I'm really begging to wonder if we have a duff Columbus.

We've now done 2000 miles. In that time We've had

A) 2 x "Reboot" whilst the car was driving, for no apparent reason.

A session when none of the Audio worked (Radio, Media, Mobile, Directions). Finally the thing rebooted itself and the Audio came back.

C) Another session where it just behaved oddly. A forced reboot returned normal operation.

D) Yesterday, we "lost" the "Audio" menu on the Dashboard display. Again we only go it back by stopping the car and forcing a reboot.

E) The Traffic Messages thing seems erratic. It does work sometimes. At other times it just keeps saying "No Messages" - including on a recent morning when the Holloway Road (A1) was blocked by a Fire and most Traffic in NE London was utterly screwed.

Do the above match other people's experiences (I.E. It is a "bit buggy?" , or should I now start asking the dealer for comment ?

A.

I've had a couple of those problems myself, namely the loss of audio menu and a totally unexpected reboot. I've now done about 3800 miles in mine.

I've asked the supplying dealer to investigate the audio menu problem, as this has now happened several times.

As for the traffic announcements, mine has worked perfectly. It has rerouted me successfully around two major incidents since I've had the car, so no complaints here. Do you have the preferred TMC station set to 'auto' or configured for specific station? It could be that it's losing your specific station (if you've set it), so you are missing some announcements.

I'd definitely suggest getting your dealer involved, as the more people who report problems the better (Skoda might actually investigate).

Bagpuss.

We do have the prefered station set to "Auto".

We watched it very closely today. When we set off, it was just completely failing to pick up any stations with TMC data. It was set to "Auto" - and the list of TMC stations was empty. This continued for at least 10 minutes or so.

So we forced a re-boot. After another 5 miles and 5 minutes - it started finding stations and collecting data. It then worked OK after that.

We're in mid-Herts so I will need convincing that ALL the possible stations are weak.

Once it finds data, it works fine, re-routes and everything. It's just that first step which seems to be the problem.

I'll talk to Skoda Tomorrow and see what they say. I'll post their comments back here - suggest we continue to compare notes (along with anyone else who is having problems!).

A.

I forgot to mention, my Elegance has the "Enhanced Audio" option. Just wondering if yours does too ?

A.

I've spoken to the Dealer and given them a very detailed error report covering four issues:

1) Random Rebooting

2) No Sound

3) Missing "Audio" menu

4) Poor performance of TMC

At this stage they're going to pass on my reports, in detail, to Skoda Technical. I'll let you know of any response.

A.

With regards to TMC performance, my previous satnav (Pioneer AVIC-X1) used to take about 10 minutes to build the complete TMC traffic list. I've not timed the Columbus, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's the same.

This is down to the way that the list is broadcast, and then built, by the receiver unit.

From what I understand, the RDS-TMC broadcaster is constantly transmitting traffic incident messages (one per traffic event). For the complete list to be generated, the unit has to have been tuned into the station long enough to receive a complete event list.

So, let's say there are currently 50 incidents nationwide, and when you lock onto the TMC station incident 25 is currently being sent (incidents are sent it age order). You would have to wait until the transmission wraps back to 1 again before you start seeing the older events appear. There is one exception, which is when a new incident occurs, as this event gets inserted into the stream immediately.

Also, the Columbus has the ability to show all events, or only events on your current route. By default, it's set to events on route. You might want to check what yours is set to.

With regards to my particular car, then I also have the upgraded audio system, which I find to be excellent.

Bagpuss.

1) We've tried both settings of Filter. It makes no difference.

2) Previously we have left it much longer - hours even. Nothing shows up. When it works there is indeed a delay - but it is only usually a few minutes.

3) The biggest concern is that when we think it isn't working, when we go to setup, the unit is telling us that it has not found any Radio stations carrying the data. Surely it would show stations it had detected, even if it were still busy downloading information from them?

A.

And today the TMC worked flawlessly. Found an impressive list of stations very quickly, and within a few minutes of starting it had chosen a station and had dowloaded a list of messages.

It just isn't consistent.

A.

I've had the Columbus unit reboot once so far (after I'd done about 500 miles), which threw me a little. It restrated fine, and no problems since (now around 3,500 miles). Never had any issues with the TMC, although I have mine set to route only, which I suspect helps a little.

Audio wise, the only problem I've had has been with it not finding track info for some songs (which if I recall Bagpuss also commented on). Changing device type (to SD then back to HDD) fixed it. I also have the upgraded audio (which is worth every penny IMO)

Sounds like you're reporting problems others are too, just more of them. By the looks of it, you'll have to see what the dealer says I guess, and take it from there.