BMW Nav V

DavidR8

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After spending a week using the BMW Nav V unit on our rental R1200RT I have to say I was mighty impressed with its ease of use and overall utility.

Of course I'm not going to buy a BMW to get one [emoji1] so I'm curious which companies technology is behind it. Is it a rebadged Garmin?


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Gerhard

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The Nav V is basically a Garmin 590 with less rounded corners. You update the maps from Garmin and use Basecamp for trip planning with either unit, I think all the North American BMW dealers are in the points of interest otherwise I don't know of any other differences.

Gerhard
 

BakerBoy

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Yep, Garmin. The Garmin 660 is identical in form factor and plugs into the same cradle. But BMW and Garmin changed the firmware a bit in the BMW Navigator series so that it integrates into the bike's bus. Also, the BMW Navigator has a much better (brighter) display than the 660. A 660 powers and runs in the Navigator cradle (and puts audio onto the bike's onboard system), but the Wonderwheel doesn't control the 660 (the WOnderwheel does control the BMW Navigator). I use a 660 on my RT as I got a new 660 on closeout that was incredibly cheap compared to the BMW Navigator--I couldn't justify $500+ in price difference for the BMW Navigator.
 

Kevin_56

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Yep, Garmin. The Garmin 660 is identical in form factor and plugs into the same cradle. But BMW and Garmin changed the firmware a bit in the BMW Navigator series so that it integrates into the bike's bus. Also, the BMW Navigator has a much better (brighter) display than the 660. A 660 powers and runs in the Navigator cradle (and puts audio onto the bike's onboard system), but the Wonderwheel doesn't control the 660 (the WOnderwheel does control the BMW Navigator). I use a 660 on my RT as I got a new 660 on closeout that was incredibly cheap compared to the BMW Navigator--I couldn't justify $500+ in price difference for the BMW Navigator.
The Nav IV and 660 are similar. The OP was using the NAV V
 

Bones

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The new Navigator VI has a TFT (thin film transistor) display which is leaps and bounds better than the Nav V and earlier models. I had a Nav V and suffered through washed out screens in the sunlight. No such issues with the Nav VI.
 

jfheath

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The BMW Nav V is (I believe) a version of the Garmin Zumo 590 or 595. Apparently it has all sorts of stuff that is specific to the BMW in addition to what is offered on the Zumo standard models, but I am told that the operation is very similar.

It has its quirks - and I spent hours working out what the Zumo does and when - because it behaves quite differently from the Zumo 660. However, much of what I wrote in this article (Se Post #1) is also relevant to the BMW version. There's a pdf which has the first 3 parts, but I have also added a 4th part, which can be downloaded from the same page. That looks at the effect of your riding behaviour on the way that the unit navigates.

Its rather lengthy, but once glanced through, you will know where to look when you can't understand what the satnav is doing.

Its an excellent bit of kit though.
 
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