Why factory fit sat navs are so expensive.

[miniman]

Often wondered why on earth a manufacturer will charge so much for a built-in sat nav system when a TomTom is only £99. Some research into whether I could retro-fit a factory nav system into my ZT (the head unit is available for around £140 on eBay) reveals part of the reason, I think.

Here's the full system removed from the car:





Now clearly this is fairly old BMW tech but there's no denying that in its day that represents a fair amount of kit.

[Murph7355]

Just smacks of poor design to me, and lack of foresight.

[waremark]

Murph7355 said:

Just smacks of poor design to me, and lack of foresight.

Remember how long ago this was designed - early 90's I think, hence use of CD ROM rather than solid state memory, etc.

Even today integrated systems have many more inputs than handhelds - so that for example they keep position much more accurately when out of sight of the sky. And they incorporate a lot of software design specifically to integrate them with the car's other systems.

Personally, I have a Tomtom stuck on the windscreen of my iDrive equipped BMW! But I recognise that the factory systems are bound to be higher priced.

[huckster6]

...and if you cough up the factory asking price there is little incentive to
(1) innovate, and
(2) cut costs, and
(3) pass on the lower costs to the punter
...I always assume they charge what they can get away with...

[Vladimir Pukin]

Looks like there's a CD autochanger and a DVD drive there. Possibly Bluetooth as well. So not just a sat nav fit. Anyway it's not that complicated.

Edited by Vladimir Pukin on Wednesday 12th May 18:25

[F i F]

waremark said:

Murph7355 said:

Just smacks of poor design to me, and lack of foresight.

Remember how long ago this was designed - early 90's I think, hence use of CD ROM rather than solid state memory, etc.

Even today integrated systems have many more inputs than handhelds - so that for example they keep position much more accurately when out of sight of the sky. And they incorporate a lot of software design specifically to integrate them with the car's other systems.

This ^^

A decent OEM kit will have in addition to the GPS signal inputs from, wheel sensors, gyro compass, accelerometers and maybe some other stuff I don't know about. Also they will interface with audio and telephone systems, plus in some cases they all network with other vehicle systems to determine how busy the driver is so that they don't give you an instruction when you might be a shade occupied.

When comparing a proper OEM system in terms of accuracy and the timing of the guidance the Tom-Tom / Garmin etc solutions, whilst a mile and more cheaper are far inferior in my experience. Having said that you can get OEM systems that do seem at first to have odd route finding algorithms, but it's a matter of set up and familiarity again in my experience. Again you can say that of the aftermarket systems, points at Garmin's annoying habit of taking you down single tracks to save 150 metres.

Having said all that there is an element of charging what the market will stand. For example the cost of installing a Garmin 760 using one of those neat dashboard mounts from Volvo is excessive but is probably what the market will pay, plus it's annoying that they wouldn't / don't? sell you the mounting kit separately but want include the Garmin 760 for way above what it costs at full retail even in Hellfrauds. OK it's a neat solution and does away with the wiring but even so. Even then it doesn't compare for accuracy with the OEM RTI kit.