REVIEW COMMENTS: AA Navigator

Dave · Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2005 9:08 pm Post subject: REVIEW COMMENTS: AA Navigator

TeamWarrior and the AA have teamed together to create a PDA Street Navigation application, and this is a first for UK because it utilises 7 digit UK postcodes straight out of the box.

AA Navigator is the first UK Navigation application for the Pocket PC to natively support the Ordnance Survey and Royal Mail's 7-digit UK Postcodes.

AA and Team Warrior have done a good job at a first version application. You will notice that they've gone for stability and the bare basics over a lot of bells and whistles. You don't have any 3D view, any way of customising colour schemes, any way of using avoidance areas, itineraries, customisable voice, but all this will come probably over time or in the next major release of AA Navigator or perhaps with minor updates.

The full review is available here.

clivers · Posted: Mon Mar 28, 2005 7:30 pm Post subject:

dave
in your review you mention wav files?
have you got a newer version of the software that has wav on the cd?
_________________
Ipaq 3970, Ipaq 2210 X2, Smart ST V1, Tomtom V3+V5, CoPilot V5, AA Navigator, Tomtom Bluetooth GPS, Navman 3450i Jacket, Navman Bluetooth GPS, Holux GM270, Fortuna GPS-PocketXtrack
, Tomtom GO V5 Classic, Road Angel Classic.

MarkHewitt · Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2005 4:03 pm Post subject:

About what I thought of it, a good first generation product but not up with the latest versions from the likes of TomTom.

I do very much like the way it colour codes everything according to what type of road you are on/turning into. Apart from that I can't see any advantage in this product.

mac_the_dog

Surely I'm not the only user of AA Navigator Rolling Eyes

Now that this package is advancing - Further to the review, There is now a zoom facility, choice of male or female voice prompts, enhancements to what can be displayed (number of satellites, journey time, ETA Etc.) :D

Can a new forum be opened for this package? Question

_________________
Mitac Mio 168
AA Navigator
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Memory-Map 2004 Region 2
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h5djr · Posted: Thu Jun 09, 2005 12:04 pm Post subject:

Following on from the original review of the AA Navigator software the following appears on the AA Navigator website...

Charles Stewart, Head of AA Geographic Information says; “We have had great success since this product launched – people trust the AA brand to provide them with a quality product that will get them from A to B using tried and tested AA routes. A key feature about our system is that it acts intelligently. For example, if you decide to take a different route on purpose, then it will take your decision into account. When it’s clear you mean to go another way, AA Navigator will adapt to follow your chosen route. This will certainly please those who have experienced countless irritating “you are off route” messages from other navigators!”

New features in this release include:

Map overview mode and map zooming features
Selectable Male and Female voices for the spoken directions
Improved labelling of Points of Interest (POI) on the map and searching within a town
Better management of favourite locations
Improved set and GPS diagnostic features
Improved re-routeing function

This new version of AA Navigator is part of the AA’s continued commitment to providing the best travel information in the UK for customers.

Dave R

jblackmore · Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2005 12:50 pm Post subject:

A friend has AA Navigator, and is annoyed that whilst he can't import the Speed Camera database himself, AA are selling it for £60 so clearly the software can import POI's, but they are blocking the free version.

Maybe the AA should be a little less greedy if they want this to be a popular product !

badgerdid · Occasional Visitor Joined: Dec 08, 2005 Posts: 41

But what about updates, ie map updates, are they free, i think its a scandal you pay so much for tomtom and you still have to pay for map updates, its a good job microsoft dont charge for updating windows or office, would have cost a fortune.

If aa navigator offer these free i may consider changing

Darren · Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2005 2:56 pm Post subject: Re: Updates

htbast · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jan 05, 2006 Posts: 1

Hi,

New to this forum today. Great info on speed camera & Sat nav. Well done.

Has anyone seen or used the AA Navigator Ultimate. It is a complete hardware inc solution & includes speed camera & trafic congestion info. I would apprecate any feedback as I am seriously considering buying one.

Cheers
Ian

passau91 · Occasional Visitor Joined: Feb 21, 2006 Posts: 6

Hi, I'm also new to this Forum - I take it that those of us who bought AA Navigator are in a very small minority...?

I bought an end-of-line wired AA Navigator gps with HP hx2110 from Dixons. I'm actually reasonably impressed with it as the wired receiver seems to work absolutely fine.

I was hoping that there might be some information on the ability to import customised POIs or voices or other updates to AA Navigator, but I'm getting the impression that (a) this might not be possible or (b) there aren't enough users to make it worth anyone's while to do much research into it.

I'd also be interested to find out whether there is the ability to import a European map to AA Navigator (I'm planning a trip to France and another trip through Germany later this year). Otherwise I was thinking of waiting until nearer the time to buy whichever software with European coverage is cheapest (currently I was looking at Destinator PN).

Any advice?

Thanks

swing · Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2006 3:26 pm Post subject: Re: AA Navigator

passau91 · Occasional Visitor Joined: Feb 21, 2006 Posts: 6

Hurrah!

Thanks Swing. I'll keep a lookout for those announcements, but on the European maps front, I may have to have plumped for something else as my first European foray will be before Easter...

Cheers again.

niglom · Occasional Visitor Joined: Mar 02, 2006 Posts: 1

I bought one of these new devices at Halfords for 400 quid a couple of days ago and here's my experiences to date.

1 The first device they sold me had a German operating system. The staff at Halfords said that was normal. I couldn't operate it so I insisted on a replacement and the next one had an English opertating system. Ignore their blurb "friendly staff can help you set it up". They can't, they're useless, they didn't have a clue.

2 There is a helpline, it is one pound a minute, and I got through to the switchboard who said someone would call me back. They did 24 hours later, by which time I had it working.

3 The AA Navigator website says that "you can avoid the unsightly ariel wire by routing it through your FM receiver". When I asked the suport team I was told to plug the aerial into the PDA. Duh, I knew that! I want to know how to route it through the radio without the unsightly wire being in the windscreen.

4 After running Navigator you can only turn off the device by going through a complete reset cycle. This means turning it on, waiting several seconds for it to boot up, and then turning it off. Dopey or what?

5 Finding destinations without knowing the postcode is nigh on impossible. I tried to find Virginia Street in Wapping, to no avail. It couldn't find it in Wapping or London. I tried Churchdale Road, Sheffield and Smalldale Road Sheffield, again no luck.

However when you can get it working, and if you do know the postcode it's quite a reasonable device and combines speedtrap GPS, traffic condition warning and sat nav well.

It is slow to recalculate.

It's a great pity that the package has flawed and buggy software and a slow responsive support team.

kieronishere · Occasional Visitor Joined: Mar 24, 2006 Posts: 23

anyone know anything beyond what on the aanavigator website about the new aa navigator 2006 - looks like it might be a big improvement?

off_again · Occasional Visitor Joined: May 11, 2006 Posts: 1

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