I've been using CP and TT GO for a few weeks now and have to say it works really well.

One interesting difference when comparing TT and the other CP mapping solutions - with TT running you can also use the iDrive Navigation. That includes the HUD so you effectively have iDrive NAV or TT Go on the main screen AND iDrive Nav in the HUD.

I find it useful as a second opinion, particularly on traffic situations.

[LexxM3]

Originally Posted by eaglesrest

I've been using CP and TT GO for a few weeks now and have to say it works really well.

One interesting difference when comparing TT and the other CP mapping solutions - with TT running you can also use the iDrive Navigation. That includes the HUD so you effectively have iDrive NAV or TT Go on the main screen AND iDrive Nav in the HUD.

I find it useful as a second opinion, particularly on traffic situations.

Interesting. How do you decide on which one is right on their traffic opinions? Throw each a bone half the time :-) ? Go with your or your co-pilot "gut"? See what "your tri-county eye-in-the-sky chopper" says?

Reminds me of a torture plan we devised for a colleague a few years back: tie him to a chair, prop his eyes open, and place two clocks out by 3 seconds in front of him ...

I go with whichever one is offering the best arrival time.

Also provides redundancy for the traffic provider - useful for when RTTI switches to TMC or TT HD traffic just gives up the ghost.

[LexxM3]

Originally Posted by eaglesrest

I go with whichever one is offering the best arrival time.

Also provides redundancy for the traffic provider - useful for when RTTI switches to TMC or TT HD traffic just gives up the ghost.

I've done the same with X5 native plus Waze a few times. Waze wins every time. I've now had multiple situations where X5 system was giving significantly better arrival times, but that was complete nonsense when you examine the route. First time, I decided to just follow it and it spun me off the highway, into a residential street, round about right back to the ramp to highway I just left — no, there was no traffic stoppage then or previously around that ramp, this was a completely insane maneuver. Next time that happened, I examined the route before following it (the route preview, by the way, is pretty slick) ... anyway, the propose route was insane, literally off the highway, U turn on the street to get right back immediately on the same highway ... twice on the same reroute at two different off/on-ramps. And I happened to know that a U turn in traffic at the time was going to be completely impossible, so the route would have stranded me in unrelated traffic for an hour! Insane. I am having trouble trusting it at all after that, it's back to Waze 100% for me.

I found the same with the previous BMW Nav on my 14 F15 - the routing was shocking! It was particularly bad when re-routing often offering complicated routes that added 20 mins journey time to an obvious single road 2 minute journey. This new iDrive 7 Nav so far seems to be much better.

The iDrive Nav routing engine has definitely changed. I have a customer at a location in Cheshire which can range from 1 to 3 hours to get to depending on traffic. There are 3/4 motorways to navigate and it can be a nightmare. All Navigation routed me the same way except Google Maps which directs me the way I want to go when traffic is relatively clear. Previously the F15 Nav would route the same way as the other Nav (Waze, TT, Apple Maps) but the G05 nav goes the same route as Google Maps. I know G05 Nav like Waze has learning, but it has chosen this route since day 1 of ownership.

I've tried back to back comparisons of Apple Maps, Waze, TomTom, Google Maps and now the new iDrive, and in the UK I'd put Waze just above Apple Maps at the bottom of the list. There just isn't enough devices reporting data to make it reliable. I also don't like the the hands-on approach which is a safety issue. I guess using CP will deter users from entering traffic status which while good from a safety aspect, will impact the quality of Waze traffic data.

The good thing about the other mapping data is it uses passive telemetry, which is safer and has a wider user base.

Don't get me wrong, I like Waze, and I often switch between Waze, TT and Apple Maps on my phone. Ultimately I always come back to TT, but since getting the new iDrive nav it doesn't seem like a necessity. I might not be saying that with 10k on the clock, lets see

[natahoa]

About six months ago I dropped $175 for TomToms latest and greatest. It really is a wonderful nav unit. I might keep that in my new X5 also. I drove my car for the first time yesterday and hit afternoon incoming beach traffic (Friday is a REALLY bad day to drive around here).

It is difficult to get accustomed to any new nav, but the one in my car was driving me nuts. I kept having to zoom it out to look for the back-road routes that my TomTom found as the first option. They are fast roads and are always faster than the highways.

The X5 didn’t alert me to the traffic. Not sure if the tomtom would have, because I never drive in heavy traffic any more. I didn’t have the TomTom with me and I made it home okay, but it was frustrating. I stopped twice to try to figure it out.