Figure 24: Valid House Number Range

Entering the house or building number is a simple matter. Notice how Mercedes displays the valid range of possible house numbers along the chosen street name (1 to 499 in this case). I enter 135 as our desired house number and tap ok to continue.

Figure 25: Choosing the City

In this example we entered the State and Street name first. We could have entered the city name first, however. If you enter a street name before a city name, as we're doing in this example, the NAVI system will display all cities that have matching street names. Looks like Mercedes allows either Manhattan or New York City as acceptable city names. I'll choose Manhattan using the joystick on the armrest.

Figure 26: Address Entry is Complete

Now that we've entered the city name, street name, and house number (sort of), the navigation system has all the information it needs to start routing us to our destination address, and displays the screen shown above. I'll choose Start to begin navigating to our destination address.

Figure 27: NAVI's Minimalist Display

This is map view displayed when navigating to a destination. Unlike most handheld GPS units, Mercedes' GPS lacks a 3-D map view, it is 2-D only. NAVI's map view is so sparse (the only information overlayed on the map is the scale, shown in the lower-left corner) that I found myself wishing I could turn on a few key pieces of information. Given the large, sharp color LCD display, it's a curious decision that none of the following are displayed on the map:

• Time to destination
• Time/Distance to next turn
• Name of the current street you're driving on

There are ways to briefly see this information, but there's no way to have it automatically appear on the map when navigating.

Navigating with Mercedes' NAVI

Figure 28: Accessing the Menu While Navigating

By default virtually nothing is displayed on the map screen when navigating to a destination: the map itself, vehicle icon, and planned route and that's about it.

So if you want to view additional information about the planned trip, or access any of the other navigation features, you'll need to bring up the menu. Pressing down on the joystick activates a menu displayed across the bottom of the screen, as shown above in figure 28.

Figure 29: Route Info Menu

If you want to know how long it's going to take to arrive at your destination, you'll have to navigate over to the "Route Info" menu, as shown above.

It's a curious design decision that Mercedes has buried such basic information 2 menu layers deep rather than displaying it on the map screen. In almost every case the driver will want to know how long the trip will be, and what the estimated arrival time will be. Most, if not all, other GPS systems display this information clearly on the map view rather than requiring additional menu clicks.

Additionally, it is very useful to see the remaining distance and arrival time throughout the trip, so that the impact of traffic or taking alternate routes can immediately be reflected in the arrival time. Mercedes-Benz would do well to re-think their strategy of showing only the most simple map when navigating.

Figure 30: Route Info

Selecting the "Route Info" menu option displays the route summary screen, shown above in figure 30. The route summary screen displays the destination address, remaining distance to destination, time, and remaining drive time.

There's a lot of unused screen space here and not much information displayed. For example, it would be interesting to see a text-list of remaining turns, any potential traffic issues along the route, etc. Or, given the large display, why not have this menu display the map in the lower half so that you can continue to see any upcoming maneuvers?

Figure 31: Route Browser

Mercedes' Route Browser allows you to browse the remaining turns along your planned route. Each leg of the trip is highlighted in blue on the map, and each turn can be viewed in greater detail by clicking on the magnifying glass in the lower right.

Unfortunately, there's no way to get a list of all maneuvers at once, displayed as text. A text-list of turns can be a handy way to verify the route the GPS has plotted out, and confirm you are taking the "best" route. It's also a nice way to get a quick overview of the whole trip.

Nevertheless, Mercedes' map display is crisp and easy to view.

Figure 32: Upcoming Turn Split Screen

When approaching a turn, the map screen automatically changes into a split-screen mode, as shown above in figure 32.

The left side of the screen displays the 2-D map view while the right side of the screen displays a close-up 2-D view of the pending turn, along with a countdown bar displayed vertically along the right side of the screen. Audio prompts also accompany the split-screen, notifying you of the next turn in a computer-generated female voice.

Figure 33: Lane Indicator

A useful feature not found on many other GPS units is the lane of travel indicator. When traveling along a multi-lane roadway, such as a highway, Mercedes' NAVI system displays the desired lane of travel, as shown in the red circled area above in figure 33.

Knowing the correct lane you should be driving in is extremely handy for complex highway interchanges.

Using the Detour Feature

Figure 34: Detour

Every now and then you'll want/need to detour around problem areas along a planned route, such as traffic jams, accidents, and road closings. Mercedes' Detour function allows you to do just that.

Figure 35: Detour Menu

Selecting Detour from the map menu brings up the Detour Browser screen, shown above. This map screen allows you to view the planned route, and select how much of the planned route you want to avoid. Clicking on "More" lengthens the distance, "Less" reduces the number of miles you'll avoid the planned route.

Saving Your Current Position

Figure 36: Position Menu

Saving your current location is possible via the "Position" menu, shown above.

Figure 37: Saving Your Current Position

The Position menu has three options:

• Save Position - saves your current vehicle position to the address book
• Vehicle Position Map - displays the vehicle's position on the map
• Destination Position Map - displays the vehicle on the map at the destination address (where you'll be upon arriving at the destination)