Is the Columbus worth £1000 over Amundsen? Is it as good as a TomTom?

[Dr Zoidberg]

Yep, pretty sure there's an altitude on the Amundsen.

I really can't see the value of C over A. The more basic unit does me just fine.

[JPH0091]

yes, it can.

[harrysprout]

I dismissed purchasing the Columbus after playing with one at the Dealers before ordering my car. The screen is lovely, but the sat nav was horribly clunky and lacked the most basic and essential features - post code search. I went for the base Bolero and use google maps via my phone. Google naivigation is excellent, maps are updated almost daily, audio direction works fine through the car speakers via bluetooth, and location search is the most powerful in the world - it can find any location that is worth finding. Just buy a decent phone mount for ~£20 (and a decent phone if you need one) and save the money.

Biggest reason to go for Columbus is the screen. The sat nav is more basic than a 10 year old TomTom.

odd! Been inputting post code's into my Amundsen for a year. Columbus must be crap.

[Brucey]

Have the Scout with the Amundsen and it's not actually bad and in-built display is great for convenience and I'm sure the Columbus is better too.

 

However for me (sad I know) but I've now got my ageing TomTom GoLive 1000 on a brodit dash mount also primarily for pocketgpsworld.com speed cameras and also HD traffic which saves me hours per week when there are traffic problems on the main routes.

[London Les]

The chief drawbacks I find with Columbus is that I miss the ability to plan and review the journey in the house rather than the car - we go on family holidays in remote bits of the UK and planning the route and stopovers is better in the house. Secondly, while you can add speed cameras, it's a faff to keep them updated - also there are no audio alerts. Finally, I also liked the Independant GPS speed display which is handy for fine tuning the cruise control in motorway roadworks.

Otherwise it's a top unit, well integrated, with a good display and no wires and power outlets needed. Makes the cabin look more modern and impressive. The proximity sensing system is also really good and makes it easier to use. I wish they would fix the ease of postcode input though.

[Orville]

I prefer a satnav to be within my line of sight whilst driving. My old BMW unit used to popup out of the dashboard so was at top of steering-wheel level. The Octy unit is too low down, so it is hard to focus on both the road and navigation at the same time. The most practical solution I have found is to mount a phone/TomTom immediately to the right of my steering wheel.

 

I know that Maxidot provides basic directions, but I like to see the mapped road layout, especially within town where roads are stacked closely together or at complex roundabouts. Glancing at the centre console whilst making consecutive left-right-left turns can be dangerous. I prefer maps within my eye-line.

 

But the screen is lovely.

[JoseDB]

I prefer a satnav to be within my line of sight whilst driving. My old BMW unit used to popup out of the dashboard so was at top of steering-wheel level. The Octy unit is too low down, so it is hard to focus on both the road and navigation at the same time. The most practical solution I have found is to mount a phone/TomTom immediately to the right of my steering wheel.

 

I know that Maxidot provides basic directions, but I like to see the mapped road layout, especially within town where roads are stacked closely together or at complex roundabouts. Glancing at the centre console whilst making consecutive left-right-left turns can be dangerous. I prefer maps within my eye-line.

 

But the screen is lovely.

 

I do agree with this, I find the eye level system in my Audi/BMWs more handy so I can see the next 500 yards of road at a glance. The Maxi-Dot is pretty good though, more detail there than I was expecting, the lane info is very useful.

[harrysprout]

Jesus! Nowt wrong with Amundsen and I would imagine Columbus too. Every weekend I punch a postcode into my Amundsen, It's only let me down once when I took my lad to play football in Barnsley only to find I ended up down a country lane with a dead end! Turns out the school was brand new and built off a new roundabout. I had the old maps, I updated the maps and the next day, checked with the same postcode and there was the new school. So lets' quash this uncertainty once and for all BOTH UNITS WILL SEARCH POSTCODES   I admit it could be higher up, but I don't always look at the thing anyway. I just listen to the commands and glance at the maxidot.

 

I had a Garmin NUVI in my old car and it was next to bloody useless, taking AGES to locate sats, constantly losing them, useless, just useless. Wires and charger strewn all over the place despite my best efforts to hide the buggers. I don't miss a standalone sat nav one bit. I don't have to worry about hiding it away in the glovebox or sticking it in my coat pocket when I leave the car either.

Edited 2 February, 2015 by harrysprout

[TheWanderer]

I've got an old(ish) Garmin and it's got a 5" display which was big at the time and it does everything I want of it and it hasn't missed a beat yet, I have free map updates which take just over 90' to do and why go to the added expense of a Columbus?

 

It just adds £1300 to the cost of the car, which is something you won't get back when it comes to trade in/swap over time. You can buy the latest Garmin for £260 with a 7" screen and full EU mapping (lifetime upgrades), live traffic, plus BT & Vocal commands. No point in Columbus, especially as you can plug in a USB drive and have more music than a Columbus should you want it.

[V6Jules]

I've got an old(ish) Garmin and it's got a 5" display which was big at the time and it does everything I want of it and it hasn't missed a beat yet, I have free map updates which take just over 90' to do and why go to the added expense of a Columbus?

It just adds £1300 to the cost of the car, which is something you won't get back when it comes to trade in/swap over time. You can buy the latest Garmin for £260 with a 7" screen and full EU mapping (lifetime upgrades), live traffic, plus BT & Vocal commands. No point in Columbus, especially as you can plug in a USB drive and have more music than a Columbus should you want it.

This is your opinion, my garmin Was pretty rubbish but its ancient and would cost more than its worth to update. I'm sure IR was state of the art once... Maybe ;-)

The Columbus nav on mine is excellent although not quite as good as goodle maps but what is!

Yes its expensive and no it won't make the car worth more although may make it a more tempting buy on the second hand market. But that's not why I bought it. Its screen is much nicer than the other units and as its bigger is easier to see at a glance when adjusting music or radio stations, its fast, smooth and plays all my music off my 160gb iPod without any fancy leads.

Don't get me wrong the other units are probably better value for money but we all like different things and see value in different things.

[allan1888]

odd! Been inputting post code's into my Amundsen for a year. Columbus must be crap.

columbus has postcode search too so no its not crap. For me it's columbus over the other units anyday of the week. It looks better has built in hd. Both columbus and Amundsen are great units.

Edited 2 February, 2015 by allan1888

[TomLux]

For someone who doesn't use a satnav very often I decided to invest into the Canton system rather than the Columbus or Amundsen. While the Columbus in my dads Yeti is nice and reliable, I think I'm better of saving that money and using my TomTom or replacing it with a newer version (no map updates on mine :-( ). Plus the TomTom can be used in both our cars which basically saves us double the money. And Orville has a point as well. I don't like sitting in the car doing the route planning, the sofa's more comfortable.

Now if I were to use satnav daily I'd probably chose the built-in version as it integrates just better in the car, no cables, etc.

[Gromle]

I ordered mine with the Traveller pack (Columbus, reversing camera, lane assist and traffic sign recognition). Was never in doubt. Really liked the big screen, and the sat nav was way better than my old Garmin unit.

[Greg R]

As others have said, the larger screen and faster processing is what sold it for me and on a lease deal, the increased monthly cost was minimal. Im coming to Skoda from a passat with the vw variant of the amundsen. I uses my satnav often and have to go to some really dodgy places so integration is essential. However I couldn't face the prospect of another 4 years with a satnav with a screen almost the same size as my phone. I appreciate a larger amundsen screen is in the works but that wasn't the case when i ordered.

[JPH0091]

... Im coming to Skoda from a passat with the vw variant of the amundsen. ...

I guess you might refer to the RNS310. This is the Satnav we have in my wife's Golf 6.

There is no comparison with the Skoda Amundsen in Octavia, which is must faster and has a far better display.

Having used several Satnavs, either built-in or not, I'm rather satisfied with the Amundsen.

[Greg R]

I guess you might refer to the RNS310. This is the Satnav we have in my wife's Golf 6.

There is no comparison with the Skoda Amundsen in Octavia, which is must faster and has a far better display.

Having used several Satnavs, either built-in or not, I'm rather satisfied with the Amundsen.

It's the later rns315 which i believe is still the current Base satnav offering from vw. Its also the same unit in my wife's 2012 seat leon. I tried a skoda with the amundsen and it's definitely the same unit,just different branding.

[pipsyp]

Jesus! Nowt wrong with Amundsen and I would imagine Columbus too. Every weekend I punch a postcode into my Amundsen, It's only let me down once when I took my lad to play football in Barnsley only to find I ended up down a country lane with a dead end! Turns out the school was brand new and built off a new roundabout. I had the old maps, I updated the maps and the next day, checked with the same postcode and there was the new school. So lets' quash this uncertainty once and for all BOTH UNITS WILL SEARCH POSTCODES I admit it could be higher up, but I don't always look at the thing anyway. I just listen to the commands and glance at the maxidot.

I had a Garmin NUVI in my old car and it was next to bloody useless, taking AGES to locate sats, constantly losing them, useless, just useless. Wires and charger strewn all over the place despite my best efforts to hide the buggers. I don't miss a standalone sat nav one bit. I don't have to worry about hiding it away in the glovebox or sticking it in my coat pocket when I leave the car either.

I give you that...the satellite tracking capabilities of these units does seem v good indeed. I gather that as soon as you unlock the car even if off the infotainment system does a soft boot to aid GPS being locked and available before you start the car and drive away (though appreciate it does still take a short time for the nav context to load up from ignition on.

Have to say as well the Amundsen also has rarely let me down...though its dynamic routing leaves a little to be desired at times asking you to pull u turn after u turn until it finally figures out a route....but then my now state of the ark tomtom did the same.

I do think its a real shame that they dont provide live traffic capabilities, even via the bluetooth connection and an app (they are starting to do this with Golfs now)....Id imagine it is just software so would hope perhaps at some point VAG are kind enough to bundle this in a some form of free firmware upgrade.....doubt it will happen though.

What they should really do is just provide mirrorlink as standard on the new Bolero when it comes out and reduce the cost of the Amundsen and Columbus and also give them car net as standard.

[JPH0091]

It's the later rns315 which i believe is still the current Base satnav offering from vw. Its also the same unit in my wife's 2012 seat leon. I tried a skoda with the amundsen and it's definitely the same unit,just different branding.

In fact there's no relevant difference between RNS310 and RNS315, just the integration of the Bluetooth module in the 315.

It used indeed to be the same as former Amundsen in Skodas.

But with the Octavia 3, this is a different and new unit, even if still called Amundsen.

Edited 3 February, 2015 by JPH0091