Goodbye Garmin - Hello CoPilot??

[ElevenFifty]

Just wondering if anyone else has made a study of this option:

 

CoPilot app/maps running on Android/IOS smart phone w/GPS ... $6.99 lifetime

CoPilot Windows (or Mac) software (optional) ... $34.00

ITNConverter ... Free

 

The CoPilot software appears to have a lot of traction in the trucking and fleet management arena ... an important vertical market leader so I expect them and their products to get better with time. I'm thinking 'twould be nice to reduce the techno load ... I always have my phone and bluetooth to my helmet but I ride more than one bike. I'd like to get voice, intercom, phone, music, and navigation in as portable and simple platform as possible. If I can get everything I need on my smartphone bluetoothed to my Sena then the only common component required on each bike is a USB charger for the phone ...

 

I'm experimenting with CoPilot. I've purchased the PC routing program and have the Android app installed. I still prefer Basecamp (familiarity) for complex trip planning and use Google Earth extensively to refine these multi-day backroads routes. My early results using ITNConvert to produce CoPilot versions of complex routes have been really good!

 

The key (for me at least) seems to be a free route conversion program ITNConverter. I've looked at a lot of these route conversion routines and wrote a kml to gpx one some years ago ... this one appears to be particularly good. I've built some complex routes in Mapsource and Basecamp and these convert to the .trp format with surprising accuracy. I've used .gdb files and also .gpx as an intermediary format and they look good.

 

Next, I'll try some complex secondary routes build with Google Earth. This is my real objective ... Google Earth as a multi-point planning tool with output to Android/Ios. The hope is to be able to use the investment in a Smartphone and eliminate the dedicated GPS while gaining lifetime access to maps that are updated frequently.

 

Advantage to CoPilot is the $6.99 Android/IOS software that downloads FREE and frequently updated maps to your smart phone. These on-board maps, along with your phone GPS provide lifetime updates and turn-by-turn voice guidance with NO DATA USAGE other than the occasional update to 2Gb of map data (you choose when to do this). You can opt in and out of a live data option that will supplement your maps with real time traffic info. I've only done the most modest tests of live data but it seems to not use much data for this feature.

 

Anyone else doing this?

 

 

[greiffster]

The idea of ditching the dedicated GPS in lieu of the smartphone gets a fair amount of attention. I think that eventually, (if not already) the smartphones will do just about everything the Garmin GPS does, maybe more. I think it is more about how you use the device. I can operate and see a Zumo or older StreetPilot while on the bike, with gloves on. I can't say that about my Iphone. But, I use a fantastic GPS app for the Iphone while boating and hunting.

[Glenn Reed]

The other thing to keep in mind is the ability of the device to operate in areas with little or no cell signal. My wife tried to navigate to Snowshoe WV last summer to join those of who were gathered there for B5Q, and once she made one wrong turn, her cell phone was useless for navigation.

 

Same thing can happen out in Western NC, where there are some really nice roads.

[lkraus]

I've been using CoPilot with my Android phone in a RAM mount for a couple years with mixed success. Some of the glitches have been caused by me, some by the phone, some may just be the nature of any GPS.

 

For simply reaching your destination, CoPilot works fine, taking the shortest or quickest route, with good, customizable views of the route. Cell service availability is a non-issue since the maps are all loaded on the phone. Live traffic information is an option where cell service is available. Voice directions (Bluetoothed to my Sena SMH10) work well, pausing music if I'm listening as I ride, though they will not override a phone call. I find a GPS with turn-by-turn voice directions essential for navigating in large, unfamiliar urban areas.

 

Where cell service is available, I prefer the Google Maps app. I can speak to enter my destination (often without knowing the exact address), the display can show a satellite view, and the voice directions even specify the proper lanes for turning. Plan your route in advance and the necessary directions can be saved to the phone before you ride out of the cell coverage. Driving back from FL, Maps automatically rerouted us around an accident on I-26, saving us from a two hour wait in stopped traffic.

 

If I'm just riding for fun, CoPilot lacks a couple things I'd like to see, like avoiding gravel roads, or favoring twisting back roads. I use two free programs,Tyre for route planning and RouteConverter to put the route in .trp format. Tyre can show Google satellite views, letting me zoom in and check the road conditions.

 

I've tried a couple of downloaded .gpx routes, but found they were created with points recorded at some fixed distance or time, leading to hundreds of points when only a dozen or so should have been needed - very tedious to edit. If not edited, CoPilot treated each one as a destination, showing distance to the next point rather than the next turn. This problem might also be due to my ignorance, a shortcoming of the converter program or just the nature of things GPS.

 

Routes I've built from scratch work much better, until I deviate from the planned route. Sometimes I'll take a shortcut, or ignore the GPS because I see an interesting cross road, or encounter a detour. Once I return to the original route, CoPilot insists on returning to the point where I deviated. It is possible to edit the original text directions on the phone and recalculate, but it is not usually clear exactly how much of the original route needs to be deleted. Pulling off the road, removing my gloves, finding my reading glasses and diving 3-4 menus deep to guess at what changes need to be made is a bit of a pain. Especially when you get back on the road and find you did not delete enough of original route.

 

In any case, most of my "fun" planning is done at home, turns are listed by road name on a piece of paper and slipped into my tank bag window. The GPS might be used at the end of the day if I'm tired and just want to get home ASAP, or on those lucky occasions that I've managed to get entirely lost.

 

One problem I've encountered is with battery life on trips of more than 5 or 6 hours. Even connected to a converter, the battery on my phone can be depleted, so much so that the phone shuts off when the bike shuts down. This seems to be due mainly to the full time screen display. (Google Maps can turn the screen off between turns.) Turning the screen off and using only voice directions helps, but when I really need to see the map, getting the screen back on while riding is a bit difficult and distracting. Due to the small screen (4.5") and the fact that it does not work with gloves, I nearly always have to pull off the road if I need to change anything with the phone. Keeping a cheap stylus tethered to the mount helps for a few entries; major changes mean the gloves come off. So far, I've just thrown the phone in the tank bag in the event of rain, again relying on voice directions.

 

Overall, I find my smart phone is adequate as a motorcycle GPS, or at least good enough that I cannot justify spending the money that a dedicated motorcyle GPS requires.

 

[greenrider]

I use my copilot on nexus 7 (android) mounted with a ram mount. Made a special bracket so its mounted in the centre above the gauges.

Love the big screen and even though I usually have it plugged in l'm surprised how long I can go without it being plugged in.

Brightness has to be set to the highest level.

 

I find copilot easier to use then any of the others I have tried. Being I don't have data some of the others like google isn't an option.

 

Google still seems to be able to pick the best route for basic travel in my opinion.

[Skywagon]

im curious what you are using on your iphone for boating...

[greenrider]

Navionics

[greiffster]

im curious what you are using on your iphone for boating...

 

Around here, lakes are mostly hundred of miles of dammed up rivers with lots of shallow inlets and bays, where the ducks and geese hang out. Nearly impossible to find in the dark, before sunrise. And real easy to tear up props. I follow recorded tracks to stored waypoints using an app called MotionX-GPS.

[Blind Squirrel]

There is a long thread over on fjrforum.com about a guy that uses a Samsung Galaxy Tab as his primary GPS with very good results.

 

I *THINK* you have to be a member to see the thread:

 

http://www.fjrforum.com/forum//index.php/topic/151235-blind-guys-gps;-samsung-galaxy-tab-2/?hl=copilot

 

I believe he uses the Co-Pilot 3D app.

[walton66]

I tried copilot but there a few things I didn't like. I switched to

Pocket Earth PRO Offline Maps - GPS Navigation Map & Travel Guide by GeoMagik LLC

https://appsto.re/us/bMDTC.i

 

I can export basecamp routes and import them into this app. It works fine so far running up and down the central part of Florida. In the Spring it'll get a good test when I head for the mountains.

 

For the GPS receiver I keep one of these in my tank bag,

http://bad-elf.com/products/be-gps-2200

And use it rather than the one in my iPhone. They talk via Bluetooth.

 

 

[UberXY]

Just curious; has anyone tried an iPad Mini with Bad Elf dongle for GPS on the bike? I assume it could be done with a RAM mount on a faired bike with windscreen, or in the window pocket of a large tank bag, coupled with a good 12 watt charger.

[walton66]

I've used my fullsize ipad in my topcase along with the bad elf device in my tankbag and thought about a mini on the dash but never bought one. I just got an iphone 6+ and RAM holder for it for Christmas so I am excited to try it. I have a USB power outlet mounted on my dash shelf and another in my tankbag. The reason I started using the s/w cited earlier is that I can plot a route on my ipad and transfer it to my iphone, something I could not do with copilot, or plot a route on my Mac with basecamp and transfer it to my ipad or iphone. I tried both yesterday and that much works. The bigger screen on the 6+ is more useful than the one on my 4 and seems just right. Might have to make a sunshade attached to the ram though.

[MarkAZ]

Some of the Android tablets have GPS built in and are fairly inexpensive. I have a Samsung Tab 2 that I got for free (the digitizer over the screen was smashed and had to be replaces...$20 and 30 mins work) that I'm thinking about using with CoPilot. Used Android tablets can be had pretty cheaply. No need for an outboard GPS & no risk of losing or damaging an expensive iPad or iPhone.

[Kritou]

D

I tried copilot but there a few things I didn't like. I switched to

Pocket Earth PRO Offline Maps - GPS Navigation Map & Travel Guide by GeoMagik LLC

https://appsto.re/us/bMDTC.i

 

I can export basecamp routes and import them into this app. It works fine so far running up and down the central part of Florida. In the Spring it'll get a good test when I head for the mountains.

 

For the GPS receiver I keep one of these in my tank bag,

http://bad-elf.com/products/be-gps-2200

And use it rather than the one in my iPhone. They talk via Bluetooth.

 

 

I too use Pocket Earth and the Bad Elf GPS. On the motorcycle they work well with both my iPad and an elderly iPod Touch. Both devices suffer from screen refectivity to some extent and the iPad overheats in hot conditions in the tankbag

 

The Bad Elf is also a stadalone datalogger and can be shared with four other devices

 

Pocket Earth mapping is OpenStreet Mapping (OSM) derived, available offline and it's coverage is usually better than Garmin's and certainly more up to date. Earlier this year I used it to good effect in New Zealand

 

Screen visibility however is a significant issue for iOS devices, and so for me at least, my trusty but ancient Garmin Quest is still my navigation tool of choice - but with OSM mapping installed on it!

[Gooner]

Another thing to consider with the smartphone only option is international travel - specifically Canada. Trying to use a mapping app will tear through your data plan (as my wife and I discovered last year going from Seattle to Whistler, BC.) I like the Bad Elf option, though.