NewMoses

2006 E55. I cannot search for retail establishments by name. WHAT? Try to find a nearby Home Depot. IMPOSSIBLE!

There must be a fix or software upgrade that allows a "search by name". PLEASE!!!!!

dtkw

ER... the Benz's navi is known to have its limit. The last one I saw ( a few years ago) didn't have detail mapping.

NewMoses

This is insane. Even the cheap Palm Pilot software allows a search by name. Basically, if you know the name of a retail establishment and want directions, NAV is useless. You won't find this omission on a Lexus or any other GPS navigation system I've seen. Making the error is one thing, not correcting it is another. Mercedes has dropped the ball.

dtkw

I have a Alpine system in my old Benz. It gives me names, address and phone numbers if it's there. So far a few times I had to look for some places, it gave me the address and phone numbers as well as direction.

CalifSLK

Yes, the MB Nav is pretty useless. Harmon/Becker, the supplier of the Nav processor, is a real novice in the GPS business.

A Garmin dash top unit such as the Streetpilot 2730 is the state of the art for GPS.

Skylaw

On the DVD Nav system in my '05 S500, I can search for stores by selecting "POIs" (Points of Interest) in the destination memory, choosing the location (currrent location, usually), or an alternate city; choosing the type of POI (I usually search grocery stores), then selecting the lower left soft button ("Name"). That brings up an alphabetical entry grid, much as entering a city name does. Entering the store name using the grid brings up a list of the particular stores I am interested in; it's usually there before I have completed the entry.

Haven't tried it for "Home Depot" but the feature has worked fine for me for other types of stores.

NewMoses

We have no soft button for "name". Only categories. "Retail stores" is not one of them. There is no way to search for any store that doesn't fall into their categories.

chinhster

Yesterday, I experienced how bad the nav was. I had to get to a distant relatives place. First, it had me take some back roads and it was only once I got close that I realized had I stuck to the major highways, I would've gotten there faster. Once I got into the right neighborhood, it kept dropping me off at the wrong street.

It was not me turning too early, I was just following the voice directions as to when to turn and it would tell me when to stop at the correct street number, just not the right street.

Everytime I realized I was at the wrong place, I'd start the car again and it would tell me to go one street over. After a total of 3 times it had me at the wrong house, it finally got me to the right place and probably only because it was the last street possible.

Skylaw

Last time I had that problem it was because the proper wheel and tire size weren't programmed into the "settings" menu.

Skylaw

Well, there is good news and there is bad news.

First, the good news. You do have a soft button for "Name" in each category. You have to enter the category first, which is the sequence I described.

Now the bad news. I know "Retail stores" isn't a category. Neither is "Wholesale stores" or "Building supply." But the worst news of all is that Home Depot isn't listed under "Shopping Centers" - although I know of two of them in my local area that are in fact at shopping centers. However, the shopping centers themselves are listed.

Now the other good news. The three other Home Depots I entered by their street addresses from the paper Yellow Pages are still in my destination memory.

It would be convenient if the MB system had a "Yellow Pages" feature similar to the one I used in a Hertz NeverLost system recently. However, that piece of junk was worse than no system at all with the bad info it kept giving me - the database was out of date, instructions were given 2 miles in advance and not updated until a "bell" sound telling me I had just missed the turn (THANKS), and inappropriate instructions ("turn slightly right," when it was a hard right freeway exit). It was an awful system.

I'll enter an address once in a while, if that's the choice.

And hope MB will update its software (NAV software updates are included on new DVDs, when they are released).

CalifSLK

The Command Nav will only give me a range of addresses but not the exact one. My Garmin 2610 on the other hand, gives me the next cross street coming up, the street number now passing, etc.

Both have "Home" function. The MB is on a soft button. Garmin is on a Route selection.

CalifSLK

Since the GPSs are in the sky, what does the wheel size have to do with the car being on the wrong street?

The Nav has dead reckoning function which is used to judge the car's position after it lost the satellite view, such as in the shadow of tall buildings downtown and tunnels. This function uses a gyro for heading change, speed sensor and a reverse detection to continue plotting your course in the absence of satellite reception. Wheel size may be needed for sensing speed in this case. But only during dead reckoning episodes.

CalifSLK

Even bad GPS shouldn't put you on the wrong street unless it lost satellite reception. 2D positioning only requires 3 satellites and 3D positioning (wit altitude) needs at least 4. Was it downtown where tall buildings blocked satellite reception?

chinhster

No tall buildings, I was in suburbia.

I followed the voice prompts and turned when it told me to turn. The neighborhood consisted of single and two story homes. And all the streets it had me turn too early on (and my true final destination) were cul-de-sacs.

Now that I think about it, I should've paid attention to the route it had mapped out because I recall that part was correct... it was the voice prompts that were incorrect. It was also partly my fault because I just blindly turned when it told me to and didn't pay attention to the streets I was turning onto... until after I was on the third wrong street and by then, the last possible street was the correct one.

I started replaying everything in my head and thought perhaps I was turning too early but remembered that the nav had me park at the correct house number, wrong street. If I had made a wrong turn, it should've told me to keep going which it didn't... it had me park. It was only after I restarted the car that it would tell me to keep going.

One thing I forgot to mention... it was raining (but not hard).

CalifSLK

The first voice prompt "prepare to turn..." is just a warning to move to that side of the street. The 2nd prompt is the one to take action. My wife had also acted on the first prompt and wound up on the wrong street.

chinhster

I turned at the "turn", not "prepare to turn".

Skylaw

We can theorize about just when the car is plotting satellite and when it is doing dead reckoning; but my experience was just the same as described, and the fix was what I said.

The dealer had replaced my Nav system and had not set the wheel size - further (although the driver input in the System settings - calibration/tire size - is supposed to do the same thing) the dealer had to set it in using Star Diag. My resets would not "take" (though they read as if they had).

It occurred for me on the open freeway where reception should have been good; and although my position would be accurate on start, I could see the amount of error increasing the further I drove - I'd be off by 1/10 to 1/4 mile in a 10-mile trip. I would be off both in distance, and if the route had many turns, I'd be off laterally as well. The voice command would tell me to turn late.

After the dealer did his thing, I was able to set the proper tire size and get accurate readings.

CalifSLK

I hear you. Frankly I don't know why the wheel size fixes GPS location other than dead recckoning. May be these are just bugs MB (or vendor) had in the unit.

This is like holding a handheld GPS unit and have to enter the step size to make it work. GPS are not designed to work like that.