Std SD SatNav or MMI Nav Plus?

[Och]

Hi,

I've been lurking for a few weeks whilst looking at buying a new A6 and would really appreciate the benefit of the combined experience of the forum.

What are people's opinions on the standard Sat Nav? What extra would I get by upgrading to the MMI Nav Plus?

Thanks!

Och

[ukgroucho]

Bigger screen, 7 digit / character postcode entry, 3D views.. and a more detailed database. At the end of the day the SD card one is probably a 4 or 8 Gb database (maybe someone else can confirm). The HDD based one in the MMI+ is 20 or 30Gb.

But if you're gonna get MMI+ then you should go for the tech pack... it includes the colour DIS (or did when I ordered my car) and that is a MUST HAVE upgrade. Transforms the dash from nice to spectacular.

[johnsimcox]

Bigger screen, 7 digit / character postcode entry, 3D views.. and a more detailed database. At the end of the day the SD card one is probably a 4 or 8 Gb database (maybe someone else can confirm). The HDD based one in the MMI+ is 20 or 30Gb.

But if you're gonna get MMI+ then you should go for the tech pack... it includes the colour DIS (or did when I ordered my car) and that is a MUST HAVE upgrade. Transforms the dash from nice to spectacular.
SD Card system also allows 7 digit postcode entry but not by voice system and it also has some aspect of 3D, but you do not get the landmarks buildings popping up which you get with HDD system

[Guest 2]

HDD gets you the larger, higher definition screen, nicer and smoother graphics, much faster to load and calculate.

On any future car I'll definitely be getting the HDD over the SD system.

[Och]

Bigger screen, 7 digit / character postcode entry, 3D views.. and a more detailed database. At the end of the day the SD card one is probably a 4 or 8 Gb database (maybe someone else can confirm). The HDD based one in the MMI+ is 20 or 30Gb.

But if you're gonna get MMI+ then you should go for the tech pack... it includes the colour DIS (or did when I ordered my car) and that is a MUST HAVE upgrade. Transforms the dash from nice to spectacular.

Thanks - I'll look at the pack; and the colour DIS

Och


SD Card system also allows 7 digit postcode entry but not by voice system and it also has some aspect of 3D, but you do not get the landmarks buildings popping up which you get with HDD system

Johnsimox - thanks

So does the SD system do 3D navigation but with a flat landscape?

Och

[Guest 2]

Johnsimox - thanks

So does the SD system do 3D navigation but with a flat landscape?

Och

It will be a 3d overview, like you're standing up and looking over the map laid out on front if you.

[Och]

It will be a 3d overview, like you're standing up and looking over the map laid out on front if you.

thanks - that's clear

Och

[ukgroucho]

I'll give you a call tomorrow in the morning if that works.. I'll be in the car 9:00 to 9:30 so if you are up and about we can chat a bit.

Looks like you have it mostly sorted but lets spend a few mins on the phone.

[retired99]

If you combine MMI Plus with BT Prep High you get, amongst other things, Audi Connect (BT prep High only available with MMI Plus; part of tech pack). This has a few functions but the best of them, IMO, is the ability to use Google maps on your PC / tablet to locate your destination and then send it to the car. I can sit at home or in an office and send my destinations to the car so they're all ready for me when set off the next day or whenever.

Colour DIS is included with MMI Plus. This is not at all clear in the brochure.

[ukgroucho]

I'll give you a call tomorrow in the morning if that works.. I'll be in the car 9:00 to 9:30 so if you are up and about we can chat a bit.

Looks like you have it mostly sorted but lets spend a few mins on the phone.
Sorry chaps wrong thread...

[Och]

If you combine MMI Plus with BT Prep High you get, amongst other things, Audi Connect (BT prep High only available with MMI Plus; part of tech pack). This has a few functions but the best of them, IMO, is the ability to use Google maps on your PC / tablet to locate your destination and then send it to the car. I can sit at home or in an office and send my destinations to the car so they're all ready for me when set off the next day or whenever.

Colour DIS is included with MMI Plus. This is not at all clear in the brochure.

retired99 - thanks; so if I buy MMI+ (outside of tech pack) I get colour DIS? This certainly isn't clear! Taking the tech pack and adding Audi Connect gives me the smart stuff from home?

Deciding on options is proving tough, I'm on a very tight budget - family probably want the 4 zone aircon I like the tech! Not knowing what you actually get for half the options doesn't help.

Thanks,

Och

[retired99]

retired99 - thanks; so if I buy MMI+ (outside of tech pack) I get colour DIS? This certainly isn't clear! Taking the tech pack and adding Audi Connect gives me the smart stuff from home?

Deciding on options is proving tough, I'm on a very tight budget - family probably want the 4 zone aircon I like the tech! Not knowing what you actually get for half the options doesn't help.

Thanks,

Och
If you specify MMI Plus it comes with colour DIS. You can prove this by going to the Audi site and configuring a car with MMI Plus and you will see that the colour DIS is automatically included at no extra cost above the £1175 for the MMI Plus.

If you then add Mobile Phone Prep High this, apart from the telephone capability, effectively gives the car internet access, not to everything, just to a few Audi Services known as Audi Connect. These include Google earth images for the navigation functions and the ability to send destinations from Google maps on, e.g., a PC to the car. Others are news, weather, points of interest.

It also give access to Audi traffic information which identifies stationary / slow moving traffic and provides an ability to re-route to avoid the problem. This idea is similar to TMC traffic info, which is delivered by RDS radio station, but is delivered over the car’s internet connection. The Audi traffic information is derived from data supplied by mobile telephone network operators who can ‘see’ the phones on their network, know where they are and if they are moving or not. It’s claimed to be more accurate and up to date than TMC data. Both my current car and previous have had this system and I have found it to be pretty good.

BT Phone Prep High also support a WiFi hotspot inside the car which can be used to access the internet from a tablet, laptop etc.

All this internet access requires that you get a SIM (from whoever you prefer) and put it in the dash for the car to use. If you have an RSAP (Remote Sim Access Protocol) capable phone you can use this instead of putting a SIM in the dash.

Absolutely agree, this stuff is not at all clear from the brochure or Audi's web site.

[ukgroucho]

Deciding on options is proving tough, I'm on a very tight budget - family probably want the 4 zone aircon I like the tech! Not knowing what you actually get for half the options doesn't help.

Just to blow your budget a bit more... If you go down the 4 zone route AND you have heated front seats then check the cost of doing heated rears as well, it's relatively cheap once you have 4 zone climate and definitely keeps rear seat passengers happy.

[Och]

If you specify MMI Plus it comes with colour DIS. You can prove this by going to the Audi site and configuring a car with MMI Plus and you will see that the colour DIS is automatically included at no extra cost above the £1175 for the MMI Plus.

If you then add Mobile Phone Prep High this, apart from the telephone capability, effectively gives the car internet access, not to everything, just to a few Audi Services known as Audi Connect. These include Google earth images for the navigation functions and the ability to send destinations from Google maps on, e.g., a PC to the car. Others are news, weather, points of interest.

It also give access to Audi traffic information which identifies stationary / slow moving traffic and provides an ability to re-route to avoid the problem. This idea is similar to TMC traffic info, which is delivered by RDS radio station, but is delivered over the car’s internet connection. The Audi traffic information is derived from data supplied by mobile telephone network operators who can ‘see’ the phones on their network, know where they are and if they are moving or not. It’s claimed to be more accurate and up to date than TMC data. Both my current car and previous have had this system and I have found it to be pretty good.

BT Phone Prep High also support a WiFi hotspot inside the car which can be used to access the internet from a tablet, laptop etc.

All this internet access requires that you get a SIM (from whoever you prefer) and put it in the dash for the car to use. If you have an RSAP (Remote Sim Access Protocol) capable phone you can use this instead of putting a SIM in the dash.

Absolutely agree, this stuff is not at all clear from the brochure or Audi's web site.

Thanks - much clearer. Not having to pay for the extra colour DIS does make it a bit more palatable. I'm struggling with being sold on the BT Phone Prep High. I can easily create a hotspot from my phone directly and I've had both types of traffic info on various satnavs and it always seems to be out of date; the number of times it pops up saying delay and when you get there its all gone.

Och

[Och]

Just to blow your budget a bit more... If you go down the 4 zone route AND you have heated front seats then check the cost of doing heated rears as well, it's relatively cheap once you have 4 zone climate and definitely keeps rear seat passengers happy.

Comfort v tech toys - tough choices!

[retired99]

Thanks - much clearer. Not having to pay for the extra colour DIS does make it a bit more palatable. I'm struggling with being sold on the BT Phone Prep High. I can easily create a hotspot from my phone directly and I've had both types of traffic info on various satnavs and it always seems to be out of date; the number of times it pops up saying delay and when you get there its all gone.

Och

The advantage of the BT Phone Prep High WiFi is, I suppose, that it use the car's external aerial. I've used my phone, for calls, with and without the car's aerial (my phone supports rsap) and while it is better IMO it's pretty marginal.

Take your point about traffic info, neither are perfect but have found the online traffic info to be more current, perhaps too current sometimes as you can watch a bit of congestion appear and then disappear a few minutes later, meaning there wasn't really a problem.

I've found Google Earth maps quite helpful at times over the last mile or so of a journey. E.g. taking my son to play in a football match in the appropriately named 'Long Lane'. We know the pitch was somewhere off this road, with Google Earth you can actually see the pitch.

[Guest 2]

Comfort v tech toys - tough choices!

I'd rather be sitting in Tesco car park waiting for the Mrs being able to play with tech rather than be sitting bored sitting in a comfy seat! ;)

[Olio]

If I'm not mistaken, the satnav screen is bigger and better definition with the HDD based than the standard SD.

And with the standard SD based, do you get the online manual or do you need to keep the DVD in the slot?

[Metzger250]

Sorry this has nothing to do with your post but how do I post a question about a problem I'm having with my A4, this website is not very helpful?

Thanks

[johnsimcox]

If I'm not mistaken, the satnav screen is bigger and better definition with the HDD based than the standard SD.

And with the standard SD based, do you get the online manual or do you need to keep the DVD in the slot?
Larger screen and better definition with HDD, yes. With the SD system there is no electronic version of the manual DVD or not, in fact there is no DVD drive (just CD) in cars with the SD based system. On the HDD version you do get a DVD drive which can also play video to the MMI screen when the car is stationary (unless you enable video in motion using VCDS)

[johnsimcox]

Sorry this has nothing to do with your post but how do I post a question about a problem I'm having with my A4, this website is not very helpful?

Thanks
Try the correct sub-forum for the model of A4 you have A4 - S4 - RS4 (http://www.vwaudiforum.co.uk/forum/forumdisplay.php?24-A4-S4-RS4). I would say that this site is probably the most helpful of all the forums for Audi owners

[Wuffles]

If I'm not mistaken, the satnav screen is bigger and better definition with the HDD based than the standard SD.

And with the standard SD based, do you get the online manual or do you need to keep the DVD in the slot?

Stupid (but genuine) question, but the online manual is supposed to work?

[Olio]

Not sure I understand the question.

Is it "is the online manual actually available with the CD version", or "is the online manual actually useful?"

[Wuffles]

Not sure I understand the question.

Is it "is the online manual actually available with the CD version", or "is the online manual actually useful?"

Third meaning, sorry. We have the HDD version and since we bought the vehicle from new the Online Manual option has given an error. Can't remember what it is, but we'd given up using it. Had three software updates in that time.

[belly buster]

the best of them, IMO, is the ability to use Google maps on your PC / tablet to locate your destination and then send it to the car. I can sit at home or in an office and send my destinations to the car so they're all ready for me when set off the next day or whenever.

Can you tell me how to do this - TIA.

[retired99]

Can you tell me how to do this - TIA.


If you haven’t done so already go here:

home (https://my.audi.com/content/uk/myaudi/en/home.html)

and register.



Then to send a destination to the car first find it on Google Maps, then using the panel on the left of the Google Maps screen click ‘more’ and then select ‘send’ from the drop down menu which will pop up a form to fill in. The form is pretty self-explanatory so just fill it in as appropriate and click 'send'.

When in your car select ‘Navigation’ then select ‘call up destinations from my account’ ( or words to that effect) and you will hopefully see the destination you chose from the map. Select 'Confirm destination' and select ‘Start Nav’ and off you go.

Don't know if there is any delay in the destination being available to the car as I've always left at least half an hour between sending it to the car and retrieving it. It may be virtually instant for all I know.

[belly buster]

If you haven’t done so already go here:

home (https://my.audi.com/content/uk/myaudi/en/home.html)

and register.



Then to send a destination to the car first find it on Google Maps, then using the panel on the left of the Google Maps screen click ‘more’ and then select ‘send’ from the drop down menu which will pop up a form to fill in. The form is pretty self-explanatory so just fill it in as appropriate and click 'send'.

When in your car select ‘Navigation’ then select ‘call up destinations from my account’ ( or words to that effect) and you will hopefully see the destination you chose from the map. Select 'Confirm destination' and select ‘Start Nav’ and off you go.

Don't know if there is any delay in the destination being available to the car as I've always left at least half an hour between sending it to the car and retrieving it. It may be virtually instant for all I know.

Great - thanks - would nevere have known you could do this.

I didn't see "confirm destination" but added it to the directory and added to favourites and then set the nav from there.

[retired99]

Great - thanks - would nevere have known you could do this.

I didn't see "confirm destination" but added it to the directory and added to favourites and then set the nav from there.


Glad it worked. I checked the pc bit before I wrote it but the MMI bit was from memory which might explain the discrepancy.

[pumpsmynads]

So just quickly to confirm, with the tech pack you get a DVD player that works only when the car is stationary (makes sense :-))

[johnsimcox]

So just quickly to confirm, with the tech pack you get a DVD player that works only when the car is stationary (makes sense :-))
It will (I believe) carry on playing the sound but the video output is disabled when the car is moving, video via AMI is the same. However using VCDS you can enable Video in Motion so it will carry on displaying when the car is moving

[Olio]

Yes, as you drive away the screen goes blank. I tried it yesterday evening. As Johnsimcox said, you can change that behaviour via VCDS.

It's a great way to pass the time when you're early somewhere.

[pumpsmynads]

Good to know. Can you view films etc. from the SD card? If so what format do they have to be in? Mp4, Avi, etc..?

[Wuffles]

Some mp4s and some avis. Couldn't tell you which ones fall over as I haven't had the time to try it out - I nearly did once, I just know that of a pile of varying encoding mp4 and avi files on an sdcard or hdd, it will sometimes skip them and then grey them out.

[belly buster]

If you haven’t done so already go here:

home (https://my.audi.com/content/uk/myaudi/en/home.html)

and register.



Then to send a destination to the car first find it on Google Maps, then using the panel on the left of the Google Maps screen click ‘more’ and then select ‘send’ from the drop down menu which will pop up a form to fill in. The form is pretty self-explanatory so just fill it in as appropriate and click 'send'.

When in your car select ‘Navigation’ then select ‘call up destinations from my account’ ( or words to that effect) and you will hopefully see the destination you chose from the map. Select 'Confirm destination' and select ‘Start Nav’ and off you go.

Don't know if there is any delay in the destination being available to the car as I've always left at least half an hour between sending it to the car and retrieving it. It may be virtually instant for all I know.

I sent another destination today but the MMI asked my for my Audi PIN again. I put the PIN in last time. Is there any way of getting it to remember the PIN?

[retired99]

I sent another destination today but the MMI asked my for my Audi PIN again. I put the PIN in last time. Is there any way of getting it to remember the PIN?


Having entered the PIN once you shouldn't have to do it again. Having said that this has happened to me on two or three occasions, and because I couldn't remember the PIN I gave up and tried again later when it worked without asking again for the PIN.

I didn't do anything get it to work without asking for the PIN after the first time. Think the first time is supposed to set the association between the particular car and an Audi account for future use.

If you do enter the PIN again does it work?

Think Audi IT is somewhat flaky. E.g.; you're supposed to be able to download contact info from your Audi account to the car; haven't been able to find out how to get such info into the account let alone transfer it to the car. You're supposed to be able to copy contacts in 'vcard' format from a SD card into the car's directory. I've copied some contacts to an SD card but the car tells me there's nothing of the appropriate format on the card, various other bits of software have no trouble reading them. The whole nonsense about BT Phone prep high and using a SIM in the car disabling BT phone connection. I've experienced a few occasions when online traffic hasn't been available. I installed the car handbook from the CD and it worked fine until it just disappeared.

[skibuddy]

Have you changed phones connected to the MMI, or are you using a different key fob. I haven't yet quite understood the relationships between these things. I recently deleted the directory associated with my phone and after that I was prompted for re-enter MyAudi PIN. I don't think that was a coincidence as I only ever entered it once 15 months ago when the car was new.

[belly buster]

I sent another destination today but the MMI asked my for my Audi PIN again. I put the PIN in last time. Is there any way of getting it to remember the PIN?

I figured out if you try and run the query as soon as it starts up it will ask you for a PIN but give it 30 seconds it doesn't.