I bought a new BMW X1. It cones with a built in navigator but i prefer to use my Garmin gps. However it seems like my garmin gps cannot get a signal in my BMW.

When i move the garmin gps to my Honda City, it works perfectly.

Any idea what's wrong?

sorry cant help on that one maybe buy a merc

This web page may have the answer for you:

http://www.gpsreview.net/poor-gps-reception-windshields/

Ask the BMW agent. Did you get any 'sunfilm' installed? If so, that could be the culprit.

Edit

For example...

"Designed to maintain the appearance of your car, Crystalline films allow up to 90% of the light into your vehicle. Because these films are non-metallized, you can be assured of zero interference with GPS or cell phone signals." >>> http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/Window_Film/Solutions/Markets-Products/Automotive/Crystalline-Automotive-Films/

I had same issue with a Pajero (couldn't afford a BMW) and the GPS only worked in the rear of the car. Something to do with the car entertainment system on the dash. My solution was to use an external blue tooth GPS antenna at rear of car connected to the GPS display on dash. The GPS signal is extremely low powered from space so easy to get disrupted by noise.

Thanks everyone for the comments/suggestions.

Yes i installed Lamina film on all the glass panels of the car. I did a search and found several other people using the same model of Lamina film and they said they have no problems with their GPS.

I did a test by turning on my GPS outside my car and it worked perfectly, then i went into my car and the GPS signal immediately went off.

So i suspect its either the film OR the in-built Navigator (that came with the car) is blocking my external GPS signal...

Does anyone have any problem when using an external GPS in a car that has an in-built navigator?

I had same issue with a Pajero (couldn't afford a BMW) and the GPS only worked in the rear of the car. Something to do with the car entertainment system on the dash. My solution was to use an external blue tooth GPS antenna at rear of car connected to the GPS display on dash. The GPS signal is extremely low powered from space so easy to get disrupted by noise.

I have a Pajero 2.5 GT (also too poor to afford a BMW) and I don't have any problem with my Garmin GPS getting a signal.

Which Garmin do you have ?

I have tried the following GPS in my car and they all work perfectly (it can take a while for them to get a signal at first, but after they have it, they won't let go )

Nuvi 2575 link: http://www.gpssociety.com/EN/Pages/productdetailfeature.aspx?SiteName=EN&Category=PND&ID=12

Nuvi 42 link: http://www.gpssociety.com/EN/Pages/productdetailfeature.aspx?SiteName=EN&Category=PND&ID=27

Nuvi 3560LM Link: http://www.gpssociety.com/EN/Pages/productdetailfeature.aspx?SiteName=EN&Category=PND&ID=21

Lamina is the prob. Ravips got the answer.Crystalines the way to go,plus it doesn't impair ones vision.Passengers are the first to say how nice it is to see out for once.

I had same issue with a Pajero (couldn't afford a BMW) and the GPS only worked in the rear of the car. Something to do with the car entertainment system on the dash. My solution was to use an external blue tooth GPS antenna at rear of car connected to the GPS display on dash. The GPS signal is extremely low powered from space so easy to get disrupted by noise.

I have a Pajero 2.5 GT (also too poor to afford a BMW) and I don't have any problem with my Garmin GPS getting a signal.

Which Garmin do you have ?

I have tried the following GPS in my car and they all work perfectly (it can take a while for them to get a signal at first, but after they have it, they won't let go )

Nuvi 2575 link: http://www.gpssociety.com/EN/Pages/productdetailfeature.aspx?SiteName=EN&Category=PND&ID=12

Nuvi 42 link: http://www.gpssociety.com/EN/Pages/productdetailfeature.aspx?SiteName=EN&Category=PND&ID=27

Nuvi 3560LM Link: http://www.gpssociety.com/EN/Pages/productdetailfeature.aspx?SiteName=EN&Category=PND&ID=21

Glad to hear it works well for you. I have a working system now as I would expect on another car (Fortuner).

The Pajero was a car rental (model doesn't matter as applies to any car I would think), that may had some kind of screen lamination and a built in (3rd party) vehicle entertainment screen and navigator with useless maps so I needed an external GPS/navigation map. The external GPSs (I had two to try) were not Garmin, but a Samsung and also another Qstartz BT-Q1000 GPS receiver. Both would not work at front of car and had to be located on back row seat or further back to get a GPS fix. I tethered BT-Q1000 located at vehicle rear to Samsung GPS navigator screen on dash.

Zen, It's going to be the strength of the film used on your cars windows, not any electronic equipment installed in your car.

I have a Garmin and a Tom Tom that work perfectly in both our cars. A friends new Pajero (on which he'd had a very dark film fitted on the windows) had it's own sat nav built in but he complained that it seemed quite basic compared to my Garmin.

So on a recent trip we decide to take the Garmin along and run both at the same time and compare them. But, once inside the Pajero, the Garmin couldn't find any satellites. As soon as I took it out of the car it found the satellites again almost immediately. With the Garmin still connected to the satellites I sat in the car again, with the engine running and door open and it still worked. But when I closed the car door it 'lost satellite reception' almost immediately.

Simply winding the door window down (and thereby 'removing' the film) restored the satellite signals.

WorriedNoodle, I would suggest your sat nav worked in the back of the car you rented because the car's rear window had a lighter film fitted (which is usually recommended to improve viewing via the rear view mirror) and this allowed the satellite signals to penetrate.