GateKeeper

So I have to ask, might be dumb, but it's bugging me, and I have not had the time to go to the dealership yet.

2009 C350 picked up in October of 2008

Question is this.....

While driving around the city, I push the button to get the Navi up on the screen, and it's set for birds eye view (did I get that right) anyways, the thing that really bothers me is it does not show street names for all the streets that are displayed on the screen, there could be 4 streets showing there could be 20 streets showing, (depending on the range set) but it rarely ever shows more than 3 street names, and the one currently that I am on at the bottom of the screen if in full view.

Why is this ??????

Now in comparison, went out with a buddy and he just picked up a TomTom XL I believe, and this little thing (wide screen) showed just about every damn street name for every street that is displayed, go figure......

Am I missing a setting on my Navi, or is it just that way, and if it is, boy what a waste of money and effort, one is better off with the TomTom, with those one gets touch screen, turn by turn, or by voice for each street, and by name, only thing is the screen is a bit smaller.....

Any Navi gurus care to let me know, if I can see more on the Merc's screen..

Thanks

cc3111986

when you see your navigation map
highlight the Navi menu on the top of the screen again and press the button in and you would be able to have more setting to you navigation.
switch it out of birds eye view to see more street names

micropower99

For mine, it only shows the street names if I'm zoomed in completely. If I zoom out even 1 point it'll disappear. Hope this helps.

GateKeeper

This I have not tried, but will give it a shot, only options are show map pointing north, and or as the direction of the car, not sure if either of those will give me more street names, but I will try...

This I have noticed as well, has to be like 50m to show even the few streets, if you zoom out all you get is the city names....

aprince2die4

same here...even when im zoomed in all the way with maybe about 10 streets showing up on the map..it only displays maybe 3-4 street names...not all streets are labels

micropower99

Yea, wish at least they made it so the street names would have a smaller font when zoomed out a level

GateKeeper

So I am not alone, and based on the comments so far, this Navi system is not so good, to put it nicely......

Wish I had paid closer attention to this detail,,,,then again the car is leased, so it goes back anyways.....

At this rate I will at least be able to justify the purchase of a TomTom or Magellan, or something to that effect....

Thanks

micropower99

I'm not saying its no good. Thats just one thing I don't like about it. Honestly I love the navi, it gets me where i want to go, quick and its accurate (very) on the ETA. And the pop up screen is gorgeous IMO.

GateKeeper

Don't get me wrong, I like the rest of it as well, I just figured with a 7 inch screen one would expect street names on the streets showing, these other units have like 3 or 4 inch screens and show more than the Merc's screen does.

Then again one can always install the VIM and not worry about the street names....LOL

cc3111986

swtich it out of birds eye view into any of the other 2 display settings you would see all street names display on the map but you do have to be zoomed in all the way..
I dont like the birds eye view.. I always leave it on heading up so much easier to see

Diesel Benz

I prefer the way MB makes the map display, showing all the streets would make the map view fuzzy and more difficult to read the essentials. You would have to have pretty good eyes if a small font was used to make room for all the text.

The full zoom is there if you want all street names as mentioned, this should be fine. It also shows the current and the coming street name (on the Navi display and/or the instrument cluster).

angeloxnet

Ya birds eye is very sparse in the showing of names, i use heading up as it shows all the upcoming streets.

birds eye is good when its really dark outside and ur driving a twisty road, it will give you an idea of the curves ahead.

flagman

I don't agree - it is possible to have a very readable display and show most street names. My 05 TL Nav system does. During test drives of the C I too have noticed that very few street names show, but figures there was some way to change this in settings, and not being familiar with the system and not having access or time to read the nav. system manual, didn't really think about it much, but if what I am seeing in this thread is true it is troubling...

I also think that the combination of a light background (grey or yellow?) and white text (IIRC) is very difficult to read - can this be modified?

Also, does the display change at night, ie when headlights are turned on? My TL nav reverses from yellow background/black text to black background/white text when headlights are on.

tchockie

i wish there were more street names at lower zoom views too. they can totally make it without making it cluttered. it's all about how the software is developed. look at google maps or new yahoo maps, or even google map on the iphone. they have nice, easy to read maps with street names at higher zooms, albeit with smaller fonts. i don't think it would have been that hard to implement in our nav systems.

having said that, i think the maps on our displays are gorgeous though. and i love that i know which gas stations are coming up and where, since i use business account gas cards to fill up.

GateKeeper

This is correct........

I had some time to play with it while driving, and tried the various options, and if not in birds eye view, you will get a lot more of the street names on the display showing up, only drawback is you must still be fully zoomed in, but I guess we can't have it all.

I still like the birds eye view for day to day driving, the other vies give me more, but I don't like the way the maps turn as I make rights and lefts....

So it seems to do what I would like however not all together at once, I will have to switch back and forth depending on what is required, more street names or the way the road twists and turns with out street names being shown.

Thanks for all the input.....much appreciated

GK

and yes the display has a day/night colour combination and will switch depending on the lighting outdoors

webada

I believe the navi software is made by HK, not particularly known for navi technology. The navi on my dad's M35 blows MB's away. I felt embrassed telling him i paid $3k for it. Even his bose system sounds much better than our HK. Actually when I was purchasing the car, the dealer did mentioned something about german navi and said why not just get a TomTom. Should have listened to him, now that the noveilty of 7in flip up screen is wearing off...

Great_Cookie

I just wish that POI names that you enter in the system (address book) would show up on the map like any other POI... That's my major bug-bear with the system...

Diesel Benz

I don't know how other OEM navi devices work but I agree with your view. You can already program which POI appear on the map, MB could add one more category there like "personal addresses". These could be from the address book or from the stored/previous destinations. This would even allow some speed camera icons for those who want that (although the number would probably be limited for one trip only).

Great_Cookie

Agreed... Don't know how the other manufacturers work (Audi/BMW/etc) but on my Garmin once a POI has been added, you can view it like any of the other POI on the database.

Essentially it's already all there; all POIs are already preset into categories (each with a different icon as well); all the system needs to be able to do is let us categorise our address book entries into the following (already given) categories and then display then back on map.

Hopefully a COMAND upgrade might be able to give us this feature? I mean, if they can do audio fade-out, why not this eh?

lx Raven xl

+1 ^. But this will actually only helps for speed camera's and some important missed out POI's on the map. Other then that I do not see a real value for this.

crow944

Gatekeeper, I'm getting the same issues with the NAV, 10-15 streets show up in the 50m zoom, but only 1 or 2 streets show up.

This is fustrating when your in an area your not familiar with and want to see upcoming streets. Even my old Garmin GPS shows 'all' the streets.

Disappointed

Savage c-300

hummm.. i've never noticed this.. i've always been able to see the street name i'm looking for. have you check if there was a way to increase map details?

bballintom22

on the subject of navigation...

I don't know why when i search for POI by names, and it's something common let's say "Bank of America", it doesn't list these in order of distance from me. Is there a setting for this i'm missing?

kaku

i have a similar issue with street names not showing up. though, for me, when zoomed in completely, most of the names will show up except for 2 or 3..

Diesel Benz

Why do you need to know the streets in the neighbourhood when the cluster and the navi screen show where to go and when to turn? You don't need the street names to count from the map how many streets to go, if you wanted to know that. I would find the maps screen messy if it was filled with street names when zoomed a bit out.

Some areas with a lot of short streets don't leave enough room for the navi screen to display all names. In this case you can point the street and the name should be shown, of course should not be done while driving.