[M235ForNow]

I've got a '16 vintage Navigation system and it's laughably optimistic on timings. As in, I'll leave one town at 3:05 and point the Nav toward home. And activate Waze as well. Waze will immediately say "Wow, terrible traffic - you'll be home at 4:05". And accurate to within a minute, that's what will happen.

My BMW Nav, otoh, will say "Hey! Great news! You'll be home at 3:35!" As if it's 2 AM, not rush hour. And then, during the trip, it'll continue to alter the arrival time until, at the very end, it agrees with Waze.

Just wondering i the newer Navs are more clued in to traffic conditions.

[stevenvillatoro]

The Nav on my 2018 can't find my home street address, which is easily found by every standard GPS system. Grrr.

[aerobod]

Originally Posted by M235ForNow

I've got a '16 vintage Navigation system and it's laughably optimistic on timings. As in, I'll leave one town at 3:05 and point the Nav toward home. And activate Waze as well. Waze will immediately say "Wow, terrible traffic - you'll be home at 4:05". And accurate to within a minute, that's what will happen.

My BMW Nav, otoh, will say "Hey! Great news! You'll be home at 3:35!" As if it's 2 AM, not rush hour. And then, during the trip, it'll continue to alter the arrival time until, at the very end, it agrees with Waze.

Just wondering i the newer Navs are more clued in to traffic conditions.

If you don't have the full BMW Assist subscription enabled to receive real time traffic updates, you are comparing apples and oranges. If this is the case, for a better comparison put Waze in offline mode a number of hours before entering the route, then compare them both while offline.

[aaaaah]

Somehow I don't think comparing a traffic aware, large user base system to a straight navigation system is really comparable.

[M235ForNow]

Originally Posted by stevenvillatoro

The Nav on my 2018 can't find my home street address, which is easily found by every standard GPS system. Grrr.

So .... I guess the answer is no ;-)

[M235ForNow]

Originally Posted by aerobod

If you don't have the full BMW Assist subscription enabled to receive real time traffic updates, you are comparing apples and oranges. If this is the case, for a better comparison put Waze in offline mode a number of hours before entering the route, then compare them both while offline.

Interesting. Although, to my mind apples to apples is "I'm not paying anything for either app and I switch on both Nav systems."

[M235ForNow]

Originally Posted by aerobod

If you don't have the full BMW Assist subscription enabled to receive real time traffic updates, you are comparing apples and oranges. If this is the case, for a better comparison put Waze in offline mode a number of hours before entering the route, then compare them both while offline.

And another apples to apples comparison is "I'm not paying anything for the Nav in my BMW or in my wife's Honda and I switch on both. What happens?" And the answer is - the Honda is comparable to Waze in arrival time estimates and far superior to BMW.

[aerobod]

Originally Posted by M235ForNow

And another apples to apples comparison is "I'm not paying anything for the Nav in my BMW or in my wife's Honda and I switch on both. What happens?" And the answer is - the Honda is comparable to Waze in arrival time estimates and far superior to BMW.

Why did you bother with the Nav in the BMW if it doesn't meet your needs then?

[e90post_user]

Originally Posted by M235ForNow

Interesting. Although, to my mind apples to apples is "I'm not paying anything for either app and I switch on both Nav systems."

let's see features vs benefits
Waze free traffic updates, red, speed camera, hazard and police presence + personalized ads.
BMW free NAV minus traffic updates. However, $50/year gets you real time traffic, but still no red/speed cam, police alerts, etc.
I use both Waze and BMW with RTT - BMW nav for visual queues and Waze is on the background alerting me of possible hazards, police and traffic controls ahead.

[p912guy]

I am generally pleased with my BMW nav. In my experience based on all aspects of using the navigation from adding destination to visuals and sound cues to ease of use, etc., BMW Nav > GMC Nav > Garmin > Audi Nav. That said, they all charge way too much for in car navigation, and like most things on cars, the premium brands charge premium prices. Then again, I wouldn't want to go without. Waze and other phone based navs are fine, but I hate fumbling with my phone and trying to find the perfect car phone mount etc., and then there is the moment a phone call comes in just when you absolutely need turn by turn navigation.

[M235ForNow]

Originally Posted by p912guy

I am generally pleased with my BMW nav. In my experience based on all aspects of using the navigation from adding destination to visuals and sound cues to ease of us, etc., BMW Nav > GMC Nav > Garmin > Audi Nav. That said, they all charge way too much for in car navigation, and like most things on cars, the premium brands charge premium prices. Then again, I wouldn't want to go without. Waze and other phone based navs are fine, but I hate fumbling with my phone and trying to fined the perfect car phone mount etc., and then there is the moment a phone call comes in just when you absolutely need turn by turn navigation.

True. That's why I do as e90post_user does. I have both Waze up and the BMW up. BTW, since you mention mounts, I got this for both our cars and so far it's been VERY solid. On my 235 it's mounted on the windshield between the left side of the car and the driver binnacle: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[pikcachu]

Originally Posted by M235ForNow

Interesting. Although, to my mind apples to apples is "I'm not paying anything for either app and I switch on both Nav systems."

Well. You are actually "paying" by watching all the ads that waze shows

[Sportstick]

Originally Posted by p912guy

I am generally pleased with my BMW nav....but I hate fumbling with my phone and trying to fined the perfect car phone mount etc., and then there is the moment a phone call comes in just when you absolutely need turn by turn navigation.

Exactly....build it in or not interested.

[BarryJI]

I loathe Wayz. It has been responsible for funneling bad-tempered commuters through our quiet residential neighborhood in the hope that, as long as they blow through all stop signs, they might get home 30 sec earlier. And as others have said above, I do not like using my iPhone for navigation.

I have used the BMW nav plus live traffic subscription for three years now and find it extremely smart. I am not sure how one can expect accurate arrival timing estimates without the live traffic service because in the absence of live traffic data an ETA can only be based on the simplest time/distance/average speed calculation taking into account no traffic flow data. My BMW nav plus live traffic subscription has been severely tested in Los Angeles/SoCal traffic at its most complex and has always been accurate, sometimes uncannily so and its routing algorithm for diversions is particularly good. It has often shaved ten minutes off an airport run by diverting me around dense traffic. The updates over the air have been flawless. I don't know where this BMW service gets its live traffic data from (satellite?) but I find it much more reliable than Wayz's user-sourced data output.

I genuinely believe that, in considering Wayz vs a BMW live traffic subscription, in both cases you end up getting what you paid for.

[aerobod]

Originally Posted by pikcachu

Well. You are actually "paying" by watching all the ads that waze shows

....and by providing movement and device data to Waze/Google for data mining purposes, for resale by them to other commercial users.

Also bear in mind that pretty well every device has a unique fingerprint that allows you to be uniquely identified, no matter what privacy settings or software that is used (device fingerprint testing here: https://panopticlick.eff.org)

[SizzlerWA]

Originally Posted by aerobod

Why did you bother with the Nav in the BMW if it doesn't meet your needs then?

So you're blaming the victim? It's reasonable that the BMW Nav should update ETA with traffic conditions especially since BMW advertises the RTTI ...

I also find BMW nav to be poor compared to Google maps. I don't use Waze.

[aerobod]

Originally Posted by SizzlerWA

So you're blaming the victim? It's reasonable that the BMW Nav should update ETA with traffic conditions especially since BMW advertises the RTTI ...

I also find BMW nav to be poor compared to Google maps. I don't use Waze.

It does if you pick the Subscription service, as shown in the marketing material. So if you want it, pay for it. If you don’t want it don’t buy it - pays to understand what is available before you purchase and find out you didn’t get what you wanted. No victim blaming here, just people not doing their research before purchase.

[RoundelM3]

I find that the BMW NAV systems are not as user-friendly as the higher-end Garmin units. I do keep the "base" maps updated in the wife's 2016 228i with a $100/year subscription and updating my 2015 M3's system is $50 per update, but that's usually only once or twice a year. The "regional" updates are free via satellite, but are not very frequent. On the other hand, my Garmin DriveSmart 61 (6.9" screen) came with lifetime maps and traffic and it has speed limit info in the map data, rather than requiring additional cameras to "see" speed limit signs.

Overall, the BMW systems are adequate, but they could be better. Maybe someday they'll switch to Garmin internals.

[M235ForNow]

Originally Posted by aerobod

It does if you pick the Subscription service, as shown in the marketing material. So if you want it, pay for it. If you don’t want it don’t buy it - pays to understand what is available before you purchase and find out you didn’t get what you wanted. No victim blaming here, just people not doing their research before purchase.

Not blaming the victim? Perhaps. Although I certainly see a desire be a bit of a yutz. I didn't answer your question earlier because it didn't seem to be offered up as a valid question; more of just being non-helpful. Or, if it was meant as a valid question, it seemed to be deliberately obtuse.

First off - Nav comes as part of a package and if one wants that package one gets Nav. That's my answer to your "question". Second, I presumed when ordering that the Nav was "good". One often doesn't discover the full range of nits in a system until living with an item.

But, far more relevant, is that fact that although I bought my car WITH traffic updates for the first four years, I just discovered a few minutes ago that it came with that capability disabled. By going into the nav via iDrive and scrolling through the various boxes, I came to the Traffic Alert box. Which showed an icon of two cars (traffic) and 3 curved lines (over the air signal). Which might imply to the casual observer that traffic alert is on the job. But - not. I noticed other boxes also displayed a red check mark. And upon pushing down on the iDrive knob, a check appeared on this box as well.

A subsequent experiment with two destinations both came back with trip times that were the same as Waze. Problem solved!

This leaves open the question as to why the car (A) has the capability of having or not having traffic updates occur and (B) why it was initially turned off at delivery. Only The Shadow knows.

[stevenvillatoro]

Originally Posted by M235ForNow

Just wondering i the newer Navs are more clued in to traffic conditions.

The OEM Nav/GPS can be redundant. I like/use CarPlay for guidance.

[P2]

I've been disappointed with the system and spoken to BMW about it. In fact I talked to the guy who is working the issues. BMW is aware some of the problems.

1. It does not display some roads around me. I live in the Chicago area not in-between Dallas and El Paso. He gave me the website with the data BMW feeds off of. I've check it and they have the roads in question. But for some reasons it's not feeding to BMW. He said maybe in the next update. I just got on last week and all but one are still not there.
2. The system will not route me the shortest distance. One of those roads I talked about above was actually updated 6 months ago. But NAV will not use that exit. It's there, but Nav routes me to the exit before or after, both which ad 12 minutes to my commute.
3. Realtime traffic is poor. I see red when traffic is flowing at 75 and green when it's a parking lot. Google seems to get it correct? I try manually updating the traffic. But no luck.

My understanding is we pay for the updates, realtime traffic, etc after 4 years. Honestly, I cannot see myself doing that if things don't improve.

[M235ForNow]

Originally Posted by P2

I've been disappointed with the system and spoken to BMW about it. In fact I talked to the guy who is working the issues. BMW is aware some of the problems.

1. It does not display some roads around me. I live in the Chicago area not in-between Dallas and El Paso. He gave me the website with the data BMW feeds off of. I've check it and they have the roads in question. But for some reasons it's not feeding to BMW. He said maybe in the next update. I just got on last week and all but one are still not there.
2. The system will not route me the shortest distance. One of those roads I talked about above was actually updated 6 months ago. But NAV will not use that exit. It's there, but Nav routes me to the exit before or after, both which ad 12 minutes to my commute.
3. Realtime traffic is poor. I see red when traffic is flowing at 75 and green when it's a parking lot. Google seems to get it correct? I try manually updating the traffic. But no luck.

My understanding is we pay for the updates, realtime traffic, etc after 4 years. Honestly, I cannot see myself doing that if things don't improve.

First real test. Left the standard spot at the standard time (rush hour building) and fired up BMW and Waze. The BMW had the latest update (this morning) and Traffic Info was checked. Got in the car at 3:05. Waze said home at 3:59. BMW said 3:44. After 10 minutes Waze said 3:59, BMW said 3:48. And when I was 5 minutes from home Waze said 3:58, BMW 3:59. Got home at 3:58.

I'm also now thinking the "Traffic Info" being unchecked wasn't an issue in the first place. I think that just enables the NAV to give me the option to take my eyes off the road and see exactly what roads are having what traffic problems.

Have to agree that paying $50 a year for this level of meh capabilities isn't looking attractive. I presume the NAV will still "work", just w/o the not-so-good traffic aware functionality and w/o updating roads if they're modified.