E53 owner question about iDrive

[alexmish]

Originally Posted by X5FX

I think you need to be pretty slow not to ge the idrive in less than an hour, it is very simple.

btw- to change from nav to radio;
simply hold the knob down for a few seconds and you are in the last used entertainment source- which in my case is the Sirius page- then simply turn the knob to select another fav

or assign any of the six buttons to a radio station and when pushed you are in the radio, then simply turn the idrive knob to change channels

First of all, thanks for the tip. I did not know about it.

I can't say I am slow. After all, they dont pay 'slow' people big bucks to be able to afford an X5 I am tech-savvy, I've been in IT for half of my life, seen it all, did it all. But that is not the point. I think most of the people can figure it out and use it. But even if you know how to use it, its still takes multiple steps to change things, and those steps, even if known by heart, do take away attention from the road. Pushing a button which says "Show Map" or "SAT Radio" is much safer (and faster) then first look at the screen, understand your current position in the iDrive's tree menu, and then start navigating to your desired new settings.

Also, just as another member here pointed out, it lacks the "Back" button. Yes, they have that "back arrow" option on top most on the menus, but you need to scroll to it and click. Too many steps.

If the internet browser navigation was just as complicated as the iDrive, the e-commerce would had never taken off ! Anything which takes more than 2-3 clicks to get to, is usually never reached by the consumer.