The cards were corrupt, and the info could not be read by the device.

Thanks for the review. I learned of CoPilot literally yesterday after searching for information on Navigator 7. I am in the US, and I have used Mapopolis for years; however, as you may know, Mapopolis has been sold to some other company and is no longer supported. In fact, if you go to theMapopolis site, you get what is virtually a blank page.

I have one niggle with your review; I don't think that you should be dinging CoPilot for house number problems. I think that house number problems are endemic to the map data, and since that data is coming from Navteq, the ding should be directed at them. The reason that I say this is that Mapopolis has the same problems; Mapopolis also used Navteq map data. I also know of instances where on-line map sites like Map Quest (also using Navteq) gives incorrect location of house numbers. In fact, they locate my home at the same point that Mapopolis does, and the location is incorrect.

That said, one thing that I would have liked to have seen is how does it compare to Navigator and/or Mapopolis. One thing in particular that I do not like about Mapopolis is that I must open every county map that I want to travel through, if I am not using major roads - the Interstate system in the US, individually so that it may find the best route through that county. In planning a route with CoPilot, is it necessary to do anything like this?

Overall, your reivew has likely swayed my purchase choice to CoPilot rather than waiting for Navigator 7 - which may never be released in the US for the Pocket PC market.

Thanks again.

Hi wiyosaya, welcome to 4WM....

I can't answer your questions on Co-Pilot although your comments make sense and are valid.

Why not consider TomTom6 instead of waiting for TT7?

Great app and having experienced both CPL7 and TT6, I stayed with TT6.

Hi Tonybro,

I am reluctant to get Navigator 6 because of the possibility of Navigator 7 coming out soon. TT acknowledges its existence, however, they will not give a US release date. I would hate to have to spend more to get the update to a newer TT7. Besides Mapopolis works well enough for now.

I am also somewhat concerned that TT might drop the product due to the fact that they have a relatively large number of dedicated GPS units. If they did drop it, future map updates might not always be compatible and might necessitate the move to some other package.

ALK seems dedicated to producing software that runs on Pocket PC, laptop, and/or other "mobile" devices rather than dedicated hardware.

As well, I like the fact that ALK has CoPilot central. I can plan trips at my computer, if I like, then download them to my PPC. AFAIK, TT6 does not allow this.

What were your reasons for sticking with TT6 over CPL7?

TT7 is available for Pocket PC - it is supplied with the new HTC devices such as the Diamond. It may not be available to buy retrospectively which is an odd decision though. This may change over time.

CPL7 has some strange routing algorithms and a few users in the UK have made mention of it. Personally I didn't like the interface so went back to TT6 which performs flawlessly and I even use it in preference to the £2000 system built into my car!

Rumours are that TT7 will not be released to the paying public, only supplied on devices at sale.

The routing of Copilot 7 can be a little strange, and depending where you are and where you going I understand can be an issue. I think this is why Tonybro switched. Personally, from a driving perspective I've never had an issue with it and still prefer it to TT.

Oops, crossed post. I was right though......

I don't know if the rumors are true, however, TT replied to a recent query of mine and stated that it is available in Europe on one device. So, though we can get HTC devices in the states, it appears that we cannot get TT7.

TT seems to be moving more toward dedicated nav units in the US as evidenced by the plethora of devices that are available. With the global PPC market diminishing, it would make sense for at least some companies to move away from PPC software, and I would not be surprised if some people have called TT asking for support because they have installed the software on a smart phone that has an inaccessible GPS. I don't know if they do that over in Europe, but I do know that in the US, there are phones where the GPS is locked away and cannot be used altogether, or without paying a fee.

ALK seems to be focused on the PPC/Smart Phone/Laptop market in contrast to TT. Though this may not be an indicator of their longevity in the marketplace, it does give me more confidence in them.

(I feel like one of the few that has a dedicated PPC (a Loox N560) rather than a smart phone. I don't even own a cell phone, and have little use for one at this time. As such, I almost feel like I'm being left out due to the fact that the global PPC market is declining. If I decide to upgrade in a few years, I may have to buy a phone just to get a PPC.)

As to the CP7 routing problems, it sounds like the preferences can be customized depending on the type of routing, i.e., foot, car, bike. Not having used the software, I think I could live with that. I rarely route on foot; however, there is the possibility that I would use that feature.

All the best,
Matthew

I thought I would follow-up with some comments after having purchased the software and used it a bit.

I would have loved it if CoPilot 7 Live allow me to use it in the way that I have been used to using Mapopolis; however, this is not the case. In fact, I dislike CoPilot 7 Live so much that I am returning the software. I bought it from directly from ALK, and as such, they have a 30-day no questions asked return policy.

Firstly, I used to pan using the stylus in Mapopolis quite a bit. However, pans in CoPilot are an arduous task that are extremely slow in comparison to Mapopolis. At one point, I had to reset my PPC. I was zoomed in all the way on an area in Newfoundland, and trying to pan slowed the system (my Pocket Loox N560) down so slow that I had to reset. I had nothing else running in memory. After the reset, I went back to the same location in the map and the same thing happened.

Next, zooming is just as arduous. It is possible to set CoPilot so that the stylus either pans or allows you to draw a zoom box. You cannot use the stylus to both pan and draw zoom boxes. You could with Mapopolis since it allowed you to select zoom tools from its tool bar. When the stylus is set to pan mode, the only means to zoom on the map are "+" and "-" icons on the screen. Pressing either of these changes the zoom level by what I consider an extremely small amount, and it also takes a long time to do this. So, zooming in goes something like this. Press "+", wait, recenter by panning (if necessary) and wait for the pan to complete, and repeat this process until you reach your desired zoom level. For me, it is hard to describe just how slow this is.

Third, it is not possible to set a route start, end point, stop, or waypoint using the stylus. You have to set these by address, POI, favorite, or by direct coordinate entry using the keypad. With Mapopolis, you could simply scroll the map, zoom, tap the screen, hold the stylus on the info box that popped up, and select any of Set Start, "Route To" or "Route Through."

Next, CoPilot has no indication of park boundaries, e.g., Allegheny National Park, or the boundaries of large complexes like US National Wildlife Refuges on its map. For one park, I saw simply "Park" in type on the map with no indication of the actual boundaries of the park.

Maybe I had been spoiled by Mapopolis (which is no longer available), however, I found CoPilot to be a bare-bones navigation package which is not worth my money.

Thus, I have decided to give "OnCourse" a try. This is a North American variant of iGo. It sounds like OnCourse has most of the features of Mapopolis and is just as fast in panning/zooming. I reviewed the manual and did not see a "draw zoom box" feature, however, if this is the only thing it is missing in comparison to Mapopolis, I'll be happy.

So, if anyone else out there is using Mapopolis and is considering replacing it with CoPilot, you may be highly disappointed unless you are just using it for basic functions.

I'm sorry you had such a hard time with Copilot after I recommended it to you. In truth, I've not used the software as you have attempted to, almost all my GPS navigation is done between postal addresses.

Let us know how you get on with "OnCourse" though. Neilm has a review of iGo 2006 here:

http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/4wm...on-review.html (iGO MyWay 2006 Satellite Navigation: Review)