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paulkbiba
USA
5038 Posts |
 Posted - 24 févr. 2006 : 23:40:12
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CoPilot Live 6 - Review
 It seems that CoPilot has been around forever. While some GPS programs are at release 2 or 3, CoPilot has recently released version 6! On top of that, not only is CoPilot available for the Pocket PC, but it also can be had in versions for the laptop, Smartphone, and the new Treo 700w. Let's take a look at the Pocket PC version. At the outset, I must say that CoPilot has always been a favorite of mine. I have found earlier versions stable and easy to use (see previous reviews for V4 - USA and UK and v3 USA. Routing has generally been good. Version 6 builds on these strengths, and adds some new features as well.
Anybody using CoPilot will see immediately that the program marches to a different drummer. It is NOT a mapping program that gives you all nearby streets and roads at a glance. It IS a driving program that is meant to get you to from point A to point B using a display that is clear and easy to read and is of minimum distraction to the driver. If you are looking for "eye candy", such a lakes, streams, railroad tracks, lots of road names, etc. you won't find it in CoPilot. What you will find is a program that presents directions in a manner that is extremely easy to see at a quick glance. I spend a lot of time on a motorcycle and consider GPS units, which are becoming more and more popular on motorcycles, to be extremely dangerous. They are simply too distracting and hard to read. CoPilot is the program of choice I use on my bike. I've driven thousands of miles with it and, using its excellent text-to-speech feature have spent a lot of those miles never looking at the screen.
Setup
Setup is simple and quick. The program comes with one CD and a quickstart guide. After installation you must connect to the CoPilot website to activate the program. If you want to install the program on a second PPC then you have to deactivate your current one and then activate it on the new PPC. You can only install on one PPC at a time. In earlier versions of CoPilot the activation/deactivation scheme was really buggy and I had to have many contacts with customer support to unwind strange problems. With Version 6, however, the system works like a charm and I activated/deactived a number of times with no problems at all. Unlike many other programs, there is also an extensive and excellent manual included on the CD (although at times it can't seem to decide if it was written for the US or for the UK).
Aside from the Pocket PC program, CoPilot installs a map cutting program onto your PC. This program is used to get maps onto your Pocket PC or other device. You select an area on the map of the US and the program will cut a map of all the data you need and upload it to your machine. Aside from cutting a map, the program can also cut a map for a route, a region, or an area around a city. A few years ago this was a useful feature because storage cards were expensive so it was useful to be able to just make a map of a particular area and then erase it and make a different area later. However, since storage media has become so cheap there really isn't much of a reason for this program any more. You can cut a map of the entire United States that will fit onto a 1GB SD card, which is exactly what I did, and you'll never look at the PC program again. As a matter of fact, one of the options for purchase is to buy the program with the US pre-loaded onto an SD card. By the way, the PC program can used to import personalized Points of Interest, but I have never tried this.
One of the nice "security" features of CoPilot is that it has an option to load a backup copy of the program onto your SD card so that if anything happens to your PPC you can easily restore the entire program from the card. This is a very thoughtful feature. As a matter of fact, I tested this by doing a hard reset on my Ipaq, and sure enough up popped the CoPilot installation screen asking me if I wanted to re-install the program. Worked like a charm.
After setting up the program it you then connect to your Bluetooth or other GPS unit. CoPilot has significantly improved its connection ability from earlier versions and it is a snap to get connected now.
Once connected you are presented with the following GPS screens:
 
Routing
CoPilot has a whole new menuing scheme for this version. On the good side is the fact that all menu screens are easy to use without a stylus. True to CoPilot's lack of driver distraction basis, the program is the easiest one to use while on the move. Everything can be done with a finger tip. On the bad side, I must admit that I find the menu structure a bit confusing and even after using it extensively for this review I have a bit of trouble figuring out what is where.
As you can see the routing options are pretty obvious, and I should note that CoPilot is one of the few programs that will let you route to or from a latitude and longitude.
CoPilot advertises itself as being able to compute the optimal routing between a number of stops. If you have seven stops on a route, for example, CoPilot has an option to allow the program to re-arrange the stops so that you will be driving along the optimal route to reach all of them in the most efficient manner. I haven't been able to test this in any way that is meaningful, so I won't comment on whether it works or not. Suffice it to say that CoPilot is one of the only programs that will do this.
Routing is fast, even with the entire United States loaded onto my SD card. My card is a plain, vanilla 1X card and I can't imagine spending any extra money to get a faster one. The program works just fine.
Driving
Once you are on the road you will see CoPilot's excellent driver interface. Once again, this is a driving program, not a mapping program, so you won't see a lot of extraneous detail.
The Driver Safety view is the one I use most often, and the one that I use exclusively on my motorcycle.
Very easy to take in at a glance. As you approach the turn the display changes to a close-up of the actual turn:
Along with this, and the other views we'll see below, CoPilot has an excellent text-to-speech ability. It gives you clear spoken directions and pronounces exits, roads and street names. It is amazing how well the speech engine pronounces some very difficult names. Since my motorcycle has a built in stereo system I simply pipe the output of my PPC into it and can drive everywhere just listening to the spoken directions and don't have to take my eyes off the road at all. One problem, however, is that the volume output of the spoken words are pretty low. Even on my Ipaq 4155, which is one of the few Ipaqs with a loud internal speaker, I need either an amplified mount or a direct connection to the stereo to hear the unit over road noise. This goes for my car also, an amplified mount is essential.
Aside from the driver safety view we have a Where Am I View that gives a combination of a 2D map and text instructions:
There are several other views, along with a new 3D view:
Once again, the 3D view is clear and easy to read. Note the little "mile markers" that show up telling you the mileage to the next turn. I don't think they add much, because the overall mileage is given on the top of the screen, but they don't seem to slow things down much on the display. Note how the zoom in and zoom out buttons are finger tip friendly. In all driving views the ETA and remaining driving distance will be shown on the bottom of the screen, along with a customized line of information that you can set yourself. This screen can show current road, nearest crossroad, nearest major road, nearest town, ETA or speed. It will cycle through all of these by means of a screen tap.
CoPilot also has an excellent detour function that will give you a proposed detour around an obstruction in front of you and then allow you to accept or reject the detour. Similar to this, by opening the itinerary you can tap and hold on a section of the itinerary and tell CoPilot to avoid that road.
In the 3D view CoPilot has upgraded its display. Previously one of the annoying things about CoPilot was that the position arrow would gradually travel up to the top of the screen and then the entire screen would re-draw with the arrow at the bottom again. This made for a very jerky display. The 3D view has cured this and the map now scrolls nicely under the arrorw. Unfortunately, the 2D display still uses the same jerky screen re-draws.
Routing has all the typical options of these type of programs, but in addition has an RV option that is supposed to take into account 12'6" height restrictions. I was unable to test this.
Finally, if you are planning a trip on the PPC but don't have a GPS unit connected you have to switch into CoPilot's Planning mode in order to do make the route. I keep forgetting about this and find it rather confusing to have to have two modes of operation. There is also a Walking mode which I have never quite figured out.
CoPilot has the usual Points of Interest:
but I find the display to be less than optimal. As you can see, above, they are just given with mileage from the current location. Without a display of a city, however, this simple listing is not too easy to use. Also, I must say that in my area the Points of Interest are sadly out of date, and I don't know if this means anything for other areas as well.
Special Feature
CoPilot 6 has a special live tracking feature which should be mentioned for the sake of completeness. Unfortunately, I don't have an internet connected PPC, so I couldn't try it out, but it could be important to some people. From the manual: CoPilot Live's functionality provides a range of real time communication tools including real time location tracking, real time messaging and the ability to send new destinations to the driver, all from an internet connected PC. ... With CoPilot Live you can determine a driver's exact location, estimated time of arrival, next scheduled stop and the speed at which the vehicle is traveling - all in real time.
Overall Impression
I am very please with the latest update to CoPilot, though I do think that the new menuing structure is a bit complicated and can be confusing at times. Routing has been excellent, the program is speedy and responsive and it's nice to see that the 3D view has been well implemented. One can also get the entire United States map onto a 1 GB SD card with a little room to spare. CoPilot shares this distinction with OnCourse Navigator 5.
On the con side is a certain confusion, mentioned above, in the menuing system and my suspicion that the Points of Interest are outdated, at least in my area. Speech volume is a problem, also. The main problem, though, is the price. At $200 CoPilot is almost double the cost of programs such as iGuidance, Mapopolis and about $50 - $75 more than TomTomTom or Destinator. Whether this premium is justified is a decision each consumer will have to make.
CoPilot's offices are not far from my home, so I hope that sometime soon in the future I will be able to visit and post a few pictures and perhaps an interview with some the people behind the program.
[Moderator
Don't forget the GPSPassion Club! |
Edited by - paulkbiba on 25 févr. 2006 01:14:32
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Marvin Hlavac
Canada
6843 Posts |
Posted - 25 févr. 2006 : 00:07:53
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Paul, nice review, as always!
I recall one thing that I didn't like was the need to enter city name in the process of address entering. I'm used to entering just street name and street number. In my geographical area that is most of the time my preferred way of entering destination address. Does the new version still require users to enter city?
Marvin Hlavac______________
iG customization | AR and S&T Tips & Tricks |
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paulkbiba
USA
5038 Posts |
Posted - 25 févr. 2006 : 00:19:22
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Yes, it does. City or Zip must be entered after the State.
Moderator
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xco_1998
USA
5 Posts |
Posted - 20 mars 2006 : 09:55:09
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paulkbiba,
Thank you for the very good review.
However, looking at your review and also some screenshots of
Copilot 6, it looks like there is no option to display the names
of all the streets (narrow or wide) arround the point where we are
currently located.
Is that true? That would be a very disspointing limitation...
Best regards,
Xavier.
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paulkbiba
USA
5038 Posts |
Posted - 20 mars 2006 : 16:14:49
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Yes, that is true, but, as I mentioned, CoPilot is a driving program, not a mapping program. If the mapping element is important to you then CoPilot is not the program you want.
Moderator
Don't forget the GPSPassion Club! |
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xco_1998
USA
5 Posts |
Posted - 21 mars 2006 : 06:06:00
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Thanks again Paul!
Even though it is not primarily a "mapping" tool, I was just hoping
that maybe there was a "hidden display option" somewhere... That is
too bad because the information about the street names is there but
they chose not to display them, never!...
I will pass on Copilot for now then... Too bad because I liked this
tool. Thank you Paul anyway.
PS: I do not know if it is the right thread here but could you
please direct me to a GPS software that has exactly the same
features as Copilot v6 but that would also allow me to display the
street names if enabled... That would also be nice if the maps
available with this tool for the USA and France were as up to date
as possible. I am also willing to pay the same price range as Copilot v6!
Best regards,
Xavier.
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paulkbiba
USA
5038 Posts |
Posted - 21 mars 2006 : 06:37:26
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You have a fair number of choices: iGuidance, which has both US and European maps; OCN 5; Mapopolis, TomTom Navigator 5. All of them are better "mapping" programs than CoPilot and display street names in the 2D view. The best program for street names is Mapopolis and it is especially good in the display of streets in cities. It has a demo version, by the way.
Moderator
Don't forget the GPSPassion Club! |
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mcewena
Canada
11 Posts |
Posted - 20 avr. 2006 : 21:14:29
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quote:
Originally posted by paulkbiba
Yes, that is true, but, as I mentioned, CoPilot is a driving program, not a mapping program. If the mapping element is important to you then CoPilot is not the program you want.
Moderator
Don't forget the GPSPassion Club!
I've always liked what I've read about the copilot interface but I understand they rely on their own database in North America, any idea how that compares to Navteq/Telatlas?
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paulkbiba
USA
5038 Posts |
Posted - 20 avr. 2006 : 22:08:37
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Well, I use programs that use all three databases and in some areas one is better than the other and vice versa in other areas. None are "bad" and all of them will get you where you want to go. To be honest, I generally like to have 2 programs, each one using a different database. That way if one can't find it the other usually can.
Moderator
Don't forget the GPSPassion Club! |
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jarredduq
USA
27 Posts |
Posted - 23 avr. 2006 : 06:27:18
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I started my GPS journey with Co-Pilot v1.0, and I feel that their maps have not improved all that much in my area (Stockton/Sacramento, CA).
For instance, my home was built in 1991, and is still not in their database. I've found that the products (Mapopolis/IGuidance) based on Navteq maps are most up-to-date.
Your mileage may vary of course, but CoPilot just doesn't seem as competitve as other solutions out there. I've not purchased Copilot since version 3, but this is based upon a co-worker of mine who has version 6. |
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photon
15 Posts |
Posted - 24 avr. 2006 : 21:36:33
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quote:
Originally posted by xco_1998
paulkbiba,
Thank you for the very good review.
However, looking at your review and also some screenshots of
Copilot 6, it looks like there is no option to display the names
of all the streets (narrow or wide) around the point where we are
currently located.
Is that true? That would be a very disappointing limitation...
This may not be as much information as you wish to see but Copilot will display the name of the crossroad you are aproaching. On CoPilot Laptop versions there are choices of things that can be displayed. One of those choices is to display the next crossroad on screen below the map. This quote from the review gives me the impression the same feature is available with the PPC version:
"In all driving views the ETA and remaining driving distance will be shown on the bottom of the screen, along with a customized line of information that you can set yourself. This screen can show current road, nearest crossroad, nearest major road, nearest town, ETA or speed. It will cycle through all of these by means of a screen tap."
The laptop version does a very good job of displaying the "Nearest Crossroad" when driving on street level streets as you approach it. I have mine set to display this information but I don't know exactly what I need this info for. If I need to turn it will have already informed me graphically and verbally. It doesn't display crossroads when you are driving on a highway.
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Harco
United Kingdom
8 Posts |
Posted - 11 mai 2006 : 23:33:51
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| Thanks for this excellent review Paulkbiba (on what is an excellent forum). It's really helped me make up my mind about what to get. After researching until my head hurt I've decided to get an Imate PDA-n with CoPilot 6. I ordered it yesterday along with a Tom Tom bluetooth reciever because of Gpspassion's review and helpful comments about the accuracy of the PDA-n's embedded antenna. But Matt at Easydevices rang me to query my order and suggest I try it without the additional receiver first. He said he and his colleagues at Easydevices have been trying the PDA-n out and have found the accuracy to be OK. I was well impressed that a dealer should actually encourage a customer to spend £100 less than they originally wanted to! Highly recommended. I'll let you know how I get on with CoPilot once I've had a chance to try it. I'll be mainly using it in the UK but I'll be taking it to Italy in a couple of weeks so I've ordered the European upgrade as well. |
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paulkbiba
USA
5038 Posts |
Posted - 12 mai 2006 : 00:57:09
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Great! Please let us know your experience.
Moderator
Don't forget the GPSPassion Club! |
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admin_0
1 Posts |
Posted - 15 août 2006 : 00:31:43
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Has anyone had the extremely dissappointing experience that I have had with CoPilot 6 for the PDA? I have emailed the company twice now to get my money back but they have not responded. I am using the United States version and, having used Microsoft's Streets & Trips 2000, 2005 with GPS and now 2006 with GPs, the Copilot 6 product left me extremely disappointed. Also, I travel a lot and have used the NeverLost system provided by Hertz; it isn't perfect either but is far, far superior to Copilot Live 6. The routing algorithms (logic) almost always fail me.
Anyway, here is a list of the things that disappointed me and cause me to want to return it for my money back.
* Horrible routing logic (at least in the US)
* Application exits any time my PDA phone "goes to sleep" with an error that the application could not read the memory card.
* Anti-intuitive menus
* The option to "Pick on Map" does not permit one to select a location on the map as the option's title suggests.
* Routing logic is atrocious
* Often tells me to make a turn where no turn exists
* Does not provide "stay on current route" assistance
* When a turn is coming up, the 10 second maximum lead time for notification is not sufficient; you find yourself missing turns almost every time unless you are already familiar with the route (in which case you don't need this software anyway)
* Routing logic extremely disappointing
* Does not save last route used; mainly when using the "planning" option; it always reverts to Guidance mode. This is especially painful when my phone goes on standby and causes the application to exit when I turn it back on and the app fails to immediately read the memory card. The app should try a couple times before telling the user that the memory card is not readable. Let the user fix the problem (if there even is one) and try again.
* Compared to other products I've used, this one rates a 3 on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the best and 1 being the worst.
I have more dislikes for the product but this list should be sufficient for anyone to consider not purchasing this one. I have not tried other PDA mapping products so I can't make a comparison with them but if they are anything like this one, I will just go back to using a compass. Well... if they dropped the price significantly (like in half, at least) and responded to their customers in a timely manor, I would consider using the Copilot Live 6 just to know where I am but not for routing guidance. Did I mention that the routing guidance is abysmal?
I did create two profiles, one for short trips and one for long trips and spent many hours of driving to tweak the profiles to get somewhat adequate routing. For what I paid for this product, that should be coded into the the application. You know, like: if distance to destination > 10 miles (or kilometers for you metric folks), use this logic over here; if desination < 10 miles, use that logic over there.
I am back to using my laptop and an inverter with Streets & Trips 2006, which provides audible instructions. It has a few shortcomings itself but leaves Copilot Live 6 lost in the woods somewhere.
Feel free to email me if you have questions. For you Copilot people: responding to customer complaints is not fun but it is necessary. |
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Ray0
2 Posts |
Posted - 16 nov. 2006 : 23:29:27
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Anyone have a problem with the POI in CoPilot 6 ? In the POI screen the up/down arrows are not highlighted, they are grey. I can't even find a POI folder in the program files. Anyone ?
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deepdoc1
14 Posts |
Posted - 28 nov. 2006 : 19:46:13
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| Hello, Paul. How is your CoPilot 6 experience to date (assuming you have continued to use it, of course)? I have the iPaq hx2795 and am looking for a replacement for my aging Destinator 3.075. CoPilot interests me because of the RV features and waypoints, but you indicated in your earlier review that you haven't used those features much. Any indication of new release from alk yet? Thanks in advance - jb |
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