TT Mobile, Copilot or Mapopolis?

AndyWilson · Occasional Visitor Joined: May 11, 2004 Posts: 26

I've just got an SPV C500 and a 512Mb Mini-SD card and the idea of running a GPS app on it appeals. I already have TT3 on my ipaq with the TT BT GPS - which is why I'm posting in here as opposed to the copilot or mapopolis forums.

As far as I can see my choices are the 3 mentioned in the thread title.

TT Mobile - familiar UI but most expensive - would have to ebay BT GPS
CoPilot - are there concerns over its stability?
Mapopolis - cheap, and I used the "demo" PPC version for a week in the states last year - but lacking "bells and whistles" compared to the above 2...

I'm leaning towards TomTom (how much is a BT GPS worth?) but would be interested to hear anyone's opinions.

Cheers

Andy

lbendlin · Posted: Mon Jan 24, 2005 3:49 pm Post subject:

Are you more a leisure driver, a route planner, or a geek?

Don't forget Route66 - available for Smartphone, too...
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Gordon68 · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jan 23, 2005 Posts: 51

I too am interested in buying one of the programs mentioned above. Your advice is based on the type of driving style and personality. I would be interested if could give advice based on the reliability, stability and ability to get me to my location with as little stress as possible.

lbendlin · Posted: Mon Jan 24, 2005 8:40 pm Post subject:

Reliability: Mapopolis is the clear leader. Whenever I cannot find an address in any of the other programs, I revert back to Mapopolis and sure enough find the address. I am NOT saying that Mapopolis maps are the most up to date. They are the most correct in their limited actuality (they are old, but precise). If you want the latest and greatest maps, take CoPilot.

Stability: No difference

get to location stress free: this is extremely subjective. I would say TomTom is the most pleasant to use tool for a european user (americans have a different perception of usability)

Now - did that help or did it just confuse you more?
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Gordon68 · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jan 23, 2005 Posts: 51

Thanks for the speedy reply.It has helped. I am new to all this but i have been reading your site before i made my first purchase, which was copilot v5 with a mio 168. I am more than happy with it, apart from the ocassional missed redlight camera, etc, it has got me to where i want with little fuss.
i wanted to get copilot for my spv 500 but some comments i have read here are quite anti it. I know nothing is perfect, but there is a difference between usability and perfection. If copilot on a smartphone is a good as copilot on my mio 168 i would be more that happy to go with copilot.

lbendlin · Posted: Mon Jan 24, 2005 10:26 pm Post subject:

I think it is actually better on the SmartPhone - for historical reasons. CoPilot 5 Pocket PC is a (pretty good) evolution from version 4, but CP SmartPhone has been created from scratch, and has been adjusted to the "no touch screen just buttons" paradigm pretty nicely.
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AndyWilson · Occasional Visitor Joined: May 11, 2004 Posts: 26

Thinking about it a bit more, the lack of extensibility of Mapopolis (no custom POIs or "traffic" addon?) probably rule it out, although I will try a demo, leaving CoPilot and TomTom.

If I manage to sell my existing TT GPS it will probably make CoPilot more expensive, so I guess what I need to know is what has it got that TomTom hasn't? And indeed, is it missing any features that a TT3 PPC user would miss??

I did used to have, in fact I still have gathering cobwebs somewhere, the version of CoPilot that came with Compaq INS 1.2. Is the Smartphone version significantly different to this?

The one feature in Mapopolis that I really miss in TomTom is the ability to quickly set a "via" - TomTom's itinaries are a pain in comparison. How does CoPilot handle this?

lbendlin · Posted: Tue Jan 25, 2005 5:30 pm Post subject:

AndyWilson · Occasional Visitor Joined: May 11, 2004 Posts: 26

Well, I've tried Mapopolis and it's got a couple of fundamental problems - things like having to set the GPS COM port every time you start it up otherwise it scans all COM ports starting with COM0 and taking an eternity to get to COM7. I know it's only a beta, but this problem seems to have been reported a long time ago. Also it kept returning to my homescreen every 15mins or so. It was still running cos the voice announcements still worked, and a simple (or not while driving) prod of the C500's "action button" restarted it where it left off just fine.

So it's out with the credit card and off to buy TT Mobile....

Just hope I can sell the old TT PPC to help pay for it!

lbendlin · Posted: Sat Jan 29, 2005 8:25 pm Post subject:

Not entirely accurate. You can specify the COM port manually in Mapopolis, and it sticks during restarts.

The return to the Home Screen is a feature of the WM Sartphone, not a mapopolis problem. You can disable that in the standard settings of the phone.
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AndyWilson · Occasional Visitor Joined: May 11, 2004 Posts: 26

lbendlin · Posted: Sat Jan 29, 2005 8:47 pm Post subject:

You may have to exit Mapopolis through the menu > exit to make the port stick. If you use the back button they may not save it.
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stuartm · Posted: Mon Jan 31, 2005 2:29 pm Post subject:

AndyWilson · Occasional Visitor Joined: May 11, 2004 Posts: 26

Splashed out on TomTom mobile in the end. Had a few problems installing it as the ****** joystick on the C500 kept "missing" and choosing Danish on the first installation screen, and there's no way of backing up!

Looks good so far, though I miss TT Nav's "avoids" and trying to force an A to B route by saying go via C seems to keep the original route, but take a diversion 1/2 way to C, then do a U-Turn and drive back to the original route!!

Now if only Mapopolis would do a "State For 30 days" option for say, $30, I'd buy that for my occasional excursions over the atlantic!

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