Andyman395

I'm considering installing Navigation in two 2006 E350's. Both cars have base stereos. Do i need to install comand? Right now im just playing around with the idea and im just trying to get an idea of what is involved. Any info would be helpfull.
Thanks

Barry45RPM

"COMAND" is the name of the headunit. It has a NAV, Phone, SAT buttons & a CD slot on it right? (That doesn't mean anything of course... the NAV is in the trunk up thru 2008.) There are posts on the Forum that have step by step instructions.

Its really not worth it at this stage... A) how long are you going to keep the cars? B) Garmin offers a vastly superior unit which will thrill you rather than a vastly expensive MB unit that will amuse you with its limitations.

Also garmin has a nice, heavy, non sliding non bean bag dash top "mount" for their units. You'll find that you don't use a NAV unit as much as you predict. (Wife has this in her BMW 128 Conv: http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13746_7-10461594-48.html

That being said, if I was ordering a car, I'd order the factory unit... but you're not ordering a new car.

Honest opinion.

nopcbs

You are absolutely right. The factory navigation system in the W211 is terrible...out-classed in every way by any $100 after-market gps and wildly out-classed by any $200 Garmin or TomTom system.

You are also dead-on about the Garmin bean-bag mount. It is excellent and puts the gps up at eye-level, not dangerously low on the dash like the factory unit.

I have the factory gps in my 2006 E320 and it absolutely "sucks". I use a refurb Garmin 680 and it is MUCH better (cost $175 a couple of years ago).

The W211 navigation system is something MB should be deeply ashamed of ever having put in a car.

- nopcbs

Barry45RPM

Don't forget, when the 211 was designed, there wasn't much demand for in dash NAV in an MB by its buying public. Then MB was saddled with a car that had so many quality problems, it took all their time & effort to turn it around so they weren't busy coming up with a newer NAV. The 2009+ unit is a good unit...

nopcbs

In car gps was invented in 1990. It first appeared in the US in a 1994 Olds. High resolution gps became available in the US in 2000. The W211 was introduced in 2002.

MB used the same crappy gps is the w211 all the way until it was replaced by the W212. There is absolutely no excuse for this.

You can get on it that it was not an in-house design (MB could not have been that stupid to try to design in-house something they knew exactly nothing about). However, MB chose the supplier and they are still completely responsible for the quality of the device and, in particular, for having let the thing languish as a mediocrity while the world went by. The gps in my wife's 2004 RX330 is FAR superior to the gps in my 2006 E320. No excuse for this. The beauty of electronic devices is that can be easilly updated and improved through cpu and firmware updates, let alone map updates. MB choosing to not do this is a disgrace to them.

I hope you are right that the W212 system is a modern design and as good as a $200 after-market unit. It took them a decade to get there.

- nopcbs

Diesel Benz

The W211 navigation device was changed for the last model years (from June 2008 build date onwards) to an NTG2.5 unit instead of the older NTG1 type. This is a pretty modern, "all inclusive" head unit with hard drive based navigation.

Barry45RPM

The number of 211 cars ordered with NAV in the us is miniscule compared to the number without, so it wasn't a priority for them I guess... and if you remember, back in 2003 many of the cars were shipped with the wrong radio because the new for 2003 radio wasn't ready yet for the new model E. Quite a disaster, as I recall.

nopcbs

I stand corrected then, they sold the crappy nav only until 2008.

- nopcbs

nopcbs

NAV has been pretty much a boiler-plate item in high-priced spread cars for a LONG time. If you have sales figures to prove it, I will accept what you say, but it is extremely counter-intuitive.

In any case, it was an expensive option and MB has no business selling a junk unit in their cars. Shows lack of respect for the customer.

- nopcbs

Andyman395

I decided to go in a new direction. I don't need the NAV, but I do need comand. We (the company i work for) want it for the screen. We plan on writing new HMI software and using an overlay to make it a touch screen. It sounds like it is not to tough to retrofit comand. Diesel Benz said on another thread that if my current head unit is an Audio 20 CD, then Comand NTG2.5 would be the simplest to install, but it's not exactly plug-and-play. Is this still true if i dont want NAV? and how far beyond plug and play are we talking?

Diesel Benz

You mean you are going to modify the Comand NTG2.5 software and put a touch-screen interface to it? Sounds like installing the unit is a minor task for you, if not easier.

Anyway, you can start with a wiring harness kit like this:
http://www.comandonline.co.uk/W211-A...converter.html
This should give an idea how different the two units are.

If you have a look at the wiring diagrams of the two units, it is relatively easy to figure out the differences (and comparing to an NTG1 you can see how much more would be involved if that was swapped with an NTG2.5).

Andyman395

Thankyou again everyone for your help. I think I got it all figured out. The million dollar question is, do i have to buy European parts or can i buy American parts? I am not installing navigation so I am guessing it doesn't matter. Can someone confirm this?