Over 6 months ago I reviewed Co-Pilot Live for iPhone and was more than impressed with the product. It was a beta build which had some features not available until quite recently and so I decided to upgrade to the latest version with the Live Traffic service: total cost £47.98.
Navigation is important to me because I drive more than 20,000 miles a year for work and it is one area where I have to have the best available. Living in the UK means that traffic is a constant problem, especially because the M25 is my gateway to everywhere, and thus traffic tracking is also a facility I rely on every week.
I wasn’t expecting anything remarkable in the new Co-Pilot except the loss of the messages I kept receiving when enabling the traffic feature because it had run out of time, but I have been more than surprised at how it has changed in the short period of time since the original release. The first change I noticed was how much smoother it is now and it really does feel like a dedicated GPS system in use; button taps are immediately recognised and the animation while navigating is now spot on. I used to see the occasional lag when leaving roundabouts, but after 4 long trips I have not noticed this once.
There are some more subtle changes such as the way speed cameras are notified and the onscreen setup works very well indeed; you are presented with the distance to the camera, your current speed and the actual speed limit you should be attaining. A ‘ding’ noise then sounds when you are clear to break the speed limit again (did I actually write what was in my head there?). Besides the speed camera display, the interface in general is one of the best I have seen on any GPS system- it strikes the perfect balance between simplicity and complexity yet cleverly offers all of the information you need to see in an easy to view system.
The core of any navigation system is of course the routes it takes you on and I have learnt to trust Co-Pilot, most of the time. Over the past few months I have been presented with many quicker routes than I knew about previously yet at times it can take me down roads which I know are slower than the shortcuts I have learnt over time. This tends to happen in busy towns and to be fair a TomTom with the much touted IQ Routes does exactly the same. No GPS software will ever be perfect, but I live in hope.
The traffic service has also added a sense of security to long trips and to date it has not failed me once. It diverted me off the M27 when a friend of mine got stuck for over an hour and did the same with the M25 travelling from Gatwick to Birmingham. The most poignant example was later in the Birmingham to Gatwick return trip when a sign on the side of the motorway declared the M23 to be closed. This sign kept popping up for 10 miles, but Co-Pilot showed no problems. As I reached the M23 turn off I put my full faith in Co-Pilot and merrily travelled along a fully open M23. When roadside warning signs get it wrong, you start to lose trust in any system.
To date Co-Pilot Live has performed flawlessly for me and finally broken the stranglehold TomTom had on my navigation needs. On the App Store there are conflicting views about Co-Pilot, as there are with all apps and games, but in my experience it has been just about perfect so far and extremely good value at the current price point.
Available from the iTunes App Store for £26.99
Clarity: PDA-247 has no commercial relationship with ALK.
Shaun,
Thanks for this. I too am a big fan of Co-Pilot and I now rarely if ever use my TomTom. However I did write to you a while ago about the Traffic System issues.
I have to tell everyone to NOT BUY the traffic updates. They are awful and about 6 months out of date. I REPEAT DO NOT BUY THE TRAFFIC ADD-ON.
I have sent emails to ALK about this and only get automated responses. Their customer service is the worst I have ever experienced.
So Co-Pilot is great but don’t buy any add-ons and don’t even bother with customer service.
Sid
Four times on motorways, Co-Pilot has been spot on re traffic problems (checked after) and twice on A-roads. It has worked for me everytime so far. How can traffic updates be 6 months out of date?
Re the customer service I have never tried it, but have heard similar complaints in this partcular area from others.
Shaun,
how about pedestrian navigation? Does it have any features specificaly for that? (eg does it have a breadcrumbs trail showing where you have been, to assist with finding your direction, like Nokia Maps?)
I’m glad you’re having good luck with the traffic Shaun. There’s a bit of the M5 I drive regularly and co-pilot warns me of narrow lanes ahead. They were there sevral months ago but haven’t been for a long time now. Other accidents clearly marked on motorway overhead signs are not mentioned by copilot and unlike you the signs I have seen have been correct. I sat in traffic for 2hrs on the m6 a few days ago and copilot saw nothing to warn me about. I have all latest updates and have copilot to update every 10mins. Thankfully today customer service replied to my emails after 2 months of trying.
I’m glad it works for you but I just want to warn others. I’ll be the first to praise them if they can get this fixed. Otherwise I think copilot is great.
Sid
Hmmm… If I had had your problems I would definately be shouting on the site about it. The narrow lanes is a curious one- let me speak to ALK. Worries me that this could happen.