Laptop GPS World

Thx. I'll check it out, if I only find it. Can you give me a link to that forum?

For what it's worth:
http://www.alk.com/support/copilot_laptop11/faqs.asp

I am another longtime Co-Pilot Truck user - going back many versions and many years. I am an early adopter so I grabbed 11 as soon as it came out. I used it maybe 3 trips and have gone back to Co-Pilot Truck 9.

I pull oversized and overweight loads & all require permits which give me specific routings - many times hundreds of miles out of route on back woods country roads. Because of this I really need laptop GPS so I can plan my trip with the many waypoints to keep me on my permitted route. I couldn't imagine trying to put in all the waypoints I need into a garmin unit. I also need trip reports for these runs that accurately show the true miles run in each state. So, naturally I jumped on Co-Pilot when I found it, and I have been relatively happy up til now. Co-Pilot truck 9 does a good job but needs an update, 11 is a pain and a waste of my money. I hope ALK reads this - I have always spoke highly of them but no longer - I would never recommend 11 to anyone. It is clumsy and non intuitive. 9 is friendly and smooth, well integrated. Ex....I remember a few versions ago when the POI's were broken down and I could choose rest area's, weigh stations, and truck washes - now Weigh stations are gone or clumped together in "truck services". I have a 7" monitor installed above my windsheild that I can glance at as I go. With 9 I get a very nice POI alert that pops up telling me what is ahead - after 10 seconds it goes away. Very nice and safe. Now in 11 all I get is the announcement of a POI and a yellow box that requires my interaction to see the what the POI is! This is not safe! Again - this is supposed to be TRUCK - so give me the option of what TRUCK services I want as POI's - you did in prior versions but now in 11 I get one category - loaded with so called truck services I may not be interested in at all - so I can't use POI's because I cant interact safely with the computer while driving and comb through the dozens of "Truck Services" POI's that clutter the message box.


Planning is also very uncomfortable vs. 9. I fear 9 will not be updated so I may have to get used to 11. Avoid / Favor was nice. This really is ridiculous - charging us to upgrade to a new version of a program then take away many of the things we love about it. Why can I only specify an 8 hour break when DOT requires 10 - regardless - why limit it to 8 hours any ways?

This is frustrating.

I called ALK a couple of days ago to ask when any patches will be released for version 11. I was told that they have stopped *ALL* work on any fixes or patches for version 11.

Last week on the "Into Tommorrow" radio show they mentioned they had heard that ALK was working on a stand alone unit. That may be why they changed the interface from one that worked great with a laptop to one that may be more aimed at a touchscreen. That would be a shame. I honestly use it a ton at home for trip planning and milage calculations / state milage reports and such, and being on a laptop is key for me. Little things like mousing over roads in the planning mode in 9 showed the road name plus had a nice right click menu that is gone now.

hey fellows i am new to the copilot never used it before ...any thing i should beware of?

Hi mrbrush2005,

to Laptop GPS World.

If you look over some of the feedback on the previous several pages you will notice a bit of a disappointment on the part of long-time users of ALK CoPilot. That's due to the removal of some features in version 11 - features that made older versions of this product stand out from the competition.

If you are a new user, you may make your own (different) opinion of ALK CoPilot.

__________________
Marvin Hlavac

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

thanks marvin, i thought it was a good "gig" it ain't let me down yet but viveone person on it speaks different than the other and with more detail and the other thing is it wont tell me where the truck stops and pickle parks are. if i wasnt familiar with the roads i run i'd be in trouble it gives me no help on long island N Y

It's been a while, but let me chime in one more time on the issue of CP 11. It works, but not well. It will serve my purpose for the time being. It does not look like ALK is inerested in making any changes or patches to correct the issues.
I've written to them and never get an answer.
This will be my LAST purchase. I hope everyone else out there on the road is doing well. Kent Davis

BUYER BEWARE of CoPilot 11 Truck. I bought it for use with my RV and have done maybe 14 trips. Every trip has been a major frustration, and sometimes scary.

For example, if you do not start from the exact spot you programmed it to start your trip, it will tell you to u-turn for the whole trip. It wants you to start from that exact spot and won't just get over it and realize you are now on the freeway in the correct direction. When you get about a block from your destination, it wants you to u-turn. In an RV at 9 mpg, you can't afford extra unnessecary driving, not to mention it has taken me to bad neighborhoods and stuck me places where I can't turn around. I'd never had a GPS before so figured it was MY learning curve. But now I believe they simply put this out prematurely without sufficiently testing it. It has caused more harm than good in my case.

Some more issues: It will say "turn right" but the screen shows a left turn. So how do you decide?? In an RV you can't just pull over to the side of the road, and you can't be fiddling with a gps while driving an RV.

One time I needed to leave one freeway and get on another. The transition was a simple curve. But the screen showed one of those clover leaf loops. So for the rest of the trip it kept telling me to take the next exit and turn around, apparently wanting me to do the loop that wasn't there. It was not able to just figure out that I was on track.

If all gps are this bad, I will stick with a paper map. But I ordered TomTom GO720 to replace copilot 11. Will see how that goes.

Is it possible that Copilot uses TeleAtlas maps and you will have the same problems with TomTom.

Terry

Terry, actually, for the North American product at least, ALK makes its own maps, rather than getting the map data from the likes of TeleAtlas or Navteq. This has advantages and disadvantages. But no map product is perfect.

BornFree, I would think, though, that a laptop solution would be more appropriate for an RV, than a small TomTom. You could have tried different software, if ALK was a disapointment. A lot of RV-ers use Microsoft Streets and Trips or DeLorme Street Atlas. But you've already placed your order, and I hope it will work well for you.

__________________
Marvin Hlavac

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

Marvin,
Thanks for pointing that out. I thought only Delorme had its own maps.
Terry

Considering the multitude of new features and improvements now available (on Laptop GPS Software, GPS units, as well as the new cell phones with GPS), I'm wondering if there are any other folks out there that are as confused as I am about which offers the best (most useful) features?

All the different manufacturers hipe their Models as the greatest thing since sliced bread but when I check out the online reviews, (like this one) I become very disappointed to read that actual users report the features don't perform as promised.

I do believe that due to the heated up competion over a share of the GPS market, the technolgy will improve with the next and future models. At least that is what I anticipate.

I just got off the phone with ALK, hoping to get some sort of update as to when/if we'll ever see any patches for CP 11. What I was told was that there will be no development of any patches/fixes for version 11. They said that they "should" have all of the problems fixed in their next release in the next 6-9 months.

I then asked about what I was supposed to do with the garbage (CP 11) that I currently own. He said that I can talk to sales about getting a "discount" for the upgrade. HA If they think I'm going to pay them ANYTHING to fix their screw-up, they're sadly mistaken.