Amundsen Vs Columbus

[erniem]

Whats the difference

I've got a columbus in my current 09 Superb and am considering switching to an Octavia come launch

Had a trawl, but kind find anything to sum up the difference

Any pointers to actual posts or documents

[Richie647]

Hello, difficult to compare at the moment but the new system will be better - the new Columbus will be available but in a different guise, A new Amundsen system will be available and standard on Elegance models. Columbus will be available as an option but for £800. Both will be DAB and be touch screen, you will be able to impress your friends as the screen will activate be you actually touch it - 'the force is strong in this one!' Hope this helps.

Regards

Richie

[erniem]

Yes, but wanted to know what functionality there is to justify the additional cost.

like the old columbus, disk will it have a hard disk or just the SD slots

will the traffic notifications be better

etc, etc

[Jamiboy]

Anyone got any more information on this? I'm buying new Octavia and can't decide between Amundsen and Columbus. In every Octavia III review I've seen there's always been Columbus installed and that 8" screen looks impressive. But if the Amundsen navigation is with the same navigation user interface, only with a smaller screen, there is no point in going for Columbus. I've only seen still images of the navigation itself and videos of older models of both Columbus and Amundsen.

What Columbus offers extra over Amundsen is:

8" touch screen (Amundsen offers 5,8" touch screen)

Plays DVD and TV (only when car is parked, thus making it useless)

64GB hard drive (nano sized usb-stick replaces this feature)

I thought there is 1 extra SD-card slot in Columbus, but according to this link http://www.skoda.co....Page=technology there is 2 SD card slots in Amundsen as well. Also according to the link above it should be included in Elegance, but I test drove Elegance model and it had no navigation whatsoever. Should it be included or are there differences in countries?

Both of them includes maps to whole Europe, but I can't find information whether if the map updates come free.

This review shows Amundsen very briefly at around 1:20 position:

This video shows the user interface of Columbus:

Edited 2 April, 2013 by Jamiboy

[Juniperz]

I was in a demo Elegance this morning and it had the standard Amundsen and I saw the 2 SD slots in the glovebox. As you are not in the UK, I would say that you need to talk to your own dealerships as the spec in Finland could easily be different. As well as being 8", the Columbus screen is also twice the resolution, so I assume that it would look better too (400 x 240 and 800 x 480). You would also avoid the big bezel that surrounds the 5.8" screen. I am sure that if I had only ever seen the 5.8", I would be happy, but having seen the 8"...

Edited 2 April, 2013 by Juniperz

[Jamiboy]

Thanks for the reply I know what you mean. The Columbus looks a million times better, but also lots more so I'm not sure if the price gets too high.

[allan1888]

If I do decide to get another vrs it will have the new Columbus specced.

[Matt Pez]

I've got old Columbus in my Berb but still could not justify the extra £800 to upgrade from new Amundsen to new Columbus! :( decided to put the funds towards a few other extras and you have to draw the line somewhere!

Edited 3 April, 2013 by Matt Pez

[Davidsr20]

U guys really worry to much about what radio u have lol over here were not as fussy about ice!

[foregonereality]

That's the question I want to pose - is the high res, hdd and big screen sat nav worth that sort of cash? I'd love to have it and I'm thinking long term - that and Canton must be fantastic.

[allan1888]

I have the Columbus in my FL Vrs and my next car if it's going to be another Vrs will be specced with the newer Columbus mainly because I prefer the look of the unit and the functions it has.

[Matt Pez]

Based on the comparison in the back of the brochure, the new Columbus HDD only has 12GB available for user, which is about 50% less than old Columbus so the fact that Amundsen has 2 SD slots, one for maps and the other for music means you could put a 32GB SD card in to more than offset the Columbus HDD so it boils down to looks and screen resolution plus 3D maps on "selected" cities plus low fuel alerts that can direct you to nearest fuel station, woo woo!!! ...oh and a video system that only works when the car is stationary!!!....so not worth £800 to me having lived with old Columbus for 4 years, and don't forget that it will cost you £2,400 to replace with a dealer (other less expensive sources are available!) when the HDD fails just out of warranty!

[Dr Zoidberg]

That's the question I want to pose - is the high res, hdd and big screen sat nav worth that sort of cash? I'd love to have it and I'm thinking long term - that and Canton must be fantastic.

For me it would have to be no.

One one hand you have a bigger screen (but no major changes in functionality), on the other hand you could spend the £800 buying the Canton upgrade for (we hope) a much better sound, and full leather seats or some other option.

[allan1888]

Based on the comparison in the back of the brochure, the new Columbus HDD only has 12GB available for user, which is about 50% less than old Columbus so the fact that Amundsen has 2 SD slots, one for maps and the other for music means you could put a 32GB SD card in to more than offset the Columbus HDD so it boils down to looks and screen resolution plus 3D maps on "selected" cities plus low fuel alerts that can direct you to nearest fuel station, woo woo!!! ...oh and a video system that only works when the car is stationary!!!....so not worth £800 to me having lived with old Columbus for 4 years, and don't forget that it will cost you £2,400 to replace with a dealer (other less expensive sources are available!) when the HDD fails just out of warranty!

The New columbus also has 2 SD card slots so i would still have to choose that over the Amundsen. Purely for looks and some extra features

[Dodgy]

I think the Amundsen has 2 SD slots in the glovebox? Sure I read that on here.

[auroan]

Don't compare the new Columbus to the old one. After my disappointing trip to the dealers yesterday (long story), I can confirm the the old and new ones are very different devices. There is nothing behind the screen on the new headunits, it's setup very similar to the new Audis... in that everything is in little black boxes spread all over the car and talk over an "entertainment" data bus.

[allan1888]

I think the Amundsen has 2 SD slots in the glovebox? Sure I read that on here.

Yeah same as the new Columbus the CD-DVD drive plus the SD card slots are in the glovebox

[Matt Pez]

The New columbus also has 2 SD card slots so i would still have to choose that over the Amundsen. Purely for looks and some extra features

All personal choice at the end of the day, but as most of us have a finite budget so have to choose options accordingly, don't get me wrong, I would still like the new Columbus but for the same money I got winter pack and bigger wheels, if money was no object would have also added Columbus, Canton and Xenons! :|

[Anddenton]

Don't compare the new Columbus to the old one. After my disappointing trip to the dealers yesterday (long story), I can confirm the the old and new ones are very different devices. There is nothing behind the screen on the new headunits, it's setup very similar to the new Audis... in that everything is in little black boxes spread all over the car and talk over an "entertainment" data bus.

I guess that means an end to retrofitting

[zeffania]

I guess that means an end to retrofitting

Just what I was thinking

[Timoctav]

Just ordered a new Octavia Elegance 2.0 diesel, pretty clear on all aspects of the spec but like others here I am also agonising over the standard Amundsen or the optional Columbus. Yes the 8" hi res screen is a very nice to have but £800 extra is an awful lot even taking into account the better nav set of the Columbus. Going to keep the car over 3 years so still can't quite decide. Have to decide finally within the next couple of weeks before the order goes to Production status......decisions, decisions!!!

[y97olle]

Question: Why do people opt for the navigation, when most have a smart phone these days with way cheaper navigation (at least map update, any hints of what that will cost/how many years update is included?)

Our dealer dit not recommend it :-)

[Juniperz]

Brochure Page 12 under Elegance trim:

"European maps on SD card (including updates for 3 years)"

[allan1888]

Question: Why do people opt for the navigation, when most have a smart phone these days with way cheaper navigation (at least map update, any hints of what that will cost/how many years update is included?)

Our dealer dit not recommend it :-)

I opted for it in my current Vrs and will get it again if i buy another Vrs. purely because i like it and i wanted it + it looked better than the standard Stereo. Map updates from my local dealer are free for me and its the same for my brother with his Vrs

[Juniperz]

The demo car I had over the weekend had the Columbus upgrade. That is a seriously nice screen... Navigation would seem like a step back though, because I have a TomTom with the Live Traffic feature - the one where the device has a SIM in it and send / receives position and speed date to TomTom. I think the Columbus has TMC, but I can't imagine it being as good.

Main reason for posting was about the Jukebox feature of the Columbus - the 12GB for space for your music. If can "Import" from SD Car / USD stick by copying and import from CD by ripping - and it even comes up with the ID3 tags for Artist / Album / Track Name, which is impressive. The brochure mentions the Gracenote database which is where this tag information must come from. I assume that is static data, so it isn't going to know about a new CD release after the factory load, unless an update is part of the dealer service. That would be nice. Given that the brochure also says that the SatNav can be updated for 3 years for free, maybe they do Gracenote too. I currently have a hard drive full of music in my glovebox, so if I got Columbus (tempted...) I could plug the drive into the USB socket and copy all across in one go. I did try plugging the drive in, and the socket did had enough power to make it work.

So if anyone has a demo 1.6D DSG Elegance from SUK, it might have The Vaccines and Mumford & Sons on the jukebox...

Edited 15 April, 2013 by Juniperz