Navigator V - Review

I have been lent a Navigator V to play around with, whilst my IV is being hit with a hammer.

Initial impressions:

1. It doesn't work with Mapsource, only with Basecamp

2. Very clear screen

3. Much faster processor than the 660 or 550

4. Operating system is based on the Nuvi. A bit quirky but you get used to it

5. USB port easier to access, very similar to earlier models as it is hidden away behind a rubber bung

6. Awkward to exchange routes via the micro SD card, as this now sits beneath a screwed tight battery compartment cover

7. All of the latest 2014.3 maps for the whole of Western Europe fit onto the device. On the 550 / 660 they had to go onto an SD card. Whether future map updates will still fit, is unknown.

8. It seems that you are stuck with whatever data Garmin deems your would like to see on the dashboard. For instance, on the 660 / Nav IV I like to have the 'Less map - More data' display, then select Compass, Time to turn, Distance to destination and Time of arrival displayed down the side. This option does not seem possible on the Nav V. Garmin have decided that the rider will always want 'Speed' displayed for example, when the rider has a perfectly good speedometer on the bike already. A backward step.

9. It appears that if you run the device in Imperial units (mph) you are stuck with the height display in feet. I am maybe odd, but I would like to always have the display in mph / miles but have the height in metres.

10. You can set your preferences as to what buttons to display in 'Where to'. For instance if you would like a default button of 'Camp sites' to come up or 'American restaurants' you can. You can also delete some of the buttons and chose others.

11. I have experimented sending a route and all my Favourites to the device via Basecamp (it cannot be done via Mapsource apparently, I suspect because the file formats are incompatible) which works OK.

I have not tried saving a Mapsource route or Favourite as a .gpx file (as opposed to Mapsource's default .gbd format) to see if gt at works. Either way, it's clear evidence that Garmin intend to make Basecamp their preferred tool, over Mapsource.

12. I have not yet experimented with creating a route on the device or sending a track back to my PC or Mac. I will give that a go when I am in a France this weekend.

13. For those riders with a 1600 or a WC with the 'iWheel' control, the device will display a bike data screen, I haven't played around with this yet.

10. Overall summary? A curate's egg; but more good in parts than bad. Garmin have gone out of their way to add all sorts of We overheard some of the specs of the new 2014 RT as we walked past the stand; it features hillstart control, a shift assist which enables the rider to upshift and downshift without using the clutch and it features ESA as standard.

11. Overall summary. If you value quicker processing time and some / all of the additional functions, it's good. If you don't, then it's not a big enough leap forward over the current 550 / 660 models to justify the switch. Wait for the price to drop or some secondhand units to start appearing.

Great review and you have saved me a heap of cash, i was going to treat myself to this model, but after reading ill stick with my TomTom rider 5 .

Is it Garmin saying you will have the display a particular way or BMW ? Will the Garmin badged unit be more user friendly for personalized set up?

Thanks for that Richard.. the fact that Mapsource doesn't work with it, is reason enough for me not to go near one...

"Mapsource doesn't work with it"
Not according to this thread from Advrider

"I just used my Nav V for a three day ride. I planned each day's route on Mapsource and then gave each day a unique name like "Day 1 kings canyon". Uploaded these routes to the Nav V and they were loaded in the Trip Planner App. Each day I simply selected the route I had previously planned and the Nav V accurately followed that plan. Not any different than the Nav IV except the Nav V can handle more routes due to it's larger memory and faster processor. I read somewhere the Nav would require Basecamp and not work with Mapsource. I am glad it works with Mapsource. I am much better at Mapsource when creating my plans and routes. "

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=731976&highlight=mapsource&page=30

DING-DONG said:

Great review and you have saved me a heap of cash, i was going to treat myself to this model, but after reading ill stick with my TomTom rider 5 .

Click to expand...

If you are planning on using this with your new GS, I would say get the Nav V. There is a big difference between the V and the IV on the LC GS. I'm not familiar with the K16, but know that there were more features available with the Nav IV on that bike, so there may not be that many differences, but on the LC, it is much much better.

I hope it does work with Mapsource as I like using it and I have not mastered Base-camp! Why can't you just have the choice why is change always better? I will keep an eye on all threads to do with the V and decide in the future whether to change from my 550 which still does the job. My only real issue with the 550 is the memory problems.

Thanks Richard,

You do wonder why Garmin dumb the Zumo down so much, it's only software after all, give it Montana software and I'd be a buyer.

Picked mine up a week or so ago, not had a proper play with it yet but one of the things I liked on my Nav III was the ability to change projected speed. IE Garmin assumed on motorways I'd average 70mph, 60mph on A roads & 50mph on B roads, which of course I never did. This makes it's projected arrival time hopelessly optimistic.
I changed it to 50mph for Motorways, 40mph for A roads & 30mph for B roads which was far more accurate.

I've had a broddle with the Nav V and can't find this option on it which, if I'm correct, is a backward step IMO.

Oh, and despite all the new features the basic operation (IE Navigation) appears to be as crap as ever.

dave hendy said:

I hope it does work with Mapsource as I like using it and I have not mastered Base-camp! Why can't you just have the choice why is change always better? I will keep an eye on all threads to do with the V and decide in the future whether to change from my 550 which still does the job. My only real issue with the 550 is the memory problems.

Click to expand...

The 550 is an excellent unit, put a large memory card in it, and it'll last for ages.. had mine for about five years before it gave up the ghost (used it virtually every day)...

Yellow Peril said:

Is it Garmin saying you will have the display a particular way or BMW ? Will the Garmin badged unit be more user friendly for personalized set up?

Click to expand...

I doubt it. The display seems to mimick the Nuvi, which I guess is becoming Garmin's default standard.

MickTheSaw said:

"Mapsource doesn't work with it"
Not according to this thread from Advrider

"I just used my Nav V for a three day ride. I planned each day's route on Mapsource and then gave each day a unique name like "Day 1 kings canyon". Uploaded these routes to the Nav V and they were loaded in the Trip Planner App. Each day I simply selected the route I had previously planned and the Nav V accurately followed that plan. Not any different than the Nav IV except the Nav V can handle more routes due to it's larger memory and faster processor. I read somewhere the Nav would require Basecamp and not work with Mapsource. I am glad it works with Mapsource. I am much better at Mapsource when creating my plans and routes. "

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=731976&highlight=mapsource&page=30

Click to expand...

That's interesting, I wonder what format he was saving the routes in? I was given to understand that the Nav V doesn't accept .gbd files (the Mapsource default file format). Maybe he was using .gpx? Or maybe it does. We shall see.

The problem I encountered when using 'send to device' from Mapsource on my PC, was that the device could not be found. Switching to Basecamp, then using 'send to device' picked the device up in seconds.

Wapping said:

The problem I encountered when using 'send to device' from Mapsource on my PC, was that the device could not be found. Switching to Basecamp, then using 'send to device' picked the device up in seconds.

Click to expand...

I found exactly the same thing when tinkering with a Nuvi 2595. Mapsource wouldn't recognise it but Basecamp would.

Update on my review

Update.

I have been playing around a bit more.

I have now found that the dashboard is configurable, to show a choice of data, if you are running a route. This is not dissimilar to the 660.

In the map / data view I prefer (there are several choices) I have four buttons along the bottom. One of the buttons (third from the left) seems to be stuck on Garmin's default speed view. I guess this might be handy if someone wanted to show KPH instead of MPH. Pushing this button brings up a page with a whole heap of data: Compass, time to arrival, distance to arrival etc. etc. etc. ....the list goes on.

The other three buttons can be configured to show near enough anything off the mass of data page. I the have chosen:

Heading

Estimated time of arrival at final destination

Estimated distance to final destination


OK, I think Garmin have done well here.


What else?

When running a route that starts away from your current location (for instance I am sitting in London, looking at a route that starts at Calais, finishing in St Quentin) you can press GO and it will automatically calculate a route to take you to the start point and then complete the route. On the 660 you only had the option to ride to start of route, then it would stop for you to restart.

If you have several distinct points marked (for instance I have a coffee stop in Albert) you can chose to tell the device to stop the route there. This is quite good as it will give you a clear idea of when the coffee stop will be, its distance away and what time you should be there.

You can also break the route up into chunks between various pre-determined points, say between morning and afternoon coffee, via a lunch stop. Again quite useful, I think. With a bit of thought you could create pre-determined points for the key points in your day's ride, using them to best plan your day. For instance, if you ran late and the device was indicating you won't be passing through your afternoon coffee point until 18:00, you could very quickly spot this.

Summary: All in all better much better than I had first thought.

So, good marks to Garmin from me and a definite retraction of comment 8 in my opening post.

OK, I'll accept that I can probably guesstimate the times and distances using my proper paper mats. But, I am often with a party of other riders, looking to me for advice or news. Being able to flip the route information about to say, we'll be in XYZ for coffee in two hours or about 90 miles will be handy.

I have also been mucking about in Basecamp. The more I play about in it, the more I am liking it over Mspsource. Some of it is quirky but after 15 or more years (and thousands of miles) in Mapsource, that is to be expected. You can do some really quite clever planning, estimating time stops, adding information, creating trip reports and all sorts. It is bloody good on a big screened Mac. My mistake before was that I had been trying to run it on a laptop PC, where it really did not seem to be happy.

Bear said:

I found exactly the same thing when tinkering with a Nuvi 2595. Mapsource wouldn't recognise it but Basecamp would.

Click to expand...

I suspect the Nuvi and the Nav V are using a similar 'base' or whatever IT fellows call it. Mapsource would pick up neither the Nav V device, nor the SD card I then inserted. Suggesting that it really is invisible to it.

At some point I will have a go at saving a Mapsource route in .gpx and sending it via the 'send to' button to both the device and SD card. I will Aldo have a go at sending it to an SD card from Mapsource via a card reader. In theory, the Nav should pick up what is a universal GPS fine transfer extension .gpx and it should work.

It's a bit odd, as I can create a whole route in Mapsource, then copy it straight into Basecamp on my PC and then ping it straight to the device, no problem.

Update two.....

Having used the Nav V for about 400 miles over the weekend, I am happy to report:

(A) It works very well with the 1600's iWheel.

(B) The screen is very vivid, the place names and road numbers standing out very clearly.

(C) The 'route card' screen is much better laid out than the former 660 / Nav IV / 550. It is now very easy to read on the move. On a long 'route card' you can scroll up and down it by using the iWheel's Zoom + command to scroll up and Zoom - to scroll down.

(D) Garmin's default vehicle speed button changes on the move to show the vehicle's speed against the road's known speed. For instance, doing 80 mph on a motorway is displayed as 80/70, the eighty miles an hour being displayed in red, it being faster than the road's legal speed limit. Drop back to 69 and the six and nine are displayed in black. On the continent, the kph limits are converted automaticaly into mph. For instance, doing 28 mph through a village with a 50 kph speed limit will be displayed as: 28/31. Doing 40 through the same village, will be displayed as 40/31.

(E) The mass of data page is quit interesting to look at, during or after a ride. We had a moving average of 44 mph over the two days, not bad for 11 bikes in convoy on mostly French D roads, with an actual average speed of 35 mph. Again, you can scroll up and down these using the Zoom in and out tool.

(F) The Nav V has a curved back, not flat like the Nav IV / 660. It will run quite happily in a Nav IV cradle. Just make sure you click it in properly.

(G) When you approach a final destination site, it asks whether you would like the device to suggest parking places.

(H) The 3-D imagery is very good, 'Favourites' appearing as little green shields.

(I) The device's start up (boot up), calculate and satellite location speeds are very good.

Wapping many thanks for posting up your observations.

My Nav IV, which has already been replaced once by Garmin, is currently back with BMW. Hopefully it will be replaced by a Nav V as the two Nav IV's have been less than reliable!

Nice little read

Ta for posting..

"One of the many other options the Navigator V offers to the rider is PhotoNavigation: Geo-coded pictures stored in the device can be clicked on to start navigating towards that location"

Has anyone found this yet?

The geo-coded pictures feature is not new. It was there on the 660 too.

Load a geo-coded picture into the device's picture folder, tap on it and the location of the picture will be shown on the map. Plot a route to it as normal.