Laptop GPS World

I don't need the truck/RV personnally. I just want a mapping system that will get me from Point A to Point B in the shortest amount of time and help me find address and streets when I don't know where I'm going.
ALK dropped the ball on CP 11.
Speed/Altatude/ETA/miles traveled/miles to destination...I think they all offer these features don't they?
What do you think? Do I have a case? Or a bone to pick with ALK. I've used there laptop software all the way back to CoPilot 2003. I don't think 11 is as good as the 2003 issue. Kent

They've removed features which made ALK CoPilot unique, IMHO. Now the program doesn't offer much more than what other programs do.

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Marvin Hlavac

PC GPS software reviews | Stores offering discounts to our members: Semsons & Co. Inc. and Deluo Electronics

One thing that PLAINLY shows that they didn't make ALK CoPilot Truck 11 actually for trucks:

In the US, a commercial driver has to take a 10hr break after driving a max of 11hrs per day. Ok, that's fine.

However, in CoPilot, in the options where you can specify to take a break after so many hours of driving - the maximum break time you can put in it is 8hrs. So, that pretty much kills any correct ETA estimates for a load with more than 1 days worth of driving.

Also, in the state of WV, CoPilot has EVERY road except for 4 lane highways indicated that they're truck restricted. When I called them, they said that WV has a weight limit of 64,000lbs. That's absolute bull. I told them to pick up a Rand-McNally Motor Carriers Atlas and look at the WV limits.

I'll be switching to Centrafuse in the next month or so.

Scratch that waiting till next month to order Centrafuse. I just finished downloading the full version ($250) and ordered an XMPCR XM receiver to hook to my pc (to go along with Centrafuse).

I'll give it my first road test tomorrow on a trip from Fairmont, WV to York, PA.

Nice! Let us know how it goes. Also are you able to return CoPilot? If not I'd put it up on Ebay, that's what I did with all of my ALK products about a month ago.

Greg

CoPilot 9 is still working fine for me. As for v11, I received my upgrade for free because of the number of issues I have with v9.

I hadn't even thought of selling v11. That's a VERY good idea.

So much for the so-called "update" in May from ALK. They get your money then tell you whatever basically.

Thx for all information about ALK CoPilot Truck. I wish I read it before I bought it.

I had several ALK’s softwares before: CoPilot 2003, CoPilot 8, CoPilot Truck 4, Co Pilot hand held 5, a now I have CoPilot Truck 11. Frankly, the CoPilot 2003 was the best one. I believe CoPilot truck 11 is the last product I bought from ALK.

Of course I had the same problem with running it on 1440 by 900 resolution. I couldn’t accept theirs “solution” to fix that problem, by changing resolution. I called ALK complaining about it and only answers from them was frustrated, irritated voice telling me that I can return it. Guy who answered the phone had no idea when or if this problem will be fixed.

I found my own solution thou. I started program after setting screen resolution to 1024 by 768, then I came back to 1440 by 900 and so far it works. The view is smaller, keeping old dimensions, but I actually like it that way. My screen now looks like that ( click on it to see bigger picture):







I’m a trucker, using laptop nav systems all the time. Still if I need to find address I go to google maps or mapqest. I buy new Microsoft Streets and Trips and DeLorme Street Atlas every year. They both are better with finding addresses, then CoPilot. Also misspelling is not a problem for MS S&T, however it has also some irritating features. Poor graphics for one. Also if I type name of the city which is identical with county or river, MS always asks me what I’m looking for. Well, I always look for a city, never for a county and don’t know why that stupid question.

What I like in ALK CoPilot is that I can break my millage by states. I need that info for my taxes. What I don’t like is voice navigation. I don’t know how to turn it off. Changing volume to low is not a option, because it mutes my whole computer, and I listen to the radio via Internet. Anybody knows how to turn off voice navigations?

My number one choice is DeLorme. Getting better and better every year. Price is right, so I have no problem with purchasing new edition every year. And if attitude of service people at ALK won’t change, they will not stay much longer in this business. I strongly recommend to everyone who thinks about buying CoPilot Truck 11 to wait untill they fix all the bugs, or better yet to buy DeLorme product plus trucker road atlas if they need to find truck routes.

Hi polonus, and welcome to the forums here at Laptop GPS World. I'm not at my PC with ALK CoPilot Laptop on it, so I cannot test it, but you may try to search where the sound files are located, and then (temporarily) remove them (or rename the folder they are in),to see if this will mute the program the way you want it.

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Marvin Hlavac

PC GPS software reviews | Stores offering discounts to our members: Semsons & Co. Inc. and Deluo Electronics

Here's the latest email that I sent to ALK and the response I received:


Ya - you can tell how much they care about losing customers...

I did rename the folder and CoPilot is quiet now. Thx.

That's why I will not buy another product from them. I understand that anyone can do mistake, or have technical difficulties, but I don't understand that kind of arrogance and pride.

Program, when started in small resolution mode, works well even when I change my resolution later. I just drove from Charlotte to Kansas City without any crashes or other problems. I run single gps receiver (thanks to software from GPSGate.com) and have always opened two navigation programs: CoPilot and DeLormes. I use one from Garmin, but I can use also CoPilot's instead.

For some reason I cannot use at the same time MS Streets and Trips with GPS, because that one is turning itself off. But that's OK, I need this one only to find addresses, not for navigation. Two running nav system are enough.

I wish CoPilot show more info at the same time, For instance speed and altitude. Also I love that it can show me next rest area or parking. I always look for them in the evening. I wish showing next weight station would be separate option on the list of POI's thou. Now scales are bundled with "truck services". Truck services are at almost every intersection, so when I set up showing POIs at next 25 miles, I have 10-20 to check and I need only one info: Where is the chicken coop. Truck stops always advertise on billboards, I don't need my computer to show me where they are.

I made one mistake, removing my CoPilot 8, when I had problem installing v11. Now I wish i didn't, but v8 cannot be reinstalled. when I copy data disc it stalls at 97% and I only hear ticking noise from CD reader. Any ideas what can cause it? I don't see any scratches on disc.

Thanks for your help.

All of the things I am reading about CP11 I agree with for the most part.
I would like to add a comment about the voice nav. I was upset with that feature as well, but the only fix is to select the volume icon on the bottom corner, and then turn it all the way down. I would suggest that rather than disableing the sound files...you might have an occasion to want them quickly. Like you are going into an area at night, and then it is kinda helpful to have the voice giving you heads up on the turns.
My real question for all of you running cp11 is, if you are running vista home premium software, has your computer ever crashed since running cp11? I don't mean failed...just came up with the dreaded "blue screen" with the information that something has happened that made windows unhappy and it has shut down. There are more instructions, but basically something has made the software take a "poop". Has that happened to any of you? I am trying to decide if cp11 is causing problems because of Vista.

rpapworth1, welcome to Laptop GPS World. I don't recall ever ALK CoPilot Laptop causing me a blue screen, but I have to admit that ALL previous versions occasionally crashed. This new ALK CoPilot Laptop 11 is the first one that has not yet crashed on me. I've used version 11 on XP and also on Vista. So far so good - in my setup anyway. Let's see what others have to say.

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Marvin Hlavac

PC GPS software reviews | Stores offering discounts to our members: Semsons & Co. Inc. and Deluo Electronics

I haven't ran it long enough for it to crash my system... Pretty bad since I've had it since February and I use my navigation on a daily basis.

ALK Copilot was not released it escaped please capture it and never allow any more releases! Please no more, do not release it upon anyone else and have them undergo the pain of this poorly tested and inferior product.

I've just been reading around here and I have a couple of bits of info that was requested by others here, ill get the hang of your names and using quotes soon I promise, Hi to all

The 97% stop on copilot install I've had before, there is fix for it in forums at ALK, try searching for 97% at Alk's web, it was to do with a file being left in a windows folder after copilot is removed that stops the reinstall completing.

My Co Pilot 10 does the BLUE SCREEN of death on occasions, on my XP pro powered lappy, many many times I have had emails with copilot support trying to fix this, blue screen/shutdown /cross-linked files issue that only ever occurs when running copilot, ( I've used two different known good lappys and 2 different GPS units blue-tooth and USB, Many reinstalls and patch's, it is copilot fault for sure and it sounds like it is still present in laptop 11, it was in laptop 10 up to and including 10.0.0.26. Then they released 11, they will blame VISTA, or if corned tell you they are working on a update that never comes. I know I've battled with them for more than a year, re poor product with many issues, too many to bother listing /venting here, it is enough to say Co-Pilot for laptop Suxs Bad.

I've a ton of emails full of unfilled patch promises and general buck passing, avoidance maneuverer's, please before you go ALK Co-Pilots way stop and read the truth it is out there, if you want the emails I'm happy to pass them along. Enough of the negatrive...

Map Monkey is far more stable and is easier to use too, so I'm back to using it, based on old Destinator 3, but I also have a version of detinator 7 running on Vista64 PC (home) and a xp pro lappy(in the van), it still needs some tweaking but is far better than Copilot will ever be.

I drove 300kms round trip to Sydney and back for the first time today, I'm glad to say, It did not miss a turn nor break down in a huff. I'll be spending some time with probably the Centrafuse/D7 cross soon, so I hope to see all later... thanks for the help, I appreciate the wealth of information freely provided by posters like yourselves. Cheers

Steve