Looking for some advice on SatNavs for my X5 ???

[RickUK]

On vacation in 4 weeks time and this will be the 1st time out on a long trip,and of course roadmaps are obsolete and SatNave have been my main source of directions for about 10 years.On my other cars i have always had a basic entry level TomTom for years and even without any updates it has served me well.

The dilemma that i have is i feel its time for a SatNav upgrade especially in the X5,mine alas never came with a factory fitted one and if i am honest i dont really want to bother about adding a genuine one or one that you can buy from Ebay that is aftermarket and has loads of extras that i will never use if i am honest.

So the alternatives i have are either get one specifically for the X5 which is going to be expensive and complicated as well fitting wise,or go down the aftermarket TomTom/Garmin route,went to Halfords at the weekend and although i prefer a TomTom they suggested a Garmin Drivesmart 51LMT UK maps version,as i dont go abroad i dont need Euro maps or Worldwide,so the UK version will do just fine for me.Not very keen on sticking the SatNav on the window with a sucker setup,but they can fit me the Garmin as above for £189 plus £30 to fit it rather than have the cable going into the cigar lighter and the cable dangling down,so i assume they will hardwire and fuse it behind the dash and then use a special mount.

So do all you X5 use the factory option or do some folks use a aftermarket one ?? if so which one and how did you fit it ?? not so worried about cost as such but i dont fancy ripping the dash out and fitting one in,any suggestions would be most welcome.

I have 4 odd weeks yet and will need it for when i go away,once again many thanks.

[henrym3]

If your not wanting to fit an in dash satnav surely your phone will give a satisfactory solution, cradle mounted where ever you want it. Google maps or what ever.

[ianst0028]

Not sure what iPhone navigation is like but my Google maps navigation is far far better than any Tom-Tom / Garmin I've used recently
Only drama is the data used but most phone plans would suffice

[henrym3]

My turn to agree Ian, I can make my way round the country city to city, and it's only for the final bit that it's used so you can keep the data usage low. I have found iphone very good, probably more up to date than most satnavs.

[RickUK]

Thats very interesting about using Google maps must admit had not thought about that,can get a cradle and fit that in and even try it without the charger lead,must admit i really liked the simplicity of my old TomTom and it was nearly 10 years old and still work,and never failed too get me to my destination,albeit some common sense did help in deciphering some of the stupid instructions  )

[Upex]

I agree with phone or tablet use, it can be 100% up to date, all the time, used across al vehicles and Google maps etc (don't do apple except for old one plugged into my lexus purely as a music hardrive) let's you download offline apps and just use gps, so can keep data use to zero etc. I recently downloaded and used non sim tablet for the entire journey from Norfolk to val disere and back, not one bite of data used, plus had guidance and or map to use, depending on what I was after.

I had tablet mounted to sun visor and powered by a piggyback fuse circuit thingy that ran cable up the pillar. Almost all hidden and very easy plug and play, plus could just be flipped up and hidden under the sun visor, couldn't fault it and think it's a cracking place of one!

[X5Sport]

I have a Garmin 2598 (newer versions available) in mine as well as the OEM Nav.  Main reasons being that the map upgrades are free, are more frequent, and speed camera updates don't cause language issues when turned off and the Garmin uses DAB based traffic data and if significantly more up to date (often just 30 secs behind) than the TMC version in the car which only update every 20-30 minutes or when someone bothers to do anything about it!

The Garmin can also link via my phone to act as a handsfree unit, or to get en route updates.  No map downloads over the air as they are already on board the unit.  Initial purchase price is (was) about the same as a single annual update map & key for the later generation E7x iDrive type cars and onwards.