Amundsen Vs Columbus

[erniem]

I got the columbus unit in the end, very slick unit except the maps are a little out of date.

Much better than the old unit, except that I can custom load POI's, only option seems to be via vcf's which isn't that good as the POI's I have are via longitude and latitude.

Maps pre loaded onto hard disk giving me 2 x SD card, plus USB, so haven't touched the hard disk.

Wouldn't go for a mounted Satnav or use of the phone as I don't want that on my windscreen.

There is no option for dialing your mailbox from the front panel so you need to add it as a contact and then include it.

Not sure why you'd want to display pictures on the unit, but its an option.

Sound quality is much better than in the Superb without the added speakers.

Really like the 8" screen

[Timoctav]

I got the columbus unit in the end, very slick unit except the maps are a little out of date.

.....Sound quality is much better than in the Superb without the added speakers.

The 3 years free updates should sort the out of date maps out.

I guess the sound quality will be the same as Bolero and Amundsen?

Columbus looks terrific, but having spent a fair bit on other options I had to stop somewhere.

[Yeti_Man]

The 3 years free updates should sort the out of date maps out.

I guess the sound quality will be the same as Bolero and Amundsen?

Columbus looks terrific, but having spent a fair bit on other options I had to stop somewhere.

I'd have thought it would be better quality due to cost meaning possibly better quality internal components. That's certainly the fact with the older Bolero v's Columbus units.

[Timoctav]

I'd have thought it would be better quality due to cost meaning possibly better quality internal components. That's certainly the fact with the older Bolero v's Columbus units.

A HiFi system is only as good as the speakers, so if the speakers are the same I doubt if the sound quality is any better. The main benefit of Columbus sound wise is the ability to play 5:1 surround sound if combined with the Canton sound system

[Yeti_Man]

A HiFi system is only as good as the speakers, so if the speakers are the same I doubt if the sound quality is any better. The main benefit of Columbus sound wise is the ability to play 5:1 surround sound if combined with the Canton sound system

No, an audio system is only as good as the weakest component, Be it speakers, amplification or source. The fact the audio has improved when I've swapped from a Bolero to a Columbus unit tells me that the electronics are of a higher quality and the speakers weren't the limiting factor.

[stokey]

There is certainly nothing wrong with the sound of the Amundsen and standard speaker set up.

[Timoctav]

No, an audio system is only as good as the weakest component, Be it speakers, amplification or source. The fact the audio has improved when I've swapped from a Bolero to a Columbus unit tells me that the electronics are of a higher quality and the speakers weren't the limiting factor.

Yeti_man - we will have to agree to disagree on this one I'm afraid. Don't forget it's only the head unit that is different. The music side of the set up is in the glovebox and apart from the SD card set up on the Amundsen for the sat-nav I suspect there is no difference. I am also sure if the Columbus produced a better quality sound then Skoda would trumpet the fact to help justify the price difference. The 5:1 surround sound in combination with Canton is .the only sound advantage they quote.

[Yeti_Man]

There is certainly nothing wrong with the sound of the Amundsen and standard speaker set up.

Agreed, I've listened at length to it and the New Columbus - without doubt superior to the mk2 equivalents.

[Yeti_Man]

Yeti_man - we will have to agree to disagree on this one I'm afraid. Don't forget it's only the head unit that is different. The music side of the set up is in the glovebox and apart from the SD card set up on the Amundsen for the sat-nav I suspect there is no difference. I am also sure if the Columbus produced a better quality sound then Skoda would trumpet the fact to help justify the price difference. The 5:1 surround sound in combination with Canton is .the only sound advantage they quote.

Try doing a search and reading the opinion of people that have changed units. Many have stated that the sound quality was pretty obviously improved. The new units come in at around the same price points and the Columbus sounded more detailed and separated to my ears after going from one to the next. Ive been involved with A/V installations for the past 14 years as my job, a lot of which involves listening to different systems and swapping components after I've installed them but im happy to disagree

[Timoctav]

Agreed, I've listened at length to it and the New Columbus - without doubt superior to the mk2 equivalents.

Well that does please me - I decided too late to add Canton sound system and was told the car was already scheduled for production by that time, £400 saved!!!

[Yeti_Man]

Well that does please me - I decided too late to add Canton sound system and was told the car was already scheduled for production by that time, £400 saved!!!

I'm in the process of tracking one down with the Canton. I'm guessing its sound will be in a totally different league given the company's history and reputation and the tech spec of the speakers and amplification stages.

[Dodgy]

A HiFi system is only as good as the speakers, so if the speakers are the same I doubt if the sound quality is any better.

Go and post that here, it will be great entertainment http://theartofsound.net/forum/

[Timoctav]

Go and post that here, it will be great entertainment http://theartofsound.net/forum/

"sounds" like I'll have to agree to disagree with you, as well Dodgy.......pun intended.

[Rob_Quads]

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.

It does amaze me that no-one has brought out a decent built in SatNav system that will use your phones 3G connection to get traffic data. I know there are some that use their own SIM card but these are normally silly silly money.

The lack of active traffic is a real downer. TMC is OK and can help you out of a jam (stopped me going on the M3 when it had been shut and saved me hours) but for the shorter dynamic interruptions its no where near as good)

[Harkonnen]

I got Bolero with Canton for my order. I saw no differences when in the car. It looked the same. I believe the screen is different between Bolero and Amundsen. Other people say Canton works fine with Columbus. So I guess no differences between the Columbus and Admunsen but the nav and resolution.

[Juniperz]

I got Bolero with Canton for my order. I saw no differences when in the car. It looked the same. I believe the screen is different between Bolero and Amundsen. Other people say Canton works fine with Columbus. So I guess no differences between the Columbus and Admunsen but the nav and resolution.

With Columbus you also get a solid state hard drive. The maps are on this, so you get 2 free SD card slots instead of 1 slot free and the other containing an SD card with the maps on. And 12GB of the hard drive can be used for music storage. I tried this in a demo car - you can import music files from SD Card, USB stuck or CD.

[erniem]

Have been told that the local dealer needs to raise a DIS report about the POI functionality in the Columbus unit, maybe worth checking if the Amundsen has the same problem.

trying to think what other functionality the old unit had that is now missing/gone.

[pipsyp]

I dont think the Amundsen has 3D mapping anymore, on the Golfs the more basic unit has 2.5D mapping and only the 8" has 3D, god knows what 2.5D actually means!

[Timoctav]

I have the option of 2D or 3D on my other car and always use 2D - I find it clearer

[gadgetman]

The rns315 has 3d mapping so I'm sure the Amundsen still has it.

If you have the budget the Columbus is a much better unit.

[erniem]

Just spoke to the dealer who delivered the car and people should note that the process to obtain free map updates has not been detailed by Skoda and queries have been raised by many customers, and it is being investigated.

[pipsyp]

The rns315 has 3d mapping so I'm sure the Amundsen still has it.

If you have the budget the Columbus is a much better unit.

you'd be surprised marketed in the Golf Mk7 (same unit) as not having 3D mapping.

Also would agree the original Amundsen (RNS310) was a bit poor but the + unit (RNS315) is considerably better; yes may have a slightly smaller screen and misses out on a couple of the Columbus' niceties but for me the + has a better more simple user interface as well as built in DAB and BT; something the Columbus doesnt have.

Edited 24 May, 2013 by pipsyp

[stokey]

Just spoke to the dealer who delivered the car and people should note that the process to obtain free map updates has not been detailed by Skoda and queries have been raised by many customers, and it is being investigated.

I've had no reply to my query. On the web you can find details of how VW customers in the US obtain their updates for the same system.

[stokey]

The rns315 has 3d mapping so I'm sure the Amundsen still has it.

If you have the budget the Columbus is a much better unit.

The Amundsen does have 3d mapping

[Mesmer88]

Is there a difference in maps between Amundsen and Columbus sat nav?

According to www.navigation.com (the official Navteq website where you can get updates for Skoda) the Amundsen maps have 4.5GB and Columbus maps 17GB. That's a huge difference.