In praise/defence of CoPilot 8

[prusling]

I realise I’m bucking the trend here, but feel I’m qualified to offer an opinion as I previously owned CP5 before making the inevitable switch to TomTom Navigator 3 through 7, with a detour on the way via an HP Ipaq 314 PND running a variant of iGo.

So why have I ventured back into CoPilot territory after having had a quick look at a CP7 trial on my mobile a while ago and deciding it looked too ‘Mickey Mouse’? TomTom’s refusal to provide US maps for TTN7 is why, along with their distain of the PDA market which gave them their early sales.

So I went shopping for a cheapish, functional satnav package to use and throw when I get back from a forthcoming trip to the States, except I don’t think I’ll throw it after all, as I bought the UK maps as well to get used to it, and I already like it a whole lot better than TomTom. It hasn’t let me down (yet)...

The best bits (vs. TomTom mostly):
- Text-To-Speech: I had this in CP5 and really missed it in TomTom despite CP5’s quaint pronunciations, such as Meeles for Miles! What got me hooked on satnavs in the first place was at the end of my first trip when CP5 announced “You have reached your destination of 97 Acacia Avenue ON THE RIGHT”!. The latest CP8 TTS is much clearer and it's like I’ve found an old friend again (although I had to strip a whole lot off my WM phone to release enough memory to run it…).
- POI display and selection: CP5 never got this working properly and TTN runs in a crippled mode if you enable display, but CP8 has got it right – not only can you see them when you are driving but you can also touch them and find out what they represent! Quick Stop to a local POI is another useful feature that I may actually use.
- Automatic Day/Night Switching: sounds trivial but was another revelation in CP5 which TomTom fails to match even now.
- LiveLink: useful for the missus to get my dinner ready the moment I return from a business trip (only kidding)
- RV mode: my other vehicle’s not a Porsche, it’s a campervan!
- Lots of other features: 2D next turn view, auto updates, speed warnings and 'safety' camera handling, track playback, motorway lane guidance (in TT8 if that ever comes to the Navigator platform)
- Finally, the price is right, and the ‘Disney’ display actually is quite appealing and fresh when you get used to it

The worst bits:
- Not being able to just use it as a map easily
- CoPilot Central replacing PC-based trip planning (which I used long after CP5 went); also don’t try running it in anything other than 100% font size as it gets hopelessly garbled
- Lack of QWERTY input; surely a trivial limitation to fix?
- Would quite like the equivalent of IQ Routes, not that this is available on Navigator…
- Probably a few things I’ve not found yet; if there is a real ‘gotcha’ I’ve missed, please let me know…!

The acid test of whether I keep using it on my return from the States will be how good the Traffic is… keeping an eye on the other thread.

Finally, OT I know, but a quick plaudit for the HP Ipaq 314 – surely the best processor/screen on a PND and iGo is pretty good, but HP dropped support almost as soon as it was launched and never provided the promised traffic; it could have been truly great, but is now doing service as a superb Windows CE PDA as it is highly customisable.

[Border_Collie]

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