Sat Nav in Mk 4

[Chris007]

@1Dick

Chris007

Never did manage to speak with the ‘Technician’ but whatever he did, knowingly or otherwise, it has worked well ever since so musn’t grumble too much

Just tripped over the 50k mark with no issues whatsoever Would be nice to know when big bills might appear but hey ho life is just not like that!

Hope yours is giving you as much enjoyment is mine is to me!!

 

Glad yours is tripping along without issues

Yes I’m thoroughly enjoying mine but it did make some interesting choices of route down to the Isle of Wight and froze at various times… hence my asking

[Chris007]

@John M

I’ve only had a problem with mine once, when it appeared to be working, giving turn directions etc. but in fact it had our position wrong.  This was en route from the ferry at Hook of Holland to a hotel a few miles away.  I wouldn’t have been surprised at it taking some time to get a new GPS lock, but it clearly ‘thought’ it had one.

Navigation was interesting to say the least.  I got several instructions to turn right or left when the only turn in view was a cycle path, of which there are a lot in Holland.

The fix?  Turn it off and on again. I wonder if that’s what they learn on the training course?

New maps issued February.  Just got the SD card updating for the new season.

In general it works OK, but I don’t have a traffic subscription which means it relies solely on the very patchy and not very timely (read not much use) RDS-TMC.  But google maps beats it easily for routing, and as already said a £100 portable satnav typically has a better interface although my Garmin Nuvi offers some fairly dodgy routes as well - and for some reason always crashes on the north side of Newcastle around Gosforth/Jesmond. 

I have a Brodit phone mount so I can use Google maps when I really don’t want to be lost/delayed. And a map!

 Like you I now take a map!

 I’ll also try to ID what version of maps I have…

 

[Thatbeetle]

It’s garbage, got to be one of the worst in-built systems i’ve used. I did try to use it at first but after it took me down several stupidly small roads and dead ends i gave up with it, this was on routes i normally go as well so it was interesting to say the least at what it thought was a good route. I did try adjusting it in the menus but it didn’t seem to make much difference to what it did, system was updated as well. 

As someone else here said TomTom on the phone is great, has got me around several euro trips before now and is definitely as good as the stand-alone units on IOS. Good thing about it is you download the maps to your device so you don’t need data coverage and as a bonus if you have Carplay it will soon be on there as well.

Apple maps has definitely got better lately, Google maps is always good and Waze is ok but personally speaking i don’t like the interface and graphics. Tbh i use Apple maps more than i used to just for the ease and it comes up on the main screen. 

[John_M]

Good point about downloadable maps for offline use on a phone.  I use google maps for that reason.

[Limon]

Hi All

I have just taken delivery of my second Mark 4 NAV,the first one Sept 2015 and sat nav worked perfect from day one,i actually find the Mazda system okay,my new ND2 which i have now had for 1 month and driven 800 miles,the sat nav was bit hit miss from day one,working for several journeys then totally freezing up for a whole day driving,even stopping engine etc did not make it work.

Well i went back to LODGE MAZDA near Aylesbury who i think are an amazing gen garage,they were not sure what was wrong with it and took down various details to contact Mazda U.K about it,just as i was about to drive off a chap came out of workshop and said would i mind if he tried something,he set it all back to factory settings,and it seems to be working amazing equally as well as original,also the radio which did not pick up signals as well as earlier model is working amazing,so hopeful;ly all is sorted time will tell.

 

All best have nice day Simon

[Thatbeetle]

@John M

Good point about downloadable maps for offline use on a phone.  I use google maps for that reason.

Yup, when you’re in the depths of rural France it’s a godsend to not have to rely on data coverage. 

 

[MartinPW]

@RichardFX

@Velocity126

I have to admit the Mazda Sat Nav is not the best I have used.
How do enter Postcodes? I have not managed to find how to do that!!

As Simon said but also remember to enter the space in the middle of the code.

One of the very few annoying things about the MX5 for me has been the inability to enter a full postcode in the nav system. Now with this one post it all becomes clear! Why isn’t it mentioned any where in the manual that, unlike any other satnav in the known universe, the Mazda one requires a space in the middle when keying in a postcode?

Thank you!

[Chris007]

I’ve updated it to February 2019 version and was relieved everything still worked when I replaced the (larger capacity) SD card.
I’ve hardly driven the car since so have yet to see if the sat nav still freezes…

[Countryboy]

The variances in postcode entry methods on different makes of sat nav is just the same annoying feature as with on-line payment forms, some want your card number as a single 16 digit number, others as 4 blocks of 4 digits with a space in between each block as printed on the card, and they don’t all tell you which system they use.

[1Dick]

Chris007

If you do not drive your 5 at every opportunity you do not deserve to have your satnav working :))

[Chris007]

@1Dick

Chris007

If you do not drive your 5 at every opportunity you do not deserve to have your satnav working :))

1■■■■

Fair comment 

 

[1Dick]

Just my naughty sense of humour, no offence meant!

[MartinPW]

I’m surprised that the GPS WNRO (week number roll over) has not received more publicity. The 10 bit week number count means that every 19.7 years it starts again at zero and this happens next on April 6/7 2019. This can (and will!) affect older GPS units not designed to accommodate this. Time and date information displayed could become erroneous. You can read more about it here:-
https://www.gps.gov/cgsic/meetings/2017/powers.pdf

I suspect a great many people worldwide are going to wonder what has happened to their Satnavs, smartphones etc.

[RichardFX]

@MartinPW

I’m surprised that the GPS WNRO (week number roll over) has not received more publicity. The 10 bit week number count means that every 19.7 years it starts again at zero and this happens next on April 6/7 2019. This can (and will!) affect older GPS units not designed to accommodate this. Time and date information displayed could become erroneous. You can read more about it here:-
https://www.gps.gov/cgsic/meetings/2017/powers.pdf

I suspect a great many people worldwide are going to wonder what has happened to their Satnavs, smartphones etc.

Thanks for this.

I’ve just checked my Garmin Nuvi 2599, and it found the correct time and date from the satellites. That is a relief as it will be doing some long trips in unknown territory soon.