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NAV VI Discontinued

wlwensel

R1150R-R75/6
I went on the Garmin web page and found out they have discontinued the BMW Nav VI.

I contacted Garmin Customer Service and they didn't have information on a replacement unit.

I'm not going to spend $950 at the BMW dealer on a new NAV VI that is discontinued.

Anyone have information from the dealer side ?
 

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Take a look at the new Zumo XT "Navigator" and the next BMW NAV will probably follow on. The Nav VI doesn't have the split screen option which I hope the next iteration does, very useful for controlling phone, weather, etc., while still observing the route

scott-blowholes_8mar20.jpg
 
I went on the Garmin web page and found out they have discontinued the BMW Nav VI.

I contacted Garmin Customer Service and they didn't have information on a replacement unit.

I'm not going to spend $950 at the BMW dealer on a new NAV VI that I'd discontinued.

Anyone have information from the dealer side ?
 

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I've been following the XT since it was introduced last week.

Looks like not just a great unit, but also a good (comparative) price.
4.3" is $400
5.5" is $500

If we're lucky, the Navigator version will be reduced in price as well and available soon.

On the weekend, Garmin was showing the XT being available in the US now and in Canada is supposed to get it, they say, in 2-3 weeks.
I would think, that how long it will take for the BMW Navigator VII to be released is a BMW issue. Hopefully, they will be quick about it.

I just helped a fellow BMW rider (Airheads) get and setup a 396LM. Naturally, it is a little disconcerting to see the XT available one week later at a very competitive price, but such is life with technology.
 
I'd say the best we could hope for is some version of the Zumo XT unit. Good looking unit at a good price with many good features. Maybe Garmin and BMW will get it right.

I don't see Apple Car Play as viable, because so many riders go to places where cell service is non-existent.
 
I don't see Apple Car Play as viable, because so many riders go to places where cell service is non-existent.

Some of us live in places where cell service is non-existent. Twenty five miles south or 50 miles north I can get a signal.
 
Car Play and Android Auto don’t depend upon cell service unless you are using streaming services or making/receiving a call. Both can be used to play music directly from the phone, just as is currently done with Garmin and Nav devices, and there is no real difference in service availability than what you currently have with a phone connected to a Garmin or Nav unit. At home, Paul isn’t going to get calls, weather or traffic info piped between phone, gps and headset regardless of the phone, gps, or app used.

The issue is in providing proven workable apps and connectivity, and the Nav VI/TFT screen/Phone connectivity on the new bikes is horribly unreliable and incomplete. For example, if you’re playing music stored on the phone you cannot, with the Nav VI, control start/stop/pause from the Nav VI screen. Piped through the TFT, it’s much more controllable but still doesn’t utilize Siri or other functionality on the phone. Car mfgrs went through the same issues in rolling out info screens and eventually realized the smarter path was to license proven technology like Car Play, technology that works consistently across car brands, rather than trying to reinvent the wheel. Hence Car Play and Android Auto appearing across the car market, and not just in high-end models.

Honda is tuned in on this. The new Goldwing has Car Play, and adds Homelink to boot, so no more fumbling for a place to mount a door opener or a pocket in which to stash it. https://powersports.honda.com/goldwing/2020/index.html As TFT screens continue to drop in price it will make less and less sense to continue devoting resources to add-ons like free-standing gps units. And the widespread acceptance of CP/AA make harder to justify devoting resources to try and develop an in-house alternative for use on TFT screens.

Anyway, back to the Zumo XT and thoughts of Nav VII. The only way it makes sense for BMW to front development and production is if the exterior case and mount match the Nav V/VI units, so there’s a backward-compatible upgrade available for current Nav owners. Otherwise, it’s likely too small a market to make the unit affordable. And, BMW would be competing against it’s own TFT screens with in-house Navigation and Phone apps. Pricing on the Nav units was always around $200 more than a comparable Garmin-branded unit and I’d expect to see that continue.

I’d rather see them focus on improving and more widely deploying the TFT—including licensing CP and moving the entire TFT dash up to where the Nav units currently mount, but moved closer to the rider. One screen, apps one is familiar with and that work the same regardless of vehicle, and mounted where it’s easy to check something without distracting the view of road and traffic.

Just my $0.02.

Best,
DeVern
 
Navigator VII ?

Has either Garmin or BMW so far mentioned anything about a successor to the Nav VI? Anything to support the notion that BMW's about to introduce a Garmin-made Nav VII, other than past history?
 
Some of us live in places where cell service is non-existent. Twenty five miles south or 50 miles north I can get a signal.

Interesting, you own a cell phone and can't use it until you're that far from the house? Have you tried all the carriers for signal strength in your AO? I was under the impression some carriers had little to no dead zones in the US
 
Interesting, you own a cell phone and can't use it until you're that far from the house? Have you tried all the carriers for signal strength in your AO? I was under the impression some carriers had little to no dead zones in the US

Little to none? That works if you are in a live zone. But waaay over on the left coast, between San Francisco and LA, there are practically NO areas for service. Thought you might like to know

and as for the OP? my NAV V, has been telling me for quite some time that it won't update, and regularly, I'm riding on a road that just doesn't exist on my system(V),
Good to know I don't have to shell out a Ton to get a newer, also obsolete system..
I do have a Kyocera fone tho. They really are bullet proof!
(relatively speaking, lest some geenius shoots his to disagree)
 
Interesting, you own a cell phone and can't use it until you're that far from the house? Have you tried all the carriers for signal strength in your AO? I was under the impression some carriers had little to no dead zones in the US

My service is AT&T. It allows wifi calling so I can use the phone in the house over wifi. And of course I have kept track of what carrier is doing what where. One not ought believe those glossed over coverage maps. They are, to put it as politely as possible, lies. Sure, they provide coverage for a very short distance in towns and along the interstate highways. But between towns and along the US and state highways coverage is spotty at best. I have of course not mapped it but do travel enough to guess that service is lacking in at least 50% and maybe as much as 75% of west Texas. And about the same in New Mexico. And Wyoming. And Montana. Welcome to rural America.
 
My service is AT&T. It allows wifi calling so I can use the phone in the house over wifi. And of course I have kept track of what carrier is doing what where. One not ought believe those glossed over coverage maps. They are, to put it as politely as possible, lies. Sure, they provide coverage for a very short distance in towns and along the interstate highways. But between towns and along the US and state highways coverage is spotty at best. I have of course not mapped it but do travel enough to guess that service is lacking in at least 50% and maybe as much as 75% of west Texas. And about the same in New Mexico. And Wyoming. And Montana. Welcome to rural America.

Interesting, I'll assume you've got people you know with other than ATT that have the same experiences.
 
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