I have a 2001 X5 and purchased a Lowrance Iway-350 portable navigation unit a while back. I have always had problems with obtaining the satellite lock with this unit - sometimes in happens in a few minutes, sometimes I can't get it at all. Recently I read a discussion that this could potentially have something to do with a coating on the windshield? Is this a problem for BMWs? or is this just an issue with the Lowrance unit? I do seem to consistently (and quickly) get a satellite lock when the unit is outside the car. Has anyone had similar experiences? Do other units (Garmin, Tom-Tom, etc.) work better, or do you need an outside vs. integral antenna?
My Garmin Nuvi 200W does the same thing. Sometimes it comes right up and other times it takes 3 or 4 minutes. I just thought it had to do with the unit itself and never tried to compare in car vs. out of car, I thought it may take longer if it was not used for some time or if the unit was in a different location when turning it on compared to where you shut it off.
I had the same unit (Lowrance Iway350) and had the satellite locking issue a number of times in a non BMW vehicle. I ended up selling it on Ebay for this reason among others such as it did not speak street names, have traffic alerts, distances and rerouting were awful and it was just often wrong. I ended up getting a AT&T TILT PDA phone which performs all of that extremely well. I was surprised. In fact it works so well it is why I did not order navigation for my current BMW. The Lowrance is what it is, obselete unfortunately.
Thanks Keith - I guess it's not just the Lowrance. Although, as pointed out in the thread, it has also become obsolete.
Thanks - I've also had similar experiences when the Lowrance was actually working. I also just purchased a new touch screen phone with Verizon's VZNavigator software - it works great and has traffic alerts, updates, etc. I think now that I won't need a new nav unit.
