Hands-on review
Reviewed by Daniel A. Begun
January 5, 2004
For turn-by-turn directions, GPS mapping doesn't get much easier
than this.
The good: Very easy-to-generate turn-by-turn driving
directions; overall solid driving directions; integrates with Pocket
Outlook; Bluetooth; includes 12-volt car power adapter.
The bad: Driving directions are occasionally confusing;
sometimes sends you the wrong way down one-way streets.
ALK Technologies' CoPilot Live Pocket PC 4 ($349 direct)
is possibly one of the simplest-to-use GPS-mapping kits we've seen.
Once the hardware and the software are working on your Pocket PC,
getting directions is simple.
The kit includes a 12-channel CompactFlash receiver
based on the SiRFstarIIe chipset, and the entire bundle weighs 2.1
ounces and measures 2.9 by 1.6 by 3.4 inches. (At press time, ALK
started offering an updated receiver based on the SiRFstarIIe/LP
chipset.) Although the receiver draws its power from the Pocket PC
device, the kit conveniently comes with a 12-volt car adapter and
includes an external antenna with a built-in magnet for placement
on a car roof.
We found the CoPilot Live desktop software easy to use.
You can select an area of any size to download, and you may adjust
which types of points of interest (POI) to include. You are limited
by only your handheld's available memory; for example, the dataset
for New York City with a 25-mile radius and all available POI took
up 15MB.
As soon the receiver acquires the necessary signals,
which can take a few minutes, the software automatically provides
text-based and voice-based turn-by-turn directions to your chosen
destination. If you miss a turn, it will recalculate a new route
for you. The receiver is very responsive, minus some momentary losses
of signal due to obstructions.
The handheld software also lets you display your current
location on a map, edit the directions to your liking, or customize
the data shown by the app. If the handheld has wireless Internet
access, it can receive a text message or even a new trip from someone
using the desktop software or ALK's Web site.
Overall, we found the driving directions accurate and
easy to understand. However, they were occasionally confusing or
even potentially dangerous (sending us the wrong way down one-way
streets). Additionally, the interface gets somewhat vexing beyond
the basics, though it's nothing that studying the instruction manual
won't remedy.
Reviewed by Daniel
A. Begun
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