Tag Archives: GPS

Last week I had to attend a meeting in a town which happened to have two roads with the same name. I was given a postcode by my company and proceeded to drive to the meeting using Co-Pilot on my iPhone. I ended up in a residential area and promptly started to curse Co-Pilot for letting me down. This was the first time it had happened and so I was not duly concerned.

As a last resort I tried Vodafone Sat Nav on my BlackBerry Curve 8900 and was promptly taken to the correct building. I inputted the same postcode information and all worked OK this time, but that is far from the end of the story. When I arrived, it turned out that many others had also been taken to the same place I had originally because they had also used the same postcode. We all managed to get lost at one stage and eventually were told that we had been given the wrong postcode.

The irony is that all of the sat navs which did the right thing ended up getting us lost and seemingly Vodafone Sat Nav mixed up its postcodes and took me to the place I wanted to go? So, sometimes it is worth a double check before you leave to ensure that everything goes smoothly. A sat nav is only as good as the person, or people, providing the information for it to navigate with, and in this case we all got it wrong.

My recent review of Co-Pilot for the iPhone caused a fair degree of discussion on 247 and the following comments sum up the different views people had-

“I wasn’t as impressed with this app on the way home as I was on the way to work this morning. Basically, there was a couple of times I went round a roundabout, and it thought I’d turned off early when in fact I hadn’t, and it was giving me instructions to turn around while I was still on my way round. Then when I came off the roundabout it corrected itself, but it shouldn’t do this- the Navigon doesn’t. Also, the Navigon found me a nice little shortcut through some side roads instead of waiting at some main traffic lights. The Copilot took me to the lights.”

“well i did it … after all the research and reading … i bought the mobile navigon for the iphone 3gs and am very pleased with it … i used it with my garmin nuvi 760 and they both did equally well the ability to use contacts was important … i read everything you guys and gals wrote about the gps and truly appreciate every comment …”

Well impressed. I’m sure future updates will iron out the niggles that Barry (above) has identified.”

The main problem with GPS software is that we all use them in completely different ways and thus we will all have differing opinions. Some people love a title and others hate it and the same is true for every GPS solution on the market. I’m going to put my head above the parapet and explain why I think I am well placed to offer an opinion on this subject. Over the past few years I have reviewed and tested over 40 different GPS systems for magazines which use all of the GPS software solutions on the market today, and thus I am able to compare any new solution to what has been before. I drive a lot of miles each year and never leave home without a GPS system in my car and the thought of not having traffic management scares me silly now that I am reliant on it. I have tried countless systems which don’t offer the trust I need when travelling long journeys and they are quickly discarded from my mind, but two of them (TomTom and Co-Pilot) have served me very well over the years. TomTom has been used for 90% of my time with GPS and I have not run into a serious traffic jam when using it which is a huge bonus and it is fairly accurate with the navigation side. I say ‘fairly’ because it has had problems in specific areas, but these are relatively rare.

I have been testing Co-Pilot on the iPhone for the past few weeks and so far it has not put a foot wrong. I have driven from Gatwick to Southampton and back, Gatwick to Bournemouth, Bournemouth to Beaulieu, Bournemouth to Longleat and Bournemouth to Gatwick. Each time the navigation was perfect and on a couple of occasions I avoided long traffic jams (don’t ask what version I am running because I can’t answer that).

Compare this to the experiences of Barry above who was disappointed with the trips he took. His experiences mirrored the ones I have with Navigon’s solution. The fact is that there will never be a perfect GPS solution for everyone because they all have issues in certain areas. No reviewer can take account of every street in a country and they can only base their thoughts on the trips they take. For me, Co-Pilot is working superbly, but I cannot offer answers if others have issues. I have received many emails on this subject and most have been positive about Co-Pilot. I have also received many emails about Navigon and the same positivity shines through.

If you are expecting a satellite navigation solutions which works perfectly for every trip you make, then it is time to get out a map and take a step back in time. GPS software should be used with common sense in mind (admittedly something I never do) and the right solution for you will never be perfect, no matter how up to date the maps or how good the software is.

Ever since I was first given a TomTom GO for review a few years back I have been a confirmed GPS user who needs it wherever I am travelling. It is obviously useful for compensating for my lack of direction, but more importantly for advising when there is a large build up of traffic. Traffic springs up a lot in the UK, especially on the routes I use, and TomTom Traffic has been the perfect antidote to all of these problems and in the past three years I have managed to avoid every single big traffic jam in my way.

Things have changed though and a recent question from a reader prompted me to investigate the latest TomTom models to see how well they handle traffic and to see if they can continue to offer me the reassurance I have enjoyed recently. The short answer seems to be ‘no’. The latest versions of the TomTom ONE and XL no longer include a Bluetooth feature so the traditional way of managing traffic is gone for those who do not want to spend more on a high-end TomTom system. I purchased my wife a TomTom XL and decided to see how well traffic could be managed without a mobile phone and GPRS data connection. After a further purchase of a TMC receiver we headed off to our home town and promptly got stuck in a huge traffic jam- the first in a long time. The problem was that we could not get a decent TMC signal most of the time and in the end I gave up trying to position the antenna in a place that would work.

I suspect the reason is that the original service did not sell too well, but boy did they work! The annual subscription is well worth the money for anyone who travels and those who have used it will know what I mean. Sadly it would appear that I will be limited in future to either purchasing a more expensive TomTom or buying an older one from eBay for my wife. It is a bizarre situation which is not explained very well in any of the literature accompanying the new devices, and I can see many people upgrading and presuming that the updated units have Bluetooth built in.

No matter what I will continue to use TomTom for my travelling needs, but would like to see the original service come back in future units.