text to speech
 

Ok..I searched all over and I can't figure it out..I have a 2005 (E53) and I noticed unlike my garmin the navigation system doesn't speak the street names...Does anyone know if this was this was added in one of the software updates or is this a hardware issue?

Well it is a BMW and not garmin :)
It is not the world most advanced nav, so no text to speech, no camera warning sound, no changing to night view, and so on...

Good point!... Tack (That is supposed to say thank you, forgive me if its not correct).

NP
And yes it is Tack (thank you)

Welcome to BMW navigation.. where 8 year old GPS technology is offered at a premium price of 10x that of Garmin... Ohh and don't expect Text To speech, searchable POIs, Speed Cameras, Selecting more than 1 POI category for display, decent map graphics or anything that a $200 Nav unit can do!

Why oh why can't these car manufacturers get TomTom/Garmin to build their Nav units? Then we could have some decent features and regular software upgrades! BMW hasn't offered any new features in their software for several years now!

As nice as it is to have it integrated into the car we are being ripped off blind with what we are getting.

Whel if you look att overall tech behind a system, then BMW is supirior to tom tom that relies att GPS alone, BMW system will guide you in urban areas, with por GPS, in tunnels and so on.
You do have a point do, VDO has systems that have many of those functions that TomTom does, and BMW is VDO based system. So if they wanted to, they could most likely have update that would give us some more functions.
As for the maps, well they are in 3d, at least in MK IV.
The system is overpriced yes, but in overall i think it is a better and more accurate system.

Actually, this is 13+ year old technology. BMW introduced the MKI in the 1995 740iL. That means they had to design it a couple years before then. The system has essentially remained unchanged since, save a few hardware upgrades to add faster processors and a DVD reader. Even the current crop of nav systems in the 5 Series, 6 Series, X5, and 3 Series are loosely based off this original system.

BMW will make its next major leap forward with the nav system and on-board electronics in the F01 7 Series. That will smoke anything any other car maker offers, and it will be a generation ahead of TomTom or Garmin. Still, TomTom and Garmin will quickly catch up, because a carmaker is is pretty much locked into their electronics architecture for years, while the little handhelds can quickly change.