Thread: Newbie Questions about COMAND (phone & nav disks)

Hi all,

I am the proud owner of my first Mercedes. I just purchased a MY2000 E320. I fell in love with the car on the first ride!

I have the original CD's (circa 1999) for the COMAND and I have not had any luck in finding newer ones. I live in the Midwest (USA - Wisconsin) and am very interested in updated discs.

I am also wondering if it is possible to set up the mobile phone feature with my current phone. The car does not have the Nokia setup that I have read so much about. It simply has the COMAND system and an option for phone.

Please let me know what additional information you need to assist me. I am eager to get these two issues resolved.

Hi
I'd look on eBay for more up to date CDs - in Europe there are other suppliers of CDs but I am not sure of USA and USA maps. Try going to Search4CarParts and using the search facility there to look on eBay (it finds mispellings and other useful stuff).

Phone kit, you can retrofit this kit, which gives you UHI (MHI) - but being a W210 there was never any centre console panels with the cutout for the MHI connector so we recommend putting it in the main glovebox and adding the MB-2 bluetooth device. (dont use the normal MB MHI bluetooth device, it will echo)

Comand Online Ltd :: Phone Retrofit Kits (MOST/D2B) :: Phone retrofit kit for D2B based cars

Comand Online Ltd :: Phone Retrofit Kits (MOST/D2B) :: ViseeO MB-2 (formerly MBU2000) UHI Bluetooth for Mercedes Benz

If you sign into that online shop it will remove the large UK sales tax once it knows you are outside Europe.

Richard

Richard,

Thanks for the quick reply. I am curious about the W210 reference. What does that mean, and how do you know that's what I have?

As for the info you provided, I did a search on eBay and found NO listings for US discs. I had contacted a person who had some CD's listed somewhere else, and he told me that NavTAQ (which apparently supplies map discs to the US) monitors eBay for sellers of single CD's. My understanding is that the discs are sold by the dealers as a set of 10 CD's. Each CD covers a portion of the US. As part of the end user agreement (for the set), a buyer is not allowed to sell the discs they don't want. NavTAQ apparently contacts eBay when they see single CD's listed, and has them removed!

I checked the link for the retrofit on the phone system, and had a couple of questions. If I am doing the math right, the first kit would cost about $750 US and the second part would cost about $350. Is that about right? Does that include the huge tax you referenced? Can I just have the MB dealer install a retrofit?

Another question/comment on the phone is that I have a set of wires that come into the console. The wires connect to 2 buttons in the top console. One button has a wrench symbol, and the other button has an italicized i. These were originally used to contact the Teleaid system, I think. Would I be able to retrofit my phone using these connections? I am assuming that you know what I am talking about, but if some photos would help, I would be glad to provide them.

Last questions, I promise. I read a post somewhere that there is an upgrade CD for the COMAND system software. If that is true, how can I tell if I need it or if I should want it? Where can I get THAT disc?

Thanks, again, for your patience and for having such a GREAT resource for a new, first time owner!

TR

I searched eBay with no results for US maps. I understand that NavTAQ (apparent supplier of US maps) will only sell full sets of the CD's (10 discs covering the US). I also understand that they will not allow single CD sales on eBay. According to my source, they watch eBay for single CD's and request that they be removed due to a breach of the End Users Agreement that disallows the sale of individual discs! So, I have to either buy the entire set from the dealer ($300) or continue looking elsewhere.

As for the retrofit phone, I did the math on the conversion, and it looks like those parts would cost me like $1200 us. Considering I only paid $6000 for the car, I am thinking I can live without the integrated phone!

Finally, I have seen some posts referencing an upgrade to the OS of the COMAND system. It seems that I can upgrade the system with a CD. If true, where would I get my hands on THAT CD? Do I need (should I pursue) this disc?

Thanks, again, for the help, and for having such a GREAT resource!

Sorry for the delayed response, maybe try one of the US boards (mbworld.org) to ask about the disks.

I know what you mean about the phone ..

There is an European COMAND update that gives MY2001 functionality - although later COMANDs came with later software it was not issued as an update.

I do not know if there is a US equivalent

R