I've got to ask. What does the Columbus unit add over and above what you get with the Bolero? You get SatNav, and may potentially a rear view camera (do you?), but what else?

I'm trying to understand what it does for it to be a near £1600 upgrade on an Octavia Scout. I imagine my current TomTom will do a much better job at being a satnav than the Columbus unit: it has full postcode database, easy to update, speed camera database, knows speed limits on roads, has traffic updates via TMC receiver, and should I want to, I can pair it with my movile and have access to TomTom live services (at a cost of course)

What am I missing? are people really willing to spend £1600 just to have an integrated unit with no dangling wires?

What am I missing? are people really willing to spend £1600 just to have an integrated unit with no dangling wires?

Pretty much yes. Columbus does have TMC. Also, I like that it turn the music down to give directions. I hate not having that with TomToms.

Pretty much yes. Columbus does have TMC. Also, I like that it turn the music down to give directions. I hate not having that with TomToms.

Of course, if you use an iPhone with Navigon or CoPilot, it does that for you too.

Simple truth is, in terms of pure technology, it simply isn't worth that much. However, if you want a great looking, feature rich Head Unit that matches the trim of your car, that's what you pay the extra for.

And that TomTom is crap. At least the one's I've used are!

Must admit I've found the TomTom units to be pretty good at giving directions, not been massively impressed with some of the rest of the feature set, but as far as I'm concerned, the primary purpose of a Navigation system is to give me directions so I can get to my destination

The navigation part is the worst bit! Much preferred my Garmin

Routes by the latest TomToms are a bit better than my Columbus. Neither of them are a patch on my old Kenwood (pre-Garmin) nav though. That thing was sublime.

The navigation part is the worst bit! Much preferred my Garmin

I couldn't wait to get rid of my Garmin... Took me through a city centre instead of round on more than one occasion... TomTom was sensible enough to take me a longer but quicker route as does the Navigon I'm currently using (most of the time)

And that TomTom is crap. At least the one's I've used are!

No complaints here. As far as navigation goes, it's been brilliant so far. I only use it for navigation (including TMC traffic), speed camera database and to warn me if I'm inadvertenly over the speed limit.

I don't use any of the other stuff. The music player is rubbish, I don't use the FM transmitter, or the paring with my mobile for net access. Don't need any of those gimmicks :p.

While looking through the Octavia brochure, I was just a bit shocked that all you really get for £1600 is an integrated SatNav unit. May be down to the individual, but I much rather spend £250 on a good TomTom unit, and pocket the rest (or get leather upholstery :p). So was trying to check if I was actually missing something, and Columbus offered some extra bits that could justify the price

if you want a great looking, feature rich Head Unit that matches the trim of your car, that's what you pay the extra for.

But isn't the Bolero just as good looking, matches the trim just as well, and with the exception of SatNav, just as feature rich? or isn't it? genuine question, I'd like to know

Cheers

No complaints here. As far as navigation goes, it's been brilliant so far. I only use it for navigation (including TMC traffic), speed camera database and to warn me if I'm inadvertenly over the speed limit.

I don't use any of the other stuff. The music player is rubbish, I don't use the FM transmitter, or the paring with my mobile for net access. Don't need any of those gimmicks :p.

While looking through the Octavia brochure, I was just a bit shocked that all you really get for £1600 is an integrated SatNav unit. May be down to the individual, but I much rather spend £250 on a good TomTom unit, and pocket the rest (or get leather upholstery  :p). So was trying to check if I was actually missing something, and Columbus offered some extra bits that could justify the price

The Columbus handles music on the SD card better than the Bolero too...

I have a cheap and cheerful Garmin which has saved my bacon more than once, just need to update the maps!

The Columbus handles music on the SD card better than the Bolero too...

In what respect?

Of course, if you use an iPhone with Navigon or CoPilot, it does that for you too.

Simple truth is, in terms of pure technology, it simply isn't worth that much. However, if you want a great looking, feature rich Head Unit that matches the trim of your car, that's what you pay the extra for.

.........and when the phone rings the nav stops. Thats the crap Apple non-multitasking OS for you.

I own an iPhone and its the worst phone I've ever had. My old Nokia was miles better as a pure phone. That said, the iPhone is a killer with the App Store etc and really is a cracking bit of kit overall. Would I use it as my sat nav - you've got to be joking and the crud battery life means you would need a powered cradle anyway.

Bab's comment "TomToms are crap" doesn't hold true; I've got a Columbus AND a TomTom Live IQ Routes Europe (phew) which I bought just before I got the Skud and to be honest, the TomTom offer better routing with the Live Services but you pay for it. It also aces with the advanced lane guidance. Yes I know the Columbus does it too but its nowhere near as slick. The Columbus is however fantastic as a built-in unit and in all honesty, it has never failed to do the business, even on cross european journeys with multiple stops. Basically I love it. The nav is almost as good as a TomTom, the sound quality is excellent, it links with my iphone to give me a nice hands free kit and I have an 80Gig iPod in the glovebox stuffed with 320K MP3's that keeps me entertained.

I use a dedicated camera detector - Origin B2 which sits in the corner of the dash and gives me a large speedo readout and has saved my license on a number of occasions.

Would I pay £1600 for a Columbus? Not on your life. Did I pay £550 from ebay? Yes, absolutely and this makes it a much more attractive proposition.

I do live in fear of it dying on me though..............hard drives have a finite life, especially one used in the harsh environment of a car so its not a case of if, nore a case of when!

BTW, the TomTom is going on Freedom for sale as I never use it. Its boxed, as new, comes with a proper case and an unused (still sealed)12 month full "Live Services" subscription card ............in case anybody is interested!

Edited 12 May, 201016 yr by wardth

I'd rather have a £100 Garmin (or TomTom come to that) and blow the other £1500 on leather seats or something

I use a dedicated camera detector - Origin B2 which sits in the corner of the dash and gives me a large speedo readout and has saved my license on a number of occasions.

just googled for that, it's now called the Pogo Alert. Clever little device, but I'm happy with the camera warnings in my TomTom already, so don't feel the need to add another gadget on top of the dash

Would I pay £1600 for a Columbus? Not on your life. Did I pay £550 from ebay? Yes, absolutely and this makes it a much more attractive proposition.

£550 for Columbus, given that you'd be able to resell the Bolero for, lets say, £150, makes the upgrade £400. Now that seems like a far more reasonable price. Still not cheap, but something I'd be willing to consider if Skoda were to offer the Columbus upgrade for £400. But like you said, £1600? not on my life

Specially given I've read over here that thieves seem to have a liking for those Columbus units anyway :thumbdown:

just googled for that, it's now called the Pogo Alert. Clever little device, but I'm happy with the camera warnings in my TomTom already, so don't feel the need to add another gadget on top of the dash

The TomTom camera alerts don't even come close to being useful. The OriginB2 / Pogo offer directional alerts - doesn't bother warning you about a camera on the other side of the road - the Tom Tom does! Also it has a laser detector to catch the mobiles and gives you average speed camera zone alerts within the zone. Its much much more fully featured but then it should be as its a dedicated unit. It is very easy to install neatly and you really only notice it when its needed!

Can't recommend enough. I've had mine six years and used an Origin Blue I prior to that. My father uses one too!

Edited 12 May, 201016 yr by wardth

I have a cheap and cheerful Garmin which has saved my bacon more than once, just need to update the maps!

In what respect?

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/151637-speeding-up-bolero-sd-possible-solution/

This might help explain  :(

.........and when the phone rings the nav stops. Thats the crap Apple non-multitasking OS for you.

I own an iPhone and its the worst phone I've ever had. My old Nokia was miles better as a pure phone. That said, the iPhone is a killer with the App Store etc and really is a cracking bit of kit overall. Would I use it as my sat nav - you've got to be joking and the crud battery life means you would need a powered cradle anyway.

Bab's comment "TomToms are crap" doesn't hold true; I've got a Columbus AND a TomTom Live IQ Routes Europe (phew) which I bought just before I got the Skud and to be honest, the TomTom offer better routing with the Live Services but you pay for it. It also aces with the advanced lane guidance. Yes I know the Columbus does it too but its nowhere near as slick. The Columbus is however fantastic as a built-in unit and in all honesty, it has never failed to do the business, even on cross european journeys with multiple stops. Basically I love it. The nav is almost as good as a TomTom, the sound quality is excellent, it links with my iphone to give me a nice hands free kit and I have an 80Gig iPod in the glovebox stuffed with 320K MP3's that keeps me entertained.

I use a dedicated camera detector - Origin B2 which sits in the corner of the dash and gives me a large speedo readout and has saved my license on a number of occasions.

Would I pay £1600 for a Columbus? Not on your life. Did I pay £550 from ebay? Yes, absolutely and this makes it a much more attractive proposition.

I do live in fear of it dying on me though..............hard drives have a finite life, especially one used in the harsh environment of a car so its not a case of if, nore a case of when!

BTW, the TomTom is going on Freedom for sale as I never use it. Its boxed, as new, comes with a proper case and an unused (still sealed)12 month full "Live Services" subscription card ............in case anybody is interested!

£550 with no (or very little) warranty I suspect though, not really the same. And even at that price it's still an expensive proposition for what you actually get. Not that I blame you, still the best integrated option for us Skoda users.

I fitted a Dension unit so have a powered cradle, and as I use my iPhone mainly as a PDA (work takes care of my other phone) the incoming calls are rarely an issue (although you certainly have a point, it'll be interesting to see what the iPhone HD with OS 4.0's 'multitasking' offers here).

Most of the 'high spec' OE units from vehicle manufacturers are stunningly poor value for money. I have had a Columbus and also have a BMW 'Profi' system (same navigation as the Columbus?) and they are easily beaten by the cheapest TomTom.

None of the OE Skoda units have great sound quality (you would need to upgrade speakers etc) and the Columbus' sound is little better than the Dance unit in the Fabias. I also have reservations about using a HDD in an automotive environment.

£1600 is a bonkers price - you could get a top-spec large-screen TV for that price, or a cheaper car stereo and a decent holiday for 2 people.

At the moment I have a Chinese DVD/Nav unit in the wife's Fabia. Its running iGO8 which I rate as highly as TomTom and well ahead of VAG's naviagtion software. It plays SD cards and sound quality is little different from a Columbus. For both iGO8 and TT you can get bang up to date mapping at low cost (or even free....) - and that's a critical factor with any navigation software.

One small thing I found was that on a bright day the sunlight reflects off the screen of the integrated sat-navs due to the angle they're installed at, making it almost impossible to view, but with a screen mounted TomTom you can tweak its position so its still easily visible. OK, its a small point, but I found it really annoying.

My view now is that I would expressly avoid OE navi systems even if they were half the price - the BMW one is absolute rubbish and never gets used now, I always use my TomTom 520 instead!

I also have reservations about secondhand Columbus units from 'written off' cars. Are that many Columbus-equipped cars written off? There was a guy on here a couple of months ago had his car broken into and Columbus stolen. Where did that unit end up I wonder?

Edited 12 May, 201016 yr by Hauptmann

I would much rather see Skoda offering a Garmin or TomTom unit integrated into the dash top storage box (other manufacturers are doing this sort of thing) - shouldn't be that hard to do and they can't get away with charging £1600 for it either.

I would much rather see Skoda offering a Garmin or TomTom unit integrated into the dash top storage box (other manufacturers are doing this sort of thing) - shouldn't be that hard to do and they can't get away with charging £1600 for it either.

The trouble is it would look like a unit integrated into the dash top box! Check out the latest Clio for how not to do it.

I do think people are missing the point somewhat here. The Columbus isn't just satnav, its a tuner, cd player, dvd player and satnav. It can play SD cards and has an internal HDD which can be loaded with MP3's.

It integrates with Maxidot to provide turn by turn instruction right in front of you on the dash and with additonal interfaces, will allow the connection of an ipod or USB mass storage device and offers the option of a fully featured hands free BT solution.

Show me a TomTom that can do that? Yes I know the bigger units offer BT and music steasming but come on!!

I'm not saying £1600 is good value by any means but lets comapre eggs with eggs!!

Edited 13 May, 201016 yr by wardth

The trouble is it would look like a unit integrated into the dash top box! Check out the latest Clio for how not to do it.

I do think people are missing the point somewhat here. The Columbus isn't just satnav, its a tuner, cd player, dvd player and satnav. It can play SD cards and has an internal HDD which can be loaded with MP3's.

It integrates with Maxidot to provide turn by turn instruction right in front of you on the dash and with additonal interfaces, will allow the connection of an ipod or USB mass storage device and offers the option of a fully featured hands free BT solution.

Show me a TomTom that can do that? Yes I know the bigger units offer BT and music steasming but come on!!

I'm not saying £1600 is good value by any means but lets comapre eggs with eggs!!

True, but I was originally comparing the Columbus to the Bolero. Most of the things you mention are already done by the Bolero. It doesn't have an HD, but can't you attach one via MDI? I wouldn't want it anyway, much rather attach my iPod so I only have to sync my music/podcasts to one device. DVD player, I personally cannot think of a situation where I would want a DVD player (or a TV for that matter) on the dashboard. Now, screens on the head rests so that children at the back could watch DVDs would be a different proposition, but on the dash?

The SatNav is really the only valuable thing (for me anyway) that a Columbus adds over the Bolero, but I feel that a TomTom would do just as good a job in that area, if not better (I'll admit to never having seen/used Columbus in the flesh though). So my original point was that £1600 seems ludicrous for the functionality it offers over and above what you already get with the Bolero, not to mention that it is a potential thief magnet.

And its true, all car manufacturers are guilty of this ludicrous pricing for integrated satnav HUs, but some more so than others. IIRC, Hyunday charges about £800 for their integrated SatNav. Skoda's is twice as much! but again, I have no idea of the individual merits of the Columbus vs what Hyundai offers. Columbus is probably much better. But £800 is still too much IMHO

Thanks all for your responses, you have confirmed what I suspected, that Columbus really doesn't add that much over Bolero other than SatNav, and that when I buy my Scout, I will most definately stick to the Bolero

Cheers

True, but I was originally comparing the Columbus to the Bolero. Most of the things you mention are already done by the Bolero...

<snip>

The SatNav is really the only valuable thing (for me anyway) that a Columbus adds over the Bolero, but I feel that a TomTom would do just as good a job in that area, if not better...

That's very much the way I was looking at it too

At the moment I have a Chinese DVD/Nav unit in the wife's Fabia. Its running iGO8 which I rate as highly as TomTom and well ahead of VAG's naviagtion software. It plays SD cards and sound quality is little different from a Columbus. For both iGO8 and TT you can get bang up to date mapping at low cost (or even free....) - and that's a critical factor with any navigation software.

I have a cheap "£50" unit from the wonder web which is loaded from an SD card. That card can be loaded with any sat nav system you want...Tom Tom or IGO8. Mine works perfectly. Battery life is about an hour but after that you need a flying lead to connect power. But for £50!!!! No contest.

You can also use it in another car. Unit is called NavnGo. Google that or PM me for details.

And that TomTom is crap. At least the one's I've used are!

quite clear you not used a good one,the one i have does all speed cameras,tells me of any acciedents on route and asks do i want to avoid the acciendent,built in google so i can find anythink i need to find,built in petrol stations etc,the columbus does none of these