After market GPS pales when compared with the vehicle based GPS. the vehicle based GPS is pricey for a reason: better integration, bigger size screen, and ease of use. This is speaking from someone who used 3 different GPS (TomTom, Garmin, Mio).

the car based GPS often comes with a backup camera. i bet if you ever used it, you will never leave without it. after market units do ofter VGA ports and you may be able to link the camera to it, but you need to mod your car, and switch to video every time. it is such a hassle and most people tend not to use it.

the car based GPS also has gyro sensor build in the car to provide angle calculations. so you won't get lost when you don't have GPS signal. this additional input also enables the car based GPS to achieve a much higher accuracy. in addition, when you start your car, you don't need to wait 5 minutes to find some satellite and to locate yourself before you can do anything else.

many car based GPS comes with 7 inch monitor. I'd like to know how the hell do you stick a 7 inch GPS in front of your windshield.

and lastly, the car based GPS integrate very well with your vehicle, all my xm navi traffic, calendar/memo, DVD, blue tooth phone, vehicle information and maintenance schedules are build in. wonder how a after market product can ever achieve that?

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@seanleeforever
There are plenty of aftermarket solutions that integrate with the vehicle nicely and provide all the features you listed (and are usually much cheaper than the factory nav option).. look up the Pioneer Avic F900BT for example. Aftermarket GPS doesn't necessarily mean a hand held one.

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"...wonder how a after market product can ever achieve that?" - seanleeforever

You wouldn't have to wonder if you actually took an objective look at a current portable navigation device. Inferior ease of use? Five minute signal acquisition times? Seriously?? You definitely haven't seen a modern PND made within the last decade. I'll never figure out what it is about people like you who can't make any case without being so embarrassingly misinformed or just flat-out dishonest.

Even so, you make some great points about built-ins. In particular, the rear view camera option and the gyro sensor thingie (a.k.a. dead-reckoning in GPS-speak) are big selling factors to me. Those features are why my next car will have a built-in or it's no sale. But portable GPS units like the one I have now also have their advantages, and that list is not limited to the fact that most of them are still one-fourth or even one-fifth the price of the average built-in.

Like most of these opinionated pissing contests, this all comes down to a matter of preference. Built-in .vs. portable is a choice the consumer can make based on his needs/wants and what he's willing to pay in order to satisfy them. These type debates are idiotic and wholly juvenile.. "Mine is better than yours" is all to common a theme and it's so painfully old. I think the PND was a great buy and it will still be useful well after my next car comes with a built-in. Best of both worlds. (So there!)

Your post also completely ignores the point of this article (which was anything but "portables are better") the point is that the Benz boys know the limitations with built-in systems are a notable problem and they're paying for it in lost sales. Not enough people checking the sat-nav box on the buyer's order I imagine. Why else would they spend R&D dollars to secure a competitive advantage by fixing the most glaring issues inherent to built-ins?

This is awesome news. With any luck, Acura, BMW, ect., will follow suit. Progress through competition rocks.

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Not for me!

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