Discover Media Pro advantages?

[jaynehale1968]

Hi there,
Im just finalising the final spec of my california ocean and Im still pondering whether to get the discover media pro.
The things that I like about it are the bigger screen, the voice control the built in pod casts and European road maps and DAB radio.
Can anyone please tell me if there are any other advantages or disadvantages?
Thanks

 

[Van Diesel VW]

Disadvantages - Price

The reason I chose it as an option, bigger screen and looks neater on the dashboard with no sticking out buttons. Plus you also get the maps I the digital dash, which I don’t think you get with more basic unit.

VW maps are ok and the pro gives you 3 years of connect, but so are Google and Apple Maps after 10 months of ownership still don’t have a map preference, although used Google most on a 2 week tour of Scotland recently. short journeys don’t always connect my phone so use VW maps so having the connect data is important.

If I was buying again I would still spec the pro. Other threads where people have had issue will pixelated screens, so software may have bugs, but I have not experienced any problems so far.

 

[dspuk]

We prefer the larger screen and no buttons. Personal preference on that side. Built in podcasts and maps are useless, as are any other VW paid for online services (we do use the WE app though), just use Waze via Carplay and then your phones music and podcast app. The larger screen is very well utilised on Carplay.

 

[Georgeo]

We prefer the larger screen and no buttons. Personal preference on that side. Built in podcasts and maps are useless, as are any other VW paid for online services (we do use the WE app though), just use Waze via Carplay and then your phones music and podcast app. The larger screen is very well utilised on Carplay.

The maps are good and a great backup when no mobile signal.

 

[dspuk]

The maps are good and a great backup when no mobile signal.

Never used TBH. Even on the NC500 or in the wilds of Orkney Waze performed perfectly. Sure if push came to shove and I had to use them they are a great last resort.

 

[CaliforniaPhil]

Never used TBH. Even on the NC500 or in the wilds of Orkney Waze performed perfectly. Sure if push came to shove and I had to use them they are a great last resort.

You must have a better mobile provider than me. We have O² and Vodafone (Voxi). Travelling around Wales we had several sites with no mobile signal. The built in maps have been used a lot and its nice having it to view in the digital dash. I do tend to go back to Waze when I have a signal though.

 

[Kernowboy]

Plus you also get the maps I the digital dash, which I don’t think you get with more basic unit.

Standard unit gives maps in digital dash; that was an update a few years ago now.
I think the only real advantage of the pro is size. Equally price is probably the only disadvantage.
There is a California Chris feature on this you’ll be able to find on you tube which may be useful; IIRC his conclusion was that with maps now available in the dash there was little benefit in paying so much extra for the pro.

 

[dspuk]

You must have a better mobile provider than me. We have O² and Vodafone (Voxi). Travelling around Wales we had several sites with no mobile signal. The built in maps have been used a lot and its nice having it to view in the digital dash. I do tend to go back to Waze when I have a signal though.

Maybe, we on EE and if that fails we have a Vodafone Sim unit in Van for Dashcam that we use - once you have a route in then it does cache much of it and as long as GPS is ok, tracks fine. For Google you can download the maps for ofline use in case you do have sketchy areas. Google owns Waze, so the experience comparable. There was one occasion in the wilds of North Scotland on the west side where it took a while to grab the start of a route but not enough to need to use the in built map.

 

[dspuk]

Standard unit gives maps in digital dash; that was an update a few years ago now.
I think the only real advantage of the pro is size. Equally price is probably the only disadvantage.
There is a California Chris feature on this you’ll be able to find on you tube which may be useful; IIRC his conclusion was that with maps now available in the dash there was little benefit in paying so much extra for the pro.

Agree, but once you have used a larger full screen hard to go back. We specced our Tiguan with the same so was a must have for the van. No-one ever said I wish I got a smaller screen*

*cue replies of people saying they wish they had a smaller screen

 

[andyinluton]

Agree, but once you have used a larger full screen hard to go back. We specced our Tiguan with the same so was a must have for the van. No-one ever said I wish I got a smaller screen*

*cue replies of people saying they wish they had a smaller screen

Totally agree - went from the pro in the Ocean to the standard in the GC & back to the pro in the new van. On the none pro version you could only have nav or media or phone on screen on the pro version you can have a split screen as below, the map portion of the screen is about the size of the none pro whole screen.
The bigger you can have a map display the better as it lets you see further ahead without having to zoom in.

 

[briwy]

Our Tiguan came with the standard Discovery which I like. I prefer to have the buttons which for me give ease of zooming etc. Screen size plenty big enough for us

 

[Jimmylondon07]

Totally agree - went from the pro in the Ocean to the standard in the GC & back to the pro in the new van. On the none pro version you could only have nav or media or phone on screen on the pro version you can have a split screen as below, the map portion of the screen is about the size of the none pro whole screen.
The bigger you can have a map display the better as it lets you see further ahead without having to zoom in.

View attachment 112998

Hi Andy

On a previous thread which I now can’t find I’m pretty sure you had googlemaps satellite view on your Pro screen and the regular navigation maps on the digital dash, how did you set that up? Love the idea of being able to spot little coves and stuff on the Pro screen whilst navigating from the dash. Apologies if it wasn’t you!

 

[andyinluton]

It was me, set your destination on vw maps, change the dashboard display to show the maps, then just switch to CarPlay on the big screen & fire up google maps.

Theoretically the vans computer can only drive one of the two sat navs at a time it defaults to the last one opened for issuing driving instructions. Both screens still show current position & the second screen still shows the original planned route.

You can easily still flip between google maps & VW nav on the big screen.

My Mrs did manage to get both actually navigating at the same time by using screen mirroring for the big screen so the nav was being run on the phone, while the van did the nav for the dash display.

The previous thread was “Advice needed with extras ?”