My first few weeks with CP5

HielandLad · Posted: Sun Sep 05, 2004 4:01 pm Post subject: My first few weeks with CP5

I have used a Garmin Streetpilot III and then CP4.5 before upgrading. I offer a few thoughts for anyone considering the upgrade / purchase.

Installation

Went without a hitch. Time to download maps to the SD card via activesync was not bad and I had no errors. Activation went equally smoothly.

Map views

The 3D map view is very useful as it gives you a better idea of what the road is going to do in front of you. I am a bit disappointed that you do not get towns / cities displayed as you do in the 2D mode. Also, like others, I cannot get POIs to display continuously. They seem to start off OK then disappear. This applies to the 2D maps also. Even road names do not appear on the 3D map meaning that it can often be pretty useless in navigating mode.

The 2D maps are far better than 4.5. They are much clearer and easier to read. In guidance mode the overlay arrow is brilliant. Baiscally, on the map it places a bright yellow arrow showing the actual direction you will be traveling in. This is much better than relying on the basic graphic e.g. at a roundabout, as the overlay arrow seems to always get it right whereas the graphic is frequently wrong.

Speed cameras

This should be extremely useful. I found that in CP4.5 there were a lot of bugs which stopped it being much use. Some of these have been fixed in CP5 but I still find occassions where the alert does not activate. For example, I set the alert to 1 mile and received no further alerts after this. I had done this because frequently CP5 would alert me after the camera was past. This may be mapping errors on the camera database though.

TTS versus wave

The text to speech engine is much better than last version, although I wish that some pauses had been built into the text that it reads. If it reads "turn right on A9 6 mjiles ahead" it sounds as if it is saying "turn right on A96". You have to tune in to hear it properly. The pronuncialtion is much better. However, I noticed that in guidance directions it pronounces "miles" corectly, but when it reads a speed camera alert it goes back to its old ways of pronouncing it as "meeles". Wierd, given that it is the same programme doping the reading.

Transfer of favouriters

If you have an older version of CP you may wish to try and copy across all your favourite places. I found the favourite.lst file and copied it from my old CP4.5 install to CP5. All appeared well, and the favourites showed properly on the map. However, when I tried to route to them, the co-oridnates were wrong. In one case by 2.2 miles, and in the case of my home by 20+miles. Remember, that this is with them showing correctly on the map. Another wierd scenario.

Stylus or fingers

This is a major improvement, as you can navigate most views and options with your finger. If you enable live functionality, however, there is a little issue. I was having problems when I started CP5 with it connecting to my BT receiver and BT mobile at startup. I disabled connecting to the phone at startup, however, now if I want to enable it I have to navigate the menus with a stylus. It would be much better if the red connectivity icon could have made a shortcut to connecting.

Overall

A huge improvement, and I hope that they release the traffic upgrade soon (and that it works! - preferably not only in guidance mode i.e. also in terms of radius around you)

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