I have an 05 E500 which says Navigation not available when I hit the button. It has COMAND, phone, but no sat radio and no nav. What's the easiest way to add nav? OEM parts from ebay, or a whole new head unit? I want a nice clean install, that looks similar to original. Thanks.
You will have to retrofit the Harmon/Becker system with a DVD Nav drive in the back
of the car. If you are lucky it is prewired and you will just need the drive and mounting
hardware. Then a trip to the dealer to update the firmware for both the COMAND and
the Nav drive if you get the latest Nav DVD. You will have to add the GPS antenna.
I wish I had a simple answer for you.
For very accurate how to do it DIY I would post this in the Audio/Telematics forum. There is a lot info there you can research.
a lot of first hand experience there doing exactly what you want to do.
That's what I thought, and given the mediocre (at best) reviews of MB nav, maybe I'll just skip it. I wish that I could install someone elses NAV, and use COMAND as a monitor for the other system. Then I wouldn't lose the other functionality of the head unit. Oh well...
Vehicle: 2001 E320 - Brilliant Silver/Ash: MBCA member
Location: The Mountain State
Posts: 10,115
My COMAND/NAV is older than yours (CD based) and mediocre is too kind a word for that beast. Garmin runs circles around anything MB has, and probably several other brands do too. I can't undestand why they are so behind in this area.
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Ich liebe meinen Mercedes-Benz!
Not only is the OEM GPS bad, in the E-Class with the remote GPS processor, it is the worst GPS ever. I also have a R-Class which has the GPS embedded in the head unit, and the GPS is better whilst being a far cry from the latest protable ones. Problems in the E-Class are:
- hard to decipher guidance cues, defies the GPS purpose (same as R)
- very very slow map panning, probably because the processor is remote and data is limited on MOST (R is fast)
- poor graphics (better in R)
- no way to enter state or province to help you search a town (works in R)
- no way to search points of interests or by phone numbers (works in R)
You can do this project for ~500USD, but it is not worth it.
I would imagine anything from the aftermarket will have better graphics, etc but will never have the integrated look of the OEM setup. I use mine occasionally when I'm trying to get to a main road then cancel the guidance.. It works for the most part but forget the 3d maps, etc..
Not only is the OEM GPS bad, in the E-Class with the remote GPS processor, it is the worst GPS ever. I also have a R-Class which has the GPS embedded in the head unit, and the GPS is better whilst being a far cry from the latest protable ones. Problems in the E-Class are:
- hard to decipher guidance cues, defies the GPS purpose (same as R)
- very very slow map panning, probably because the processor is remote and data is limited on MOST (R is fast)
- poor graphics (better in R)
- no way to enter state or province to help you search a town (works in R)
- no way to search points of interests or by phone numbers (works in R)
You can do this project for ~500USD, but it is not worth it.
I agree the Garmin is better. However the MB latest disc and firmware update
are better. I get much better city and state info. House number ranges, much
improved POIs and a wider variety of them than my Garmin 780.
The Garmin is still more advanced as navigation goes, but it is their only business.
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