Helmar

The lease on my Lexus LS600hL is up in August, and I've narrowed my options down to either purchasing my LS or switching over to an E550 AllMatic.

I use the navigation system a lot and really like the Lexus implementation. It's very accurate, and even lets me know what side of the street my destination is on.

I understand that the MB navigation system doesn't allow for exact street addresses, only a block range.

Is this true? Is an updated version expected?

Thanks for any information.

HBH

mcdohl

100% wrong unless MB new Navigation system is worse than the previous generation.

Even the previous generation on my current 2008 CLK allows for exact address input and tell you which side of the street the place is located on. That is on the old DVD navigation system which required you to buy a new disc every year if you wanted the updates.

I understand on the HD navigation system MB downloads updates for free to the HD automatically.

Dema

I like previous navigation of MB better than current one, although current one is still functional. MB doesn't have touch screen as Lexus, however voice entry is still good. So far, MB navigation superior to Lexus's one in accuracy. Most fault of my Lexus system was bringing me 20 miles away of my target and then give up. It never happened with MB.

Regarding block or exact number accuracy, when I put my MB in garage it shows me my cirrect home address.
I hope it is helps.

samkimg

I own both a 2010 W212 E350 and a 2010 Lexus RX450h. I have both vehicles with full NAV systems and both are accurate to the same degree.

I prefer the Lexus User-interface (UI) over the MB UI for several reasons:
- The MB UI isn't consistant. Sometimes it asks for a Yes/No response to confirm a selection and other times it wants an OK response.
- The Lexus recognizes my voice accurately more often than the MB, although I've "trained" my car to my voice per the MB voice training system
- The MB seems to take more effort to voice enter an address than the Lexus.

Don't get me wrong, I love my MB, but the Lexus UI is more refined.

pmb600

I have used both, and the MB system is just as good, if not better in many ways than the Lexus system.

You can certainly enter the exact address and most of the time the car will tell you what side of the road it is. For my house for example it says "your destination is on the left." Something to note is that even Lexus is switching from touch screen based systems to a remote-display concept which is what the Mercedes COMAND system in the W212 is. It is safer because the driver is seated in the appropriate driving position and not leaning forward to touch the screen.

I also find the Lexus voice control system irritating because each time you press the voice control button, it says "after the beep, please say a command." The MB system just makes the beep and then you know you can speak. This may sound dumb, but after the third or fourth time I hear that, you don't want to hear it again.

I would recommend spending some time playing with the system, if you spend a small amount of time exploring it, you will find it a great system to use.

greasegun

i got my e350 with navigation last november, its no good. i have a map that is old some new roads is not there, new highway extension not there too, closed gas station still there. my 4 year old portable gps garmin is a lot better than what i have on my $70000 car. made a complain they said i have to wait for upgrade in two years, even called mb canada customer service not helpful. it's like it's my fault i bought a mercedes. by the way i live in toronto canada and i got my car at mercedes benz oakville. this is my first mb and maybe my last. i might go back to audi or lexus.

220S

Buh-bye.

pmb600

Stockwell

Hi GreasGun,, I live in Toronto too,, recently test drove a 2010 A4, to be honest, their navigation have similar issue, missed some new developments north of Hwy 7 which completed 3 years already... even BMW 535xi, same thing.... I think they all use same MAP source. So don't be too upset

El Cid

I have taken lots of 100 mile or less trips over state and county roads and the map in my 2010 E350 is very accurate. More accurate than the $5.00 special map I purchased for the county in which I live.
One thing is that it may tend to show road numbers instead of names for some "major" roads, e.g. state highways.
It also will try to direct you to main roads if you take a know shortcut, but resets pretty quickly once it figures out what you have done.
Personally I prefer not having touch screen-no messy finger prints.
Voice responds very well, but takes getting used to. It is slower than manual entries though.
Have input lots of street numbers and it found them all.
BTW, my wife has named the voice "Eva."

Rowrbazzle

The actual directions in the Navigation work just fine for the most part. I do think there are too many areas (residential in particular) that don't have reliable turn-by-turn directions. It's not typically prohibitive, but it sucks to drive into an unfamiliar (but not a new) area and not have the guidance.

My biggest beef, however, is that the POI's are practically useless. Trying to find normal places in my own city is incredibly frustrating. And these aren't new establishments either. For instance, I can type in the name of a restaurant and instead of getting the one 10 miles away, I get ones on the other side of the country.

At another point I was trying to find the listing for the nearby Sprint store in order to get the phone # and there was no way I could find that actually made it show up. This happens in other cities too and while traveling down the highway so it's just a matter of failing to live in a giant city. Maybe I need to re-read the manual - perhaps there's a secret procedure that I'm missing. Sadly, the old Garmin is more useful when it comes to POIs.

geoaero

Overall, the nav does well on my 2010 E350. Love to be able to program an entire destination without ever touching a button, knob, or screen.

One lacking component is that the nav will not accept a zip code as a correct "town", as the nav sysytem on my Verizon phone will. For example, often a business will be near where several small municipalities come together that share a similar zip code - I know the zip, but don't know which specific town the business is in. The Mercedes nav will be extremely fussy about getting the correct town, which I will not be able to determine. Therefore, I can't use the nav in these situations, despite knowing the zip code....

MBStar

!00% correct that the new version of the NAVI for W212 and C207 is inferior.
While it DOES allow precise address entry and it DOES tell you which side of
the street your destination is, it does not show many cross streets in the map
mode, it has many missing streets and its guidance function is in a bad need of
reprogramming. It is a joke compard to the NAVI in the current S-class
CL-class and even the W211 / C219 (E /CLS).
Futhernore the Linguatronic voice recognition is so precise that if you change
your intonation ever so slightly it will not recognise the stored names.
Very frustrating.

MBStar

That's becasue these are the same Navi systems - for Audi and MB - Navteq I believe.

K-A

The Nav girls voice in my friends Acura is a lot sexier than the Nav voice in my Benz.