Columbus sat nav

[RZR]

thinking about getting the columbus unit but wondering if sat nav any good compared to garmin, does it use navtec maps? I just bought se with bolero, if I buy columbus of ebay etc, I know it will plug and play but will it work with my mfsw and maxidot without reprogramming?

Thanks

[mannyo]

Yes , the columbus uses navtek maps and the latest V4 version seems pretty upto date. I couldnt get along with Garmins software and prefer the columbus.

[Alien8d]

Anyone know when the V4 update is due out for existing V3 customers ?

[RZR]

Cheers Mannyo,

Definiately going io get columbus now, are the sellers of ebay ok in ur experience?

[mannyo]

I got mine from ebay, most of the sellers are in eastern europe. naviandbmwparts seem popular on here, I used a different one but she doesnt have any listed at the moment. Took about 4 days from Lithuania to my workplace.

For the SuperbII you will be looking for one with the part number that starts 3T0, the 1ZO ones from the octy2 and may have issues interfacing with the canbus of the SuperbII

You can get hold of the V4 maps if you know where to look.

[xmy]

I read a report somewhere (probably here) that a lot of Columbus units are getting stolen in Holland. I wonder where those ones are going and where the ones on ebay are coming from?

[mannyo]

Not from Holland, thats not to say that some end up being sold on. Most on ebay are from bonefide traders who purchase factory refurb units, the place that does the refurbs is located in eastern europe.

Its not just the MFD3, RNS510, Columbus stolen though. All headunits are targets, just as they are over here in GB. its just that you tend to hear about specific units on manufacturer forums. Only a tiny percentage are stolen, you tend to only hear about those and not the many thousands of units installed without incident.

[RZR]

Cheers again Mannyo,

Where do I get the v4 maps? Pm me if u want m8

Thanks

[Chris Westy]

thinking about getting the columbus unit but wondering if sat nav any good compared to garmin, does it use navtec maps? I just bought se with bolero, if I buy columbus of ebay etc, I know it will plug and play but will it work with my mfsw and maxidot without reprogramming?

Thanks

Check this out

SUPERB II : Skoda Tuning = superskoda.com

[Skodamgood]

Have an 09 Superb II Elegance now done 6k. Very satisfied apart from Columbus.

Columbus sat nav does not take full post code. Only area numbers. (KA4 6). GPS coordinates must be in degrees, minutes, seconds. (the way Columbus did!). Much of my navigating is given in degrees and fractions requiring a conversion. Beware of leaving the navigation on automatic rerouting in the event of congestion on your selected route unless you are adventurous. Much better to have it give the manual option - use original route, or recalculate to avoid obstruction. Glad I did not pay for sat nave to be added as an extra. Tom Tom is much better.

[mannyo]

I agree on the rerouting, mine is disabled so I can make the decision myself, especially given that the TMC info can sometimes be wrong.

[cloink]

I agree on the rerouting, mine is disabled so I can make the decision myself, especially given that the TMC info can sometimes be wrong.

Ditto. During my trip through France, the TMC/Columbus warned me multiple times of traffic jams causing delays over 10 hours (I kid you not), whilst there wasn't anything resembling a jam when we ignored the warning and eventually got to the point. If this had caused the Columbus to reroute us over local roads, I bet I would have cursed ALOT.

Then again, I'm guessing this is a TMC-problem, not a Columbus one.

[ChazzyB]

During my trip through France, the TMC/Columbus warned me multiple times of traffic jams causing delays over 10 hours (I kid you not), whilst there wasn't anything resembling a jam when we ignored the warning and eventually got to the point. If this had caused the Columbus to reroute us over local roads, I bet I would have cursed ALOT.

Hah, you too, eh? My ETA for arrival at an overnight hotel in France was 02:00 the next morning, But I ignored the incessant "turn off at next junction" while on the autoroute and arrived at 20:30 the right day.

[Richf]

Me as well , the system was telling me to come off the motorway onto local roads but i could clearly see the problem on the motorway was caused by the traffic queuing to leave on the local roads and they were gridlocked it also added at least 1 hour onto a 38mile journey which it reckoned was going to take 1 hour 40

Perhaps its a France thing as i havent noticed the same in the uk

[mannyo]

I'll see what my TMC is like in france next weekend, driving down to Italy via Dijon and the Mont Blanc tunnel into Italy. Last time in France I got no warnings though, for the whole journey from Calais to the Spanish border in June.

[alanOcty]

|'ve now had my Superb II for nearly a month, and had a chance for a couple of long runs. I've noticed that the estimated time of arrival / journey time is HUGELY over-estimated - by about 30%. You can check this out by cross-checking with Multimap which reckoned about 3 hours for a 150 mile trip from Ipswich to Nottingham, the good old Columbus reckoned 4 hours. I did it in 3, as expected, using reasonably sensible speeds (close-ish to speed limit ;-). I've had 3 years with a Tom-Tom, which was usually pretty good, but I can't see why this kit is struggling. The only setting I've found is the Speed setting in Setup (high/average/low) - which I've changed to High, taking it down to Low added another 30 mins to my 4-hr journey. It's almost as if the thing is calculating the time in kmh and then using mph figures from road-speed to generate the time - I reckon that would cause about a 30% error..whcih is what I'm seeing. Has anyone else spotted this ? Is there a fix ? Have I missed a setting somewhere ?

[mannyo]

There is a setting in the columbus menu to adjust the time of arrival sensitivity. it defaults to being over estimated to allow for traffic etc. en route.

[alanOcty]

There is a setting in the columbus menu to adjust the time of arrival sensitivity. it defaults to being over estimated to allow for traffic etc. en route.

That's interesting - can you point me to it ? I thought I'd been through all the settings.... The closest I got was in Setup-> Advanced->Speed (gives a High/Med/Low option)

[mannyo]

I'll look at the weekend, I need to get the car out of the garage to change a headlight bulb.

[mannyo]

Ok, had a look this morning,

Setup > Navigation, then "advanced navigation settings",

There is an average speed for time to destination setting. Mine is set to Medium, I guess you need to try the options.

[alanOcty]

Yep - Medium is default, I'd upped it to FAST. I then checked the average speed by picking a reasonable length of A Road dual carriageway, selecting demo mode (which basically lets you set a start point), and it came up with 25 miles in 37 minutes - which I calculate as about 40 MPH. Now I don't know about anyone else out there, but I usually drive at something nearer the legal limit (70MPH). This does explain why my destination time was getting shorter by about a mile a minute on a long run....The old Tom Tom used to go for different average speeds for each road type (30 MPH urban etc), but I'm guessing that Columbus uses an average for the whole journey....