marksatex

I use the NAV frequently and have read and re-read the manual. I cannot determine how to get it to figure the shortest route. Even if you eliminate freeways. It will take the biggest road, and that may not be the shortest.

Example: Last week I drove from Austin Texas to Midland Texas. First, with freeways it sends me all the way back to San Antonio to use the freeways adding 200 miles to the trip. Next eliminating freeways- it would only use US HWY's rather than Texas State highways. It clearly sees and ID's the State roads. These are very good roads in Texas. Result- 125 miles farther than needed.

I find I still need to keep maps to check and re-check because the NAV seeks it's own method of route calculation. It does re-calculate if I turn on to a State road, but I have to decide what is the shortest route.

Any thoughts?

PUZZ1

I've only had my car for one week, but I had the opportunity to use the NAV on a trip this past week. What I found was that if you know intuitively that the recommended route is too long or out of the way, it will recalculate based on the actual direction you end up pointing the car. You will also note that the COMMAND manual mentions on numerous occaisions that the DVD is based on the best data AVAILABLE at the time of recording and some data may be incomplete.

BoSoxFan

I've used it several times over the last six weeks in situations where I knew the routes just well enough to know that there was a better way. It will get you there but it has some logic of its own in determining the route. I've concluded that it's good for the last couple of miles but not for a long distance. But, Mapquest does some screwy things too sometimes.

marksatex

I hear you about the AVAILABLE data, but Texas Highways were not built in just the last few years. Many pre-date the interstates. As far as it recalculating given the pointed direction, I agree, but one has to evealuate and know what is the shortest route to get into that given direction before the recalc occurs.

Apollo

Hi

Do you not have the option we have on euro nav, we can select either quickest or shortest route as part of the options.

scorchie

I believe that they do... just no "dynamic route"

It is accessed by:

Nav -> Mode -> Fastest Route

To turn off "freeways" then do

Right Arrow -> then down arrow to Motorways -> OK (to activate checkbox)

-s-

scorchie

Are you sure your settings under the "Mode" are not messed up? After ensuring "Quickest Route" is selected (yes, select that), hit the right arrow key and see if you are avoiding any sort of roads. Mine are all unchecked because I will drive over anything to get where I am going the soonest. (That explains the G500. )

-s-

Barry45RPM

I can't find anywhere to choose "Fastest Route". ('04 E5 Nav). I can find a list of only 4 items..."Avoid Freeways" ..."Avoid Ferries", ..."Avoid Tolls" ..."Avoid Tunnels". Am I missing something? I wish I had my manual at work...

bmms8

scorchie, you have a european version right? if so, that option might only be available on those models, not the US ones.

for me, if it doesnt show the fastest route, and i know in what direction i need to go, say a highway, i will go that way no matter what, and let the car recalculate. GL

scorchie

You're right.

I have a "switchable" version, and when I switch it to US mode... the "fastest/shortest" option is no longer available. However, my point was about making sure "avoid toll roads" or "avoid motorways" are not selected!

-s-

luxury1

Here in the US, nobody cares about their time so we don't get fastest route... Only people in Europe have to worry about getting somewhere fast because only their time is important. I am surprised the US E's even shipped with clocks

marksatex

US Version has no option to select shortest route.

scorchie

Hmm, I think that was already covered earlier in this thread.

But to answer your original question of "Any thoughts", I would suggest getting a European-spec COMAND, if it bothers you too much. You may still want to try setting the "avoid motorways" settings etc. and see what it does.

-s-

Barry45RPM

On second thought maybe the default setting for the nav IS "Shortest Route". It seems to me that selecting ANY of the 4 choices would have to lengthen the trip ???

I think also at times there might be a shorter route than the Nav's route, using secondary & tertiary roads, which the nav systems would tend to shy away from since the roads are subject to debilitating traffic jams due to local traffic/construction, out of date mapping due to area developement, new 1 way streets, etc... So maybe the Nav system will get you there without a driver knowing a thing about where he's going, but a little human input & "route recalculating" will yield a faster route.

scorchie

That's funny, but the US COMANDs prior to the W211 always had the choice of shortest or fastest route. The M-class US-spec navigation systems (never officially called "COMAND") also have this choice.

I should go look at the Dodge/Chrysler version and see if it has it as well... the software does look like an updated M-class (Alpine) system though. Well, it probably has it, since it has a bunch of things our W211s don't have, like: Bluetooth, RDS, MP3 playback, etc.

-s-

alewifebp

I noticed too more often than not that I always get the shortest route, even if that means a ton of road changes, when the nearest highways may have worked better. I remember taking the Nav to go to the meet in Brooklyn, and it had me take Flatbush Avenue, which is not the ideal route for a shiny Mercedes to be driving on. I then try to recalculate it with changing those settings, and it still doesn't seem to do anything.

It does seem to work best when I already know the general way to go, so I just go that way, and let it recalculate until it figures out that it is the way I want to go.

luxury1

We must keep in mind that no navigation is perfect. I also have a magellan roadmate 700 and used it over the past year. It is a really good system but not perfect. For example, one time I programmed the roadmate to my home address and it quoted 135 miles. I thought that this was way high so I moved ten feet and had it recalculate the route. Turns out I was only 70 miles. And this is from a standalone GPS system! I will write a real review over the next couple of days in a separate thread if any of you are curious.

DavidNJ

Our '01 E39 BMW has four options: Fastest, Shortest, use highways, avoid highways. Works well in most cases.

konigstiger

Not a good sign for MBUSA navigation. Next, I got to laugh because I know exactly what you mean. The belt would be your best choice for relative safety – no lights! But if you were to take Flatbush at least you would be able to see what MB Sovereign has to offer.

kort677

]I think they've moved, to the belt service road, east of bay parkway

DavidNJ

Yup, off the belt. Near my mother-in-law. The only MB dealer I've been in that locks the cars in the showroom!