THE ADVANTAGES OF COPILOT

[PONDEROUS]

The past domination of the Copilot forum by arguments over a review ad some of CP 5's historicial problems tends to obscure the real advantages that CP 6 presently offers over many competing products. I therefore thought that a thread dedicated to the advantages of Copilot would be no bad thing.

This is not to deny the disappointing (not to mention infuriating) nature of other aspects of CP 6 upon which hard work is urgently needed if these considerable advantages are to carry the day on overall comparison. However, hopefully, the disadvantages can be discussed in detail elsewhere.

I have no idea if others will use this thread; however, I will start off by describing one very significant advantage, which is:

Speed of route calculation

With Copilot 6 on my Dell Axim X50v, it takes less than 2 seconds to calculate a route from the centre of Spalding Lincolnshire to the centre of Aberdeen using Shortest Routing and avoiding tolls. The same calculation takes TomTom 5 just short of 4 minutes. Even on a TomTom Go standalone unit the calculation takes over 2 minutes.
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Dell Axims X50v & X30 (both WM 2003 2nd Edition). Copilot BTGPS3 and Fortuna Clip-on BT receivers. Jabra BT 250 audio headsets. Welltech 40032/AF32 BT handsfree audio. Copilot 6.0.4.110. TomTom Navigator 5.21. MS Autoroute/Pocket Streets 2005

[alix776]

the tracking an messageing does make it stand out abovt the others
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currently using aponia truck navigation on windows phone. Good bye IOS don't let the door hit you on the way out .

Oh the joys of being a courier.
device Lumia 950 xl

[Bazzer]

Ah, but does CP6 strictly calculate the shortest route, because as you are aware CP5 certainly did not ? Has the routing algorithm been changed to reflect the shortest ?

Have just tried your test on my TT5 and it took 1 min 28 sec. OK, not particularly quick, but then again, who would want to navigate through the back streets on Edinburgh because it's half a mile shorter than taking the ring road ?

Baz
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Garmin DriveSmart 61 LMT-D
TomTom Go 50 - Going in the BIN
TomTom Go 730 (RIP)
Garmin Montana 650
Garmin Oregon 45oT
Garmin Edge 1000
Tracklogs Digital Mapping

[Paul-m]

As well as the speed of routing I particularly like the choice of views. Destination view or next turn view can be very usefull and are quite unique.

Although Text To Speech may be a slighlty acquired taste it can be far more helpful than a simple standard speech warning.

I also use the copilot live system occasionally. The ability to be tracked or track someone is very powerful and could be used to great effect wihtin industry. e.g. your parcel will be delivered in 2 hours... here track it yourself!

Other than some of the bugs people have discovered i really think the user interface could do with a complete overhaul to bring it up to date and then a bit of competitive pricing would see ALK with a clearly leading product.

Although i had TT5 first im finding myself drawn towards CP6.

[PONDEROUS]

Bazzer writes:

[Smilodon]

I'm a CoPilot "super newbie" (a couple of days), but have been reading the various posts around here for a few months before making my purchase.

In my brief experience, I like:

* Speed on my IPAQ 2415 is great. Recalculation when missing a turn is only barely noticable.
* The PC-based planner. Why do I want to plan on a little screen when a PC is close at hand much of the time? Enhancing and more closely integrating this feature would be a worthwhile in my opinion.
* User interface (for someone who didn't use the previous one) is ok from a "making the program do something" standpoint, but somewhat odd and disjointed. It is better from a "showing me something on the screen" standpoint, though.

I'm just getting started, though...

[Smilodon]

...Oh, and the ability to choose text-to-speech. So far, it seems to provide enough extra information to make it an improvement over recorded statements.

[KenS]

I am not in a position to compare CP6 with other products but among the things I like are:
The ability to customise the product both with standard features but also by editing simple text files. Not something for the average Joe but with so many products this is very difficult. I have customised the vocabulary of the TTS, the grammar used in speed cam alerts, on screen messages, routing parameters and colour schemes.

The other nice feature is the ability to manage POIs using the desktop before loading onto the PPC and especially the ability to use Excel and CSV files as input rather than proprietary file formats. I have just brought to petrol station POIs up to date by loading up the missing ones from the web AND got them to load into the existing category (rather than a custom one) - and this is using standard functionality.
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--Ken

HP iPAQ h2210 ROM 1.10.07 ENG
Windows CE 4.20
Sandisk Ultra II SD 512Mb
Haicom 303MMF and BT-401 slipper
Copilot Live 6.0.0.68

[Paul-m]

[PONDEROUS]

Paul-m, you are probably thinking of the thread entitled Workarounds for Copilot's Problems, started by Neil01, not me.

Neil01's thread got cluttered up to a great extent because of the practical problem on which you have put your finger. Any other open thread is, as you say, likely to go that way because, basically, folk are going to write what they think is relevant, and in their own way.

It would be a shame if you had to create what you have in mind away from this website. Why not see what you can negotiate with the Forum Team. Maybe they can help you sift out the clutter and keep it to factual and practical issues. Perhaps there could be a parallel, but separate, thread on which members could raise inaccuracies, lack of clarity, etc. I can't profess to have thought this through thoroughly myself, but it will certainly take something along those lines.
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Dell Axims X50v & X30 (both WM 2003 2nd Edition). Copilot BTGPS3 and Fortuna Clip-on BT receivers. Jabra BT 250 audio headsets. Welltech 40032/AF32 BT handsfree audio. Copilot 6.0.4.110. TomTom Navigator 5.21. MS Autoroute/Pocket Streets 2005

[KenS]

[Paul-m]

I've been experimenting with various options

from a similar forum to this
http://www.phpbber.com/phpbb/copilot.html

to a full blown website which i think would be preferable. but i will create a thread as Ken suggests.
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Wife 3 kids.... unversity fees...:-(
oh... and a few PC's and gadgets ;-)

[PONDEROUS]

KenS, thanks for the thought:

[DerekFKS85]

Nice to see a poistive thread for once! Well done.

[PONDEROUS]

Of course, I'd rather receive remarks such as those kindly posted by DerekFKS85. However, I must reiterate that I don't see drawing attention to what's wrong with Copilot as negative. In my view, presenting all that Copliot does well without mentioning what it does badly has the negative effect of misleading potential users, and giving the impression that nothing need be changed.

In fact, I think that a corollary thread is necessary, entitled THE DISADVANTAGES OF COPILOT. This is not a new idea - just a wish list by a name that complements the title of the present thread. Users could then describe what Copilot does badly - or does not do at all when it ought to - in a thread reserved for the purpose. I contrast this with the existing Bugs thread because things that are not done well are not necessarily the same as bugs.
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Dell Axims X50v & X30 (both WM 2003 2nd Edition). Copilot BTGPS3 and Fortuna Clip-on BT receivers. Jabra BT 250 audio headsets. Welltech 40032/AF32 BT handsfree audio. Copilot 6.0.4.110. TomTom Navigator 5.21. MS Autoroute/Pocket Streets 2005

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