i-phone with TomTom/Co-pilot App

Rod2240

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I'm thinking of downloading the TomTom or Co-pilot app from Itunes as a cheap alternative for a Satnav as its only £60-70. Is anyone running this, and what are the drawbacks/problems if any? Is it a waste of time and should I just make the big investment in a zumo or whatever? The mounting and charging I don't see as a problem just the operation of it (not sensitive to a gloved hand etc)..

Thanks for any ideas/input

Rod
 
I've downloaded an App called Ndrive, it was on special offer ony a tenner and for the amount of times I use a sat nav its well worth the money. Very user friendly like the Tom Tom but probably doesnt have all the add on type things :D
 
I've been using Tomtom on my iPhone in my car for a couple of months, and have just started using it on my bike. I've discovered two drawbacks:

1) Tomtom for the iPhone doesn't allow custom POIs my default. You need to do a hack to add them.

2) The iPhone doesn't stream directions over bluetooth and you need another hack for this. The audio you eventually get is mono and muffled, but relatively audible. Alternatively you can run a lead from the iPhones 3.5mm output jack to your headset or a bluetooth dongle.
 
I've got co-pilot for W.Europe. Only used it in the car so far and have found it has a tendency to sometimes drop the satellites and then struggles to relocate my position. The only solution seems to be to turn the app off for a few mins and then to re-start it. This could be due however to my windscreen having a blue tint to it.

Also I often loose the voice-over navigation which is a bit of a pain since it means that I need to constantly follow the on screen directions.
 
interesting

LEGOscum said:
2) The iPhone doesn't stream directions over bluetooth and you need another hack for this. The audio you eventually get is mono and muffled, but relatively audible. Alternatively you can run a lead from the iPhones 3.5mm output jack to your headset or a bluetooth dongle.
Click to expand...

I use my iphone with copilot or navigon through an autocom with bluetooth dongle and the sound is as good as the music. Are you using a bluetooth 2 device?
 
Yes, it's a Scala Q2. But you are using the BT dongle which grabs the audio output and then streams it to your headset. I don't divert the audio through another device, so there are less batteries to charge but I get muffled audio. My way is also cheaper :D
 
yes

LEGOscum said:
Yes, it's a Scala Q2. But you are using the BT dongle which grabs the audio output and then streams it to your headset. I don't divert the audio through another device, so there are less batteries to charge but I get muffled audio. My way is also cheaper :D
Click to expand...

it may be cheaper but mine works:augie
 
By cheaper I meant free.

Mine works too. I don't need to hear Tomtom in crisp stereo, and I don't listen to music while I ride. So there's no point is spending +30 quid in a dongle.
 
Got a mate here who has it on his iPhone. Using the inbuilt GPS it will drain the battery a lot and he generally does not rate it due to some of the power saving technquies it uses. So much so that he's asked to borrow my TomTom 520 when he needed a sat nav.
 
Buz said:
I've downloaded an App called Ndrive, it was on special offer ony a tenner and for the amount of times I use a sat nav its well worth the money. Very user friendly like the Tom Tom but probably doesnt have all the add on type things :D
Click to expand...

+1:thumb2
 
turbine_2 said:
Got a mate here who has it on his iPhone. Using the inbuilt GPS it will drain the battery a lot and he generally does not rate it due to some of the power saving technquies it uses. So much so that he's asked to borrow my TomTom 520 when he needed a sat nav.
Click to expand...

Yep, it eats batteries, I have mine powered from the bike which is vital if you're going to use if for any length of time.
 
Yes it does eat battery power but its no problem to wire in a power supply which only just manages to keep up with the drain....

This may be a daft question but when I use it abroad I won't get massive phone charges will I? I know I'm probably answering my own question here but as all the data is already stored on the iphone and I'm using GPS.....is that right?

Rod
 
Same question from me.....don't roaming charges when you're abroad make the iPhone too costly?
 
Speaking from Wmobile/Android, Ndrive is the worst of all the GPS software. TomTom is the most complete and accurate (but unavailable on Android). CoPilot comes second but can have calculation issues and looks unprofessional. The rest like iGo I have found to be a waste of time.
 
filbe said:
Same question from me.....don't roaming charges when you're abroad make the iPhone too costly?
Click to expand...

Tomtom comes with mapping onboard, so there's no need for a data connection, so no roaming charges. You can even put the phone in flight mode and it still runs just fine.
 
Chiming in a bit late here but I have been extremely pleased with Navigon - it has performed flawlessly on a car trip through the USA and as soon as I got back (last week, I bought the British Isles app - I don't know yet if it will be as good as the USA/Canada app but so far it seems very good. I am currently using it on my bike in a RAM cradle and the only drawback is the lack of streaming bluetooth for directions - I don't want to use a pile of electronics just to get this, so am using earbuds when I want the spoken word.
 
I have tried most of the Sat nav apps for the iPhone that are out there, I think the best of the bunch is the Tom-tom. If your unable to jailbreak your iphone, to try some of the more expensive Sat nav apps! Try this FREE one "Waze" found at the App Store. I have been testing it for the past week, and find it a great little Sat Nav.

:aidan
 
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