Alfa 159 & Brera Blue&Me Navigation
Discussion
So I've got my 159 with the "Blue&Me" system, it's the middle-of-the-range multimedia system you can get on some alfa's/fiats now.
It's supposed to have:
- Multimedia (play your empeethrees from a youesbeestick)
- Bluetooth phone connectivity (which works fine)
- Navigation (which wil be my subject)
So, what I wanted to ask, is, does anyone ever worked with it?
I mean is it me or is that just a poor excuse for a sat nav?
For example: I haven't found the possibility to save locations (which would be a basic feature imo), nor I found it in the documenation so I believe it to be abscent. That wouldn't be too bad, if it were easy to enter a location.
Well, it's not, in fact, it seems to me like near impossible.
First: you have to stand still to perform this so you put yourself at the side of the road
Second: You select the name of the city by entering the characters, you scroll trough the alfabet with a push button (not a "volume-style" roller), it takes quite some time to search everything, you have to press "OK" like 10 times
So this may seem not that bad, but I can assure you, I went trough this entire process 3 times:
The first time everything was entered, I pressed ok for a couple of times more and started rolling. Seems I had to press the ok button one more time and it reseted because, well, you can't do that while driving.
So, it really reset! I started over, pretty pissed, but anyway, and I got to the street and entered a time to much and put in an "A", he saw there was only one street with like "MA..." so he took that one, I tried to go back, but no, the only thing it did was turn it off...
so I had to start over again.
It kinda pissed me off, but when I was done the satnav worked well.
Now, I have a job in which I use the SatNav almost daily, and I'm feeling obligated to buy me a "Garvin" like nav.
So, I'm I the only one who thinks that satnav is rubbish?
Am I the only one with troubles about it?
Are there updates because they saw it was just unusable?
What's it like with the other manufacturers basic sat nav?
I've had peugeot's NavTeq (the big one) and I loved it, everything worked really fast, with a SMS-like entering system (or the volume scroller if you prefered).
It's supposed to have:
- Multimedia (play your empeethrees from a youesbeestick)
- Bluetooth phone connectivity (which works fine)
- Navigation (which wil be my subject)
So, what I wanted to ask, is, does anyone ever worked with it?
I mean is it me or is that just a poor excuse for a sat nav?
For example: I haven't found the possibility to save locations (which would be a basic feature imo), nor I found it in the documenation so I believe it to be abscent. That wouldn't be too bad, if it were easy to enter a location.
Well, it's not, in fact, it seems to me like near impossible.
First: you have to stand still to perform this so you put yourself at the side of the road
Second: You select the name of the city by entering the characters, you scroll trough the alfabet with a push button (not a "volume-style" roller), it takes quite some time to search everything, you have to press "OK" like 10 times
So this may seem not that bad, but I can assure you, I went trough this entire process 3 times:
The first time everything was entered, I pressed ok for a couple of times more and started rolling. Seems I had to press the ok button one more time and it reseted because, well, you can't do that while driving.
So, it really reset! I started over, pretty pissed, but anyway, and I got to the street and entered a time to much and put in an "A", he saw there was only one street with like "MA..." so he took that one, I tried to go back, but no, the only thing it did was turn it off...
so I had to start over again.
It kinda pissed me off, but when I was done the satnav worked well.
Now, I have a job in which I use the SatNav almost daily, and I'm feeling obligated to buy me a "Garvin" like nav.
So, I'm I the only one who thinks that satnav is rubbish?
Am I the only one with troubles about it?
Are there updates because they saw it was just unusable?
What's it like with the other manufacturers basic sat nav?
I've had peugeot's NavTeq (the big one) and I loved it, everything worked really fast, with a SMS-like entering system (or the volume scroller if you prefered).
I've not had any experience of this system, but if it's like any of the other technology in the 159, I am not surprised one bit. The thing that annoys me the most about the 159 radio (and at risk of going off topic)is the bl**dy traffic announcements. You're toodling along at 30 in town with the stereo at a sedate 8 points in terms of volume, the next thing you know your head explodes when bbc radio traffic cuts in at 20 points. Who in their right mind has the radio this loud, it sounds distorted at this level any way. According to the book however, this is standard and there is no way of amending it at all and in fact if you are listening to the radio above 20 points (why anyone would want to do this is beyond me) then it cuts in 1 point above the level you are listening at. As a result I have turned the traffic announcements off and will take the risk of getting into jams, rather than have my head explode every 15 minutes. I feel your pain mate, I really do.
sixpot said:
The thing that annoys me the most about the 159 radio (and at risk of going off topic)is the bl**dy traffic announcements. You're toodling along at 30 in town with the stereo at a sedate 8 points in terms of volume, the next thing you know your head explodes when bbc radio traffic cuts in at 20 points.
I don't tend to have traffic on so I've not experienced that, but I don't suppose it's the same technique as quietening the B+M lady? I spent about a week of her shouting at me before I found out how to adjust her. From the tone of your post I guess you've tried that, and I guess it's not. 
The thing that does irritate me about the radio is the "strongest-frequency-switch" thing. I tend to listen to either Radio 4 (because I'm old before my time) or Radio Forth which is our local station. If I turn off the auto-switching, Radio 4 disappears all the time, and if I turn it on then it switches at will between Radio Forth and Radio Tay, which is the next-nearset local station.
I know what it's doing, and I know why, and I know it's probably just down to some freak geographical / signal overlap thing where I live but it's still pretty annoying, and I've never noticed it to the same extent in any other car.
sixpot said:
I've not had any experience of this system, but if it's like any of the other technology in the 159, I am not surprised one bit. The thing that annoys me the most about the 159 radio (and at risk of going off topic)is the bl**dy traffic announcements. You're toodling along at 30 in town with the stereo at a sedate 8 points in terms of volume, the next thing you know your head explodes when bbc radio traffic cuts in at 20 points. Who in their right mind has the radio this loud, it sounds distorted at this level any way. According to the book however, this is standard and there is no way of amending it at all and in fact if you are listening to the radio above 20 points (why anyone would want to do this is beyond me) then it cuts in 1 point above the level you are listening at. As a result I have turned the traffic announcements off and will take the risk of getting into jams, rather than have my head explode every 15 minutes. I feel your pain mate, I really do.
Lol, haven't met that one yet, what MY do you have?The MY 2009 (or was it 2008) has had some tweaks I have been told (like a button for the trunk actually on the trunk
).Don't get me wrong, I love the car but I feel obliged to buy me a seperate SatNav, which I do not like because, well it looks aftermarket (which it is), you have to put it away every time (in the 159 -> in the boot??)...
Also, replacing the double DIN for a Pioneer one would be an option but an overly expensive one imo.
Should have done better research and got me the better one on option
.Anyway, the Alfa is like the missus: I'd forgive it anything because it looks that good
Having used the Blue & Me for a couple of weeks now, I'd have to say it's still not a practical navigation to set up, but it's not as annoying as I found it in the beginning.
So it went from ripping-it-out-of-the-car-while-killing-yourself to annoying-so-you-only-use-it-when-you-really-have-to.
So it went from ripping-it-out-of-the-car-while-killing-yourself to annoying-so-you-only-use-it-when-you-really-have-to.
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