Ask MF: Which Nav Should I Get?
This edition of Ask MF comes courtesy of John H.
>I’m about to order my 2007 Cooper S and was seriously considering getting the Nav until I saw thar MINI now offers a portable Garmin unit. It’s $750 vs $2000 but I’m not really sure how nice this Garmin 360 is. Do you guys have any opinions on it?
For one it’s great to see MINI offering buyers a choice. And it’s a great choice as well; the Garmin Nuvi series is (in our opinion) the best portable automotive navigation devices on the market today. However we strongly discourage going with MINI’s version of the Garmin Nuvi 360 for one reason: price. The regular 360 can regularly be had well under $450. In fact the much better Garmin Nuvi 660 (complete with huge, hi-res wide screen, incredible depth of color and traffic updates) can now be had for around $600 – a bargain all things considered.
The only MINI specific things the 360 has are the start-up screen, set of icons and the MINI logo on the lower left side. As you might expect, both the official MINI icons and start-up screen for the Garmin Nuvi series can be found on the web and can be easily loaded via Mac or PC (you can find them here). In fact the only true new feature the MINI version itself gives you (beyond the ability to pay $300 more than you need to) is the small MINI logo on the lower left side of the device.
However there is one (almost) unique benefit you get with MINI’s 360 that’s iconically not part of the nav itself. The mount that comes with the MINI version is a specific design that integrates into the MINI’s dash to the left of the tachometer. If installed correctly, it can also provide power. While this could be considered a huge selling point, there are several 3rd party solutions that provide similar integration. It just depends on how serious about DIY you want to get and if you prefer a mount closer to your field of view. And if you dig deep enough in the MINI parts system you can even find the mount itself for sale.
So to answer the original question, we’d highly recommend getting the Nuvi 360 (or Nuvi 660 if you have the $600) at a retailer like Amazon. Less money for the same technology… not a bad deal in our book.
Of course if you don’t mind spending the cash ($2100 of it), we’d highly recommend checking out MINI’s integrated navigation system now that it’s the center piece of not only navigation but also entertainment and communication systems in the R56.
The Garmin Nuvi 660 was the unit that was featured in several of our Dragon videos this year.
For previous gen. owners, the jvc kd-nx5000 is the ultimate solution, the cheapest in dash solution, the most stock looking once installed, and it does EVERYTHING!! Nav, CD, DVD, MP3, XM, Bluetooth, iPod. I have it, and it’s the best! Plus, the Nav is a hard drive system, so you can use the disc bay for whatever you want, music or movies! Go check it out!
For previous gen. owners, the jvc kd-nx5000 is the ultimate 1-DIN solution, the cheapest in dash solution, the most stock looking once installed, and it does EVERYTHING!! Nav, CD, DVD, MP3, XM, Bluetooth, iPod. I have it, and it’s the best! Plus, the Nav is a hard drive system, so you can use the disc bay for whatever you want, music or movies! Go check it out!
As a previous gen (cabrio) owner with the built in nav, I felt I should stand up for it since so many people frown at it. Maybe it’s just because I’m used to it (had the same nav in 2 previous BMWs) but it’s a good, solid nav device, it’s never let me down, and I like that it’s 100% stock and integrated with the car and can’t be stolen or ripped out. I am slightly annoyed that it’s not integrated as well as it is in regular BMWs though – it isn’t connected to the car’s clock and has no clock of its own. But that is a minor thing really.
And I know some people will faint but I like not having a huge speedometer in the center of the dash, I like having the two smaller dials on top of the steering wheel!
That being said, I do feel that the entire design of the new generation dash & nav is light years ahead of the previous gen. The new nav is so much better integrated with the design of the car. They really took their time to do it right this time and not just slap in some pieces from the BMW parts bin.
Well can we order the bracket, I already own a Nuvi 350.
One of the many disappointments about my 07′ Cooper was the nav system. I used the Nuvi 660 in my 04′ and it was fantastic, aside from its huge widescreen display, super fast satellite acquisition and simple menu system its one of the few GPS units out there that actually pronounces the name of the street or road that you are navigating to; All in all a great product. I actually had mine mounted in the small circular vent on the drivers side dash and it looked and worked fine, the “integrated” mount on this MINI/ Nuvi system doesn’t look very aesthetically pleasing IMHO. The navigation system in my 07′ cooper is acceptable but nowhere near as good a GPS system as the Garmin. The menu navigation is confusing until you get used to it and even after you do its is still a very “clunky” UI compared to Garmins. The traffic alerts are sub-par at best (I’m in NYC so I have plenty of opportunity to judge the traffic features on both everyday) and the street level zoom of the MINI system is only about 400ft, which is really annoying for me. Rerouting after a wrong turn is quicker and signal strength is better on the built in system, I maintain a satellite lock even in tunnels and data input is a breeze but that’s really due to MINIs excellent joystick input system (one of the few things I really like about my 07′) and of coarse the radio mutes for instructions (the FM transmitter in the Garmin is OK but not really great, your better off using the built-in speaker) The navigation software for MINIs system is provided by Navteq and I didn’t have a lot of experience with their products before but after evaluating both I would say Garmins system for North America beats Navteqs, no contest. If you have the extra cash and don’t mind the UI but want a finished clean look for your MINI get the built-in system but if your a die hard GPS user get the Garmin Nuvi, you wont be disappointed and have some left over pocket change for other MINI extras. By the way I kept my Nuvi 660 after I got my 07′ and renewed it’s traffic alert subscription, just couldn’t give up.
I own the Garmin 360 and it’s an awesome device. I like the portability and why spend 2100 on OEM nav when on average you only use nav 3 to 4 times a month. Also with Garmin, you can get maps loaded for Europe, can’t do that with the mini and I have to disagree with Gabe, mini’s nav takes away the look of the mini. Go with the Garmin.
Check out <a href="http://www.Buydig.com" rel="nofollow ugc">http://www.Buydig.com</a> for prices
Why are the factory nav systems so much more expensive AND have less functionality?
hmm…I love the Nuvi 360…which I have owned it for 8 months or so…and I tend to use it daily….if I am doing my house-calls…during days that I am not in the clinic…
The Good thing about it is the portability aspect of it….two weeks ago…my friend rented a Mini-van to take his whole family, including the in-laws for a weekend trip to Cleveland OH, and wolla….the Nuvi 360 was there to help…
The only drawback to the Nuvi – it does require daily charging…if you use it daily…and DO NOT plan on using the supplied cig-lighter wire charger…which isnt that bad to use…btw…
Happy Motoring…Happy IML/Memorial Day Weekend!!
Smiling….
ninjamini – Yes the bracket can be ordered for either an R56 or a R50/R53 from your MINI dealer. I believe the bracket / wire harness is around $175.
There is a thread on NAM where we are discussing our own similar but more versatile bracket for this same purpose. Hopefully with less cost.
Personally – I love my Nuvi 350. It was a great gift from my wife. I’m currently using the window suction cup mount but I am looking to move it to the instrument cluster similar to the MINI bracket.
Another nod for the 360. The portability from one vehicle to another enables me to keep my navigation system should I ever (most likely never) trade away the Cooper. It’s very easy to use as I have yet to even open the operating manual.
nobody likes tomtom?
>nobody likes tomtom?
I had a TomTom for a month last summer and so wanted to like it. However I can’t tell you how many times I had the thing in my hand ready to throw out the window.
Another vote for the Garmin 360. I have the 350 and really like it. The only difference between the 350 and 360 is the 360 has bluetooth.
Gabe – Where do we get the MINI Car icon that drives around the map like you mentioned.. I am fascinated to know. I did get a splash screen but thats about all.
I just loaded the mini icon and the mini splash screen. Very Cool but the car is a little bigger than I’d like. But still very cool!
Randy $175 is a lot for a bracket. I would think it should be $20-30.
Adam: <a href="http://www.iniw.net/2007/04/29/nuvi-350-portable-gps-youification/" rel="nofollow ugc">http://www.iniw.net/2007/04/29/nuvi-350-portable-gps-youification/</a>
My two cents is get the cheap one and keep the speedo. Even though the new speedo is dissapointing (not because of the size but it’s lack of stuff)it’s still the symbol of MINI. Navs and chronos leave me cold on the car’s asthetics.
This is so weird Motoring File reads minds! I was just thinking about buying a navigation for the GP. I’m so glad you MF came out with this article.
Makes you wonder about the margins on other MINI options…
Another Nuvi fan here. Had the Nuvi 360 for just about 1 year. I use it more and more. Excellant UI. I use the stock window mount but attach it to the speedo, sort of at the 2 o’clock position. Works great!! Still gets a good signal with the antenna just at the edge of the dash.
Easily accessed by either the driver or the passenger while moving.
The voice announcements with the street names is a great feature. Very helpful while traveling alone. However, I think the womans voice begins to sound just a little “put off” if you have her recalculate the route too many times. Sort of like having your SO or gf/bf navigating for you and missing several turns. So be careful and don’t miss your turns or she might get pis’ed.
I also like the feature, not unique to Garmin, that allows you to avoid certain things. By choosing to avoid highways and toll roads you can end up on some very nice back roads and see things that you might otherwise miss.
We took it to Calfiornia on vacation and it worked great. Put it in the rental car and set the location into memory so that we could find the return area when we were done. It took us all over northern CA without a hitch. No need for additional downloads for anywhere in North America.
The Blue Tooth capability is a nice feature, much less expensive that the MINI option, if and when it is available. It can also plug into the Aux. jack and run thru the stereo, even play MP3 files thru the stereo.
While at an Auto-X event I reset the max speed between runs and had it record my max speed on each run. Interesting, but not very meaningful.
I’m still (im)patiently waiting for Dash.
I have the built-in Nav, and I just love it. I’m sure an outside party’s Nav would be very nice as well, but for as clean-looking as the built-in one makes the center column, and how it brings together all the functionality of the car’s tech… well, I just love it. It’s my first Nav, and it’s all i’d need (once MiniUSA figures out how to program it correctly… grumble grumble.)
Happy IML weekend indeed, Dennis! 🙂 Have fun!! Wish I were going!
I think I have a photo of the unit mounted to the speedo. I anyone is interested I will post it.
Bilbo,
Would love to see your photo. Please post.
The NUvi 360 is an awesome unit the best bang for your buck and with the number one name in Navigation (Garmin) it is the best piece to use. I would steer away from the installed piece as Navigation is changing and upgrading in leaps and bound I have the Nuvi 360 in my Mini and I also like the new Harman Kardon piece the HK 50. The Nuvi 360 does have bluetooth with is a must these days with all the no cell phone laws being passed.
i don’t know if the non mini version includes this or not… but the MINI version includes blue tooth capability! Pretty nice! Also, if installed at delivery it will be warrantied for 4 years or 50k miles!
Anyways… have a good day!
I intend to get a Garmin unit, the Zumo 550, which is designed to use on a motorcycle. It’s waterproof and vibration resistant, and comes with both a motorcycle and car mount, so I can use it with both the bike and the MINI. I expect the functionality will be similar to the Nuvi series, and I am pleased to see so many happy Garmin owners. I considered a TomTom Rider, but the local Circuit City guy said he would rather not sell me one, even though he did not stock the Garmin. Sounds like a no brainer to me.
Will the MINI specific mount for the 360 also fit the 660 or is the display too wide? Anyone know?
Cheers.
J.
Anyone have a part number for the R56 Nuvi Bracket? It’s not available in Europe yet you see. Gabe, go with the Nuvi, as a Dealer I should tell you to go with the factory Nav, but I have a 360, and it’s a superior unit.
Here’s another vote for the Garmin. I’ve had an older model Garmin for over two years and love it. Here’s the three biggest reasons (other than cost) I prefer to go with portable over in-dash:
1) Planning a trip? Checking out alternate routes? Want to save everything ahead of time? Now would you rather do than sitting in your living room with the portable or sitting out in your car?
2) With most portable systems, you can save routes, points of interest and other data to your computer. This way you have it for that, for example, once-a-year trip to the Dragon and it isn’t cluttering up your nav unit for the other 51 weeks of the year.
3) Mounting flexibility. I have my Garmin mount on top of the dash on the far left side. It’s much closer to my line of sight when driving so it doesn’t take my eyes off the road as much as looking down or over to the center stack.
(Someone already mentioned using the same unit in multiple vehicles so I won’t repeat that one, but it’s huge as well.)
Thanks Mr Miagawi for the well wishes…heheh..U have an awesome weekend 2!!
I have a MINI Travel Agent and without it I would have been lost in Ontario for the weekend! I love it and I really appreciate the fact that the mounting bracket that powers it makes it look better than sitting in the windshield. It may be a little more expensive than it’s Garmin counterpart but if you want to “Keep it MINI” pony up the extra bucks. If not than the Garmin units in general really have a lot to offer!
i’m buying the 360 and will get the mounting bracket down the road. the 660 has a larger screen and fm transmitter but i don’t think those features are worth the extra $$$.
oh yeah, the 660 has a shorter battery life.
>i’m buying the 360 and will get the mounting bracket down the road. the 660 has a larger screen and fm transmitter but i don’t think those features are worth the extra $$$.
I would highly recommend actually checking them out side by side. That’s what I did at the Garmin store in Chicago before I bought by 660. I had originally planned on getting the 360 until I laid my eyes on the incredibly bright screen on the 660. Absolutely no comparison. And the larger screen not only showed more map but also allowed the interface to become much easier to navigate and use.
And in my experience the integrated traffic antenna alone has been with the extra $150.
My wife and i own two gps- and old garmin 2660 and a tomtom 700. I can hands-DOWN say that the garmin works better and finds more locations (in and outside a metro city).
I believe the garmin uses tele the navteq map software (what mapquest uses) versus the tomtom uses teleatlas- for what it’s worth. Even though I like the tom tom’s navigation menus, sound quality, and portability (ie, can be charged and mounted without being tethered to a cord)- the garmin consistently gave better directions. The garmin also uses feet instead of yards when giving you a heads up about an approaching destination. Also, the garmin tells you what side of the road a destination is on (this is KEY when you’re in a big city and the only description of an address you have is 9931 Madison Ave).
At any rate, get the Garmin…it’s solid technology and with the new UI it totally trumps the tom tom.
I’m just sad the iPhone won’t have GPS capabilities (at least not the first gen.). iPod + phone + nav system with that beautiful touchscreen interface would be the ultimate device for me.
sigh Perhaps someone will figure out how to do a plug-in GPS module through the dock connector, if Apple opens up to third-party apps.
I think the 350 is the best option, and doesn’t have a bunch of poorly added features you pay dearly for.
Nuvi 350 is $380 on amazon
360 is $435
660 is $600
Unless someone can vouch for the Bluetooth working really well, I can’t see increasing the cost by 20% when I could buy a Bluetooth headset that I can take out of my car for less than $50.
And based on the difference, you’d need to get stuck in a lot of traffic jams for $220, plus a $60 yearly cost after the first 3 months. If you live in a major city, just get satellite radio for $100 a year and use the traffic service there, and have music as well.
I’ve got the nüvi 370; it’s the same as the 360 but has European maps, as well. The more I use it the more I like it. I can’t put my finger on specific phrasing or timing, but it’s just easier to navigate with it than with my old 2610. When I first got it, I was thinking to myself that there was really no big improvement between the two (aside from form-factor and the included maps), but now I think the nüvi’s does a much better job of helping you get around. I’m still not sure it’s worth it to upgrade from the 2600 or 2700 series devices, however.
I am completely unimpressed with the Bluetooth capabilities. At least in the MINI, I think they’re pretty worthless. I like the idea of having phone information on the larger display, but I think the speakerphone capabilities suck mainly due to the cabin noise in the car. I’m not that impressed with the traffic, either. The UI for routing around incidents is just awful. I allowed the GPS to take me through NYC (at rush hour; dunno how it decided on that route…) when going to the Dragon. It told me there was traffic ahead, but only gave me a list of incidents and left me to choose which one to avoid. How about all of them? It’s just not intuitive.
If you don’t need the Bluetooth or traffic features, check out the nüvi 200-series models. They’re quite a bit cheaper but don’t have the traffic or Bluetooth features.
>The UI for routing around incidents is just awful. I allowed the GPS to take me through NYC (at rush hour; dunno how it decided on that route…) when going to the Dragon. It told me there was traffic ahead, but only gave me a list of incidents and left me to choose which one to avoid. How about all of them? It’s just not intuitive.
I think it makes sense we you have numerous routes to take in a large city. I’ve used it many times and it’s been a huge time-saver.
As opposed to trying to get through a single trip in an unknown city? I agree; you’ve already got an inkling of where the incidents are when you know the city and have an idea for how to proceed. In my example, it was frustrating and distracting and served more as an announcement that I was screwed and gave me many opportunities to make my situation worse. Randomly choosing an incident to avoid just doesn’t seem user-friendly to me. In a familiar city I think it could be invaluable.
The Garmins are way over-priced, IMHO. Take a look at the Navman N60i.
I have an 06 Cabrio with the MINI/BMW NAV and like the fact it is built in and always available. While I haven’t seen the latest NAV in the MINI I like our additional Garmin 360 better for a few major reasons.
1. Touchscreen UI – I HATE rolling that know around to enter street names. The Garmin UI easier, faster, and more convenient.
2. Navigation – The Nuvi lists cross streets as you approach them which is invaluable at night when the signs aren’t as visible.
3. Portable – The Nuvi works just as well in my Wrangler out in the mountains as in the MINI on the twisties. Best of both worlds!
Ok, everyone is talking about Portable GPS units, but how do you take advantage of the exterior GPS antenna? I hear Mini has integrated this into the normal radio antenna? It would be nice to have access to the cable. I have a 2007 Mini on order, my current vechile and my portable GPS loses the signal often. From what I hear most Mini owners are happy without an external antenna.
Comments?
Many enjoy the Garmin Nuvi 660 GPS for the features it offers like Bluetooth compatible, Hands Free Calls, and the FM Traffic Receiver over Tom Tom and the rest.
See for yourself, GPS Poll: <a href="http://polls.hopto.org/polls.aspx?poll=17&partner=0&Desc=GPS_Auto_Navigation" rel="nofollow">http://polls.hopto.org/polls.aspx?poll=17&partner=0&Desc=GPS_Auto_Navigation</a>
I just got the Nuvi360 and mount however longer screws are required. Anyone have a source?
Anyone can tell me anything more about the dvd option of the nav.Does it play regular dvd too or that’s only an option for european cars? And if so, is there anything that can be done for the us market? thnx
Hey Gabe, any idea if the factory nav system on the 07 plays dvd as well(at list in Europe?)Best M
Has anyone installed the left-side mounting bracket and also bought the Garmin 660 unit?
It’s bigger (screen size and also form factor) than the Garmin 350 or 360 unit and I’m just wondering if it takes up too much space. I’m trying to decide. Any help would be much appreciated.
Chris:
I just saw the MINI Portable Nav installed in an R52 and it sits really close to the tach. I didn’t take measurements, but my guess is that the 660 won’t fit unless you do some “tweaking”.