MS5000 Article by John Kaywood, Conrad Anderson UK

John Kaywood gives the MS5000 a full road test

Editorial from the Motor Caravanners Magazine, June 2001 issue.

MS 5000

JOHN KAYWOOD takes the orbital route and gives the UK's leading and most popular satellite navigation system, the Siemans-VDO MS-5000, a full road test - and listens very attentively to Dottie.

SATELLITE navigation is the single most important innovation to make it into a road vehicle in the last decade.

The thought of having your very own personal navigator - that talks you through every turning and roundabout - is so very, very reassuring when you are making a difficult journey to an unfamiliar destination.

The leader in this exciting new technology is German manufacturer Siemans. VDO (marketed as VDO-Dayton), and I have been conducting in-depth tests during the last few months on VDO's flagship and most popular model, the MS-5000.

The unit comes highly recommended. The MS-5000 has been rated 'Best Buy' in Auto Express magazine and it scooped the 'Best Navigation System' in the Total Car magazine awards last November.

Nine UK Health Authorities have now kitted out their ambulances with the MS-5000 and it has recently gained Government approval for fitting to police cars and fire service vehicles.

Although the really technically proficient may be capable of fitting the unit themselves (the dash has to come out and there's a heck of a lot of wiring to sort out), I am sure that most people would opt for a professional fitting service. I certainly did.

VDO directed me to one the UK's leading satellite navigation installers, Conrad Anderson, of Ward End, Birmingham, who offer a countrywide home fitting service, and whom, I first met on their stand at the Shepton Mallet Show, last September, where they were giving in-depth demos.

I soon saw why VDO said that Conrad Anderson easily is their preferred motorhome installer and quickly appreciated why the Birmingham company has built-up such an enviable reputation for high-class fitting expertise.

Steve Anderson, the proprietor, completed installing the entire system - (including the fitting of an optional rear view camera) in just under four hours. His entire fitting operation throughout the UK is fully mobile.

I monitored the MS-5000 installation in order to take pictures and was extremely impressed with how Steve went about what, to me, was an extremely complicated fitting procedure with loads of cables to be connected.

The first step was to install under the passenger seat the system's computer into which went the CD containing highly detailed information for the whole of the UK.

Satellite navigation makes use of eight of the 24 satellites orbiting the earth. The eight combine to give a precise vehicle position, a technology called GPS (Global Positioning System).

Using the eight satellites above, GPS calculates the distance between you and each of them to pinpoint your precise location. The GPS then sends the information via radio waves to a receiver (the aerial) located in the vehicle.

A sat-nav system combines this data with information from a map stored on a CD or DVD. Systems using DVD have about ten times the capacity of a CD and can store entire maps of Europe.

A CD will only store maps for individual countries, although the disc supplied by VDO contained the major roads throughout all European countries. Individual CDs for Europe, at £99 each, contain specific local level street information.

Steve Anderson told me he has thoroughly checked out all the leading sat- nav systems on the market and has nailed his cloth firmly to the Siemans-VDO mast.

"It's not just because the MS-5000 works really well but, most importantly, it has proved to be very reliable."

"As I travel throughout Britain it is vital that I fit an ultra- reliable system, because I certainly don't want to be chasing all over the country fixing faults," Steve told me.

The first thing that strikes you about the entire system is the size of the satellite receiver (or aerial). It's nothing like the one you need to receive satellite television; it measures just 2ins by 1.5ins and fits snugly into a corner of the windscreen, after making sure that it has direct line of sight with the satellites orbiting in the heavens above.

So how do you go about telling the unit where you want to go? You simply give it your destination by tapping in the address via the remote control.

"I soon saw why VDO said that Conrad Anderson easily is their preferred motorhome installer and quickly appreciated why the Birmingham company has built-up such an enviable reputation for high-class fitting expertise."

The unit will tell you which route it is going to take and the estimated time of arrival. It can also calculate how far you have travelled, journey time so far, and average speed.

When you give destination town, the unit will prompt you for the street names and house numbers in order to set the route - and it's very easy to save destinations for future use.

You can specify whether you want to use or avoid motorways, travel via a certain road on your journey, or whether you want the fastest or shortest route. You can take a wide view by looking at your route from a distance of five miles, or you can zoom in to a 250-yards close-up.

The system is simplicity itself to use as all operations are done through the remote control connected to the vehicle's 12-volt supply, or used independently from internal batteries. I found it far easier to navigate than the remote control that comes with the video recorder.

The MS-500 has a full-colour 6 inch x 3.5 inch screen displaying maps or, if you wish, a split screen which is a combination of the map along with the direction arrows taking up the right-hand side of the screen.

This is achieved by a touch of a button on the remote control, fixed to the dashboard in a holster via self-adhesive pads.

The daylight viewing screen with automatic brightness control and the ability to automatically turn on your headlights, are definite display advantages. I have not seen a better monitor in direct sunlight on any other sat-nav system.

But the real magic of the system is the spoken commands. A gently reassuring female voice prompts you at every turn and roundabout.

'The Voice' really does make for a totally stress-free route and direction finding. Alternative voices (one male and one female) can be installed, but the default voice was found to be easily the most attractive to listen to.

I christened her 'Dottie', but Steve (Anderson) said several of his customers had opted for 'Pam' as that spells map backwards. Clever stuff.

Having an MS-5000 in your motorhome is a lot like having a human copilot in the passenger seat with a road atlas and total familiarity with your travel area.

Other functions allow you to view the map without voice guidance (although who would want to?), retrieve addresses from the address book, set up system parameters, operate map screen guidance, pointer screen guidance, or split-screen guidance.

There's an automatic control that increases volume as your vehicle speeds up thereby overcoming any engine noise or tyre roar, and reduces it as you slow down.

The MS-5000 includes a built-in directory with over 40 categories of Places To Go such as petrol stations, restaurants, hotels, tourist attractions, civic centres, sports arenas etc.

What other features does the MS-5000 have? There's an address book with up to 100 entries. In addition, you can pick from the last 10 destinations entered.

The Trip Computer provides average speed, elapsed time/distance, and programmable speed warning. There are eight route choices - the fastest, shortest and avoid toll-roads, avoid expressways (motorways), or deliberately choose them.

As soon as you switch on the unit it hunts for the satellites, usually taking just a few seconds. Once it has locked-on, your current position is clearly shown as being a small black triangle inside a circle.

As soon as you start to drive, the arrow moves across the map following a bright white line, which is the route the unit has selected. You can tell it to go the shortest way, the fastest, or an alternative route to that you chosen.

"The Trip Computer provides average speed, elapsed time/distance, and programmable speed warning. There are eight route choices - the fastest, shortest and avoid toll-roads, avoid expressways (motorways), or deliberately choose them."

Getting from where you currently are to your chosen destination point is only half the story. Say you want a campsite on the south coast, driving from Manchester, but want to call in at various friends' houses en-route. The MS-5000 easily lets you store up to 25 of what called 'Via Points' on your journey.

This means that your ultimate destination is always programmed in, but the Via Points will take you all your detour addresses in the order that you want, before finally seeing you safely on your way from your final Via Point to that address on the south coast.

A tap on the remote control will also give you local information as to parks, restaurants, petrol stations and so on.

I spent a lot of time trying to fool the system. In fact I spent hours deliberately getting myself totally lost - but I never managed to beat the system.

The MS-5000 always knows exactly where you are and provided you tell it where you want to go, it will take you there, unfalteringly, every time.

Routes are calculated within a few seconds and, if you accidentally (or deliberately) go off the set route, the unit will immediately recalculate the route to your destination, again within just a few seconds. It really is impressive.

Many car manufacturers are now offering sat-nav systems as standard equipment, but more frequently, they are offered as optional extras, with costs ranging up to about £2,500.

The MS-5000 costs £1500, including fitting by Conrad Anderson, or £1800 if you want to include the very useful rear camera installation. (Check current prices)

The beauty of this is that only one screen is required for watching what's going on behind you and, with a flick of a switch, reverting back to the road map.

There are various views to choose from. You can specify a picture of the ground directly below the vehicle or you can encompass a number of wider views until you are looking way back down the road.

These are selected via a switch on the top of the screen, allowing the driver (or more usually the passenger), to instantly alternate between the map information and keeping a watchful eye on what's going on behind. This facility would be particularly useful while towing a car behind the motorhome.

Marking out of 100? I give the MS-5000 a 99-plus. I would have given it a maximum score except for the fact that the unit does not operate on maximum digit postcodes, although to be fair, providing you know the address you want to find that omission did not really cause any hiccups.

Now that I have thoroughly tasted what the MS-5000 can do for direction finding, there is no way I would want to be without it again.

Okay, road atlases from WH Smith costing less than a fiver will show you routes...but, they have far less information - and they don't have Dottie (or Pam) to talk to you, guiding you every step of the way.

The MS-5000? In a word - excellent.

NOTE - By the time you read this, Traffic Management Control (TMC) will have been switched on, a giant step forward in the development of satellite navigation.

TMC automatically cuts in when it sees an obstruction or traffic jam ahead and will immediately re-route you round the problem.

For more details contact:
Conrad Anderson, 0800 279 6939. Siemens-VDO, 0121 326 1234.