2010 Nav comments

[Armand]

I see some folks are using Garmin as a reference here. I bought the top model about a year ago. It bugs the hell out of me. It takes five minutes (some times longer) to locate the signal and I live in a fairly flat area with no tall landmarks, smack in the middle of the San Francisco Bay metropolitan area. You can imagine how frustrating it could be if you had to drive aimlessly, waiting for the map to show up. I don't have that problem with the x5 Nav at all. I have to admit there are quite a few issues (Penguin did a great job documenting them) but the fact that I can access the map immediately and it has a huge screen and an easy to use controller/knob is a huge plus for me.

True it won't announce street names like Garmin (though it does announce highway names) but it does display street names on the nav. A quick glance at the Nav can solve that problem. I often use the map and zoom function plus the campus on the rear view mirror instead of the guidance. I also use the email feature although that feature is not a feature of the Nav itself but it does provide a great tool to transfer addresses to your Nav.