,

Lance

PS That was the other avenue I was going to venture - an external one, I have a couple other cars I could transfer it to that way.