Tom Tom vs Copilot

[Guest Papa Smurf]

A lot has been written about TomTom and Copilot, however some of it is quite old or written by people who have not used the software.

I have read the posts on this site and would appreciate answers from people who own or have used the above software. Also, I have discovered that some people on this site have been involved in the testing of products and if that’s the case can you please state it. This will help me to make an informed choice. :)

From the posts I have already read both systems would appear to be able to get you from A-B without problems but I would appreciate answers to the following questions.

Tom Tom

1. Can you select a place on the map to navigate to without knowing the address?

2. How good is the software at redirecting you when you have missed/ weren’t able to take the directed turn?

3. How easy is it to avoid roads on the fly?

4. Does it recognise Congestion charge zones and toll roads and can you set preferences to avoid them?

5. Can I buy maps for Europe (I dont have PPC so wont be able to get maps that way.

6. When on long trips can I use the GPS and charge it at the same time?

Copilot (pretty much the same)

1. How good is the software at redirecting you when you have missed/ weren’t able to take the directed turn?

2. How easy is it to avoid roads on the fly?

3. When on long trips can I use the GPS and charge it at the same time?

Finally, if anyone has used both (or knows of a link to) please can they give a quick comparison of the two?

Sorry for the lengthy question but I don’t want to invest in a system that is second best.

Regards,

[Guest Confucious]

I have Co-Pilot and the answers to your questions are:

1) Excelent - Almost instantaneous. It recalculates a new route in a few yards.

2) I don't know as I've not tried this yet - I'll see if I can find out for you.

3) Yes. I believe all BT GPS receivers come with a car charger (I know the CoPilot one does) and when in the car I tend to leave mine plugged in all the time which means the battery is fully charged for when I'm out of the car.

[Guest Papa Smurf]

Thanks Confucious,

When recalculating a route after missing a junction will it try and turn you around or can you dive off through a back street ( say you were avoiding a traffic jam) and it will continue from there?

Bruce

[Guest Confucious]

It seems to recalculate the route from where you are. Only once has it told me to turn arround - when i took a side turning to avoid a level crossing and the road actually led away from my destination to start with, but after ignoring iot for a couple of hundred yards it realised I wan't going to and re did my route . Normally it just re does the route immediatly.

[Guest sx125]

Hey

i got TomTom and it aslo works superb.

I got it working with a royaltek RBT 1000 and i charge it also in the car.

Calculating a new route takes about 10 sec. so no problem at all.

I never used CoPilot so i can't saw wich is beter/worser.

[Guest Papa Smurf]

Due to the lack of response from Tom Tom owners I bought Copilot (mainly as it comes with desktop routing software).

I can say that I am very pleased with it although I am still finding out the optimum settings.

[Guest simoli1]

Hi Is it possible to let me know where i can purchase TomTom or Copilot in the UK. And also can it be bought with USA maps?

Regards

Simoli

[Guest Confucious]

Hi simoli1 welcome to the forum.

Co-Pilot can be bought from the MoDaCo shop direct link http://www.smesolutions.co.uk/modaco/copilot.htm and they also sell USA Maps.

[Guest awarner [MVP]]

Tom Tom

1. Can you select a place on the map to navigate to without knowing the address?

2. How good is the software at redirecting you when you have missed/ weren’t able to take the directed turn?

3. How easy is it to avoid roads on the fly?

4. Does it recognise Congestion charge zones and toll roads and can you set preferences to avoid them?

5.            Can I buy maps for Europe (I dont have PPC so wont be able to get maps that way.

6.            When on long trips can I use the GPS and charge it at the same time?

Back ground for me is that I am a beta tester for TomTom and have seen it develop into a great application.

1, Yes

2, Excellent and extremely fast.

3, Seems to work well but choose road block rather than choose alternative route option unless you want to add quite a few miles on to your journey.

4, Not sure as I have not used any toll roads or congestion charges.

5, Not at the moment, you would have to buy the product again :(

6, Yes and that's what I do on long journeys but the C500 and the TT GPS unit hardly touch battery power.

You should have asked the questions in the TomTom post in news I would have answered it quicker there :)

I cannot comment on CoPilot yet as I have only just recieved a copy but have noticed a few bugs which I will be reporting back to them with.

Also I am encountering quite a few lockups and losing memory card connection on the E200.

To other CoPilot users, is the memory card problem normal?

[Guest beersoft]

as i've used all 3 satnav products i would rate them as

(in reverse order)

co pilot

mapoplis

tomtom

copilot i found slow, inacurate and not as polished as it should be, crashed alot and didnt like my gps that much

mapopolis has its faults but its cheap and is faster than copilot, it has some querks but has a lot of plus points

tomotom just rocks, its as fast as mapoopopopoplis, the support guys rock, and it works flawlessly with the tt gps, the 3dview is good and i like it (tomtom please send the money to ....)

later

Owen

[Guest chucky.egg]

Sorry, I know this has probably been asked before, but I can't find the answer (I have searched, honest!):

1) I've already got a nice BT GPS device, so can anyone confirm that by giving the GPS the "correct" name TomTom will accept it and use it? I've seen it said, but no confirmation that it works

2) How much space does TomTom and the UK maps take up? I've got all the UK Mapo maps and they take up about 130Mb in all, but I don't have a lot of space until I get my 1Gb card so I want to make sure it'll still fit in roughly the same space

3) Is TomTom available for download anywhere, or do I have to buy a boxed product?

Thanks

[Guest awarner [MVP]]

1, As you can only buy TomTom as a boxed version which includes the GPS unit,

so it does not matter about setting up a different GPS unit unless you somehow have your unit lost, stolen gambled away in a game of cards etc etc. Just a few of the stories posted explaining the reasons for setting up a non TomTom gps unit.

I'm waiting for the classic "my dog ate it" :)

2, You will need 128mb card just for TomTom

3, See my reply to question 1:)

[Guest chucky.egg]

Thanks for all that.

The only way i can justify buying TomTom is if i can just get the software ... which means selling the GPS as i already have one (which i prefer over the TT one on looks :) )

If i can use my existing GPS and sell the TT one then i get exactly what i'm looking for. TT might not like it, but isn't it my choice?

I'm not trying to encourage anything dodgy