CoPilot Live GPS Navigation System

Gadgeteer Hands On Review by Rob Tillotson

April 12, 2006

Many new cars come with GPS navigation systems. But what if you don't have one? Adding it might not be practical-perhaps you drive more than one vehicle, travel and rent often, or just don't want an expensive piece of electronics permanently and visibly stuck to your dash. Today's smartphones and PDAs are powerful enough to do the same job, with a little help from software and a pocketable GPS receiver. CoPilot Live by ALK Technologies is a complete GPS navigation system for Bluetooth-ready handhelds, which provides on-the-go routing with voice prompts.

Package Contents

The CoPilot Live system is available in a variety of different configurations, with versions tailored for Windows Mobile Smartphones, Pocket PCs, laptops, and the Treo 700W. The software is available by itself or with a Bluetooth GPS receiver, and bundles are available that also include a 1GB memory card for map storage. The package I evaluated is the Smartphone version with GPS receiver; I used it with an iMate SP5m Windows Mobile 5 Smartphone.

The box includes:

• CoPilot Live software
• CoPilot Bluetooth GPS receiver
• 12V car adapter for GPS receiver
• Power splitter
• Vent mounting clip for phone

The power splitter is an extension cable which connects to the 12V adapter and provides power to both the GPS and phone (through a mini-USB plug), so you can use the system on long trips without running down either device's battery.

Software

The CoPilot Live software for handhelds has two parts: an application for your PDA or smartphone that handles in-car navigation, and a map downloader for your Windows desktop. The handheld software is the most important part of this package, so I'll cover it first. Please note that I only reviewed the Windows Mobile Smartphone version; the others should have the same features but a somewhat different user interface.

The CoPilot smartphone application is a complete navigation system; the only thing you have to use the desktop for is downloading maps, and if you have a large enough memory card (1GB or more) you probably only need to do that once. On a smartphone it is somewhat cumbersome to enter addresses to search for (it's much easier on a Pocket PC, I'm sure) but you can bookmark your favorite locations and use addresses from your contacts as well. Once you've entered a destination, CoPilot will figure out a route.

Once you're on the move, the map display tracks your location. Both two- and three-dimensional maps are available. In the screens below, notice the markers on the 3-D view of a highway interchange; the CoPilot point of interest database is quite extensive and you can easily search for gas stations, restaurants, and other such places, or get a voice alert when you get close.

CoPilot's voice alerts are clear and, providing your smartphone has a decent speaker, loud. You can choose male or female voices in a number of different languages, downloading only the one you want to your memory card.

I didn't get a chance to test CoPilot in a truly unfamiliar place, but in testing it on routes I knew well I found that it did a good job of figuring out where to go. When I deliberately went the wrong way, it handled rerouting quickly and accurately, even when I persistently ignored its suggestions of where to turn.

One notable feature of CoPilot Live is, as the name implies, live tracking. With live tracking enabled, authorized users can see your location on a web-based map and send text messages and location updates while you are driving. There is not, as far as I can tell, any extra cost for this feature other than whatever you pay for mobile data. (Click the thumbnail below to see a full size image of the live tracking web site.)

The Windows desktop software is used primarily to download maps, points of interest, and voices to the handheld. It can be used to plan trips as well, but it isn't required for that; the handheld software can do that on its own. One thing of note is that maps are not directly downloaded through ActiveSync; the software writes them to a directory on disk which you can drag and drop into ActiveSync's explorer. You can download maps by region, selected area, or a radius around a zip code. As you can see from the screenshots below, a single city map is not very large at all, so if you don't drive cross-country and don't mind downloading a new map when you travel, you might not even need a memory card. On the other hand, a 1GB card is big enough to hold maps of the entire continental USA.

(Click on screens above to see them at full size.)

GPS Receiver

The CoPilot GPS receiver is a compact black box, about as thick as a deck of cards but somewhat narrower, which communicates with a PDA, smartphone, or laptop using Bluetooth. Operating it is simple: turn it on and put it somewhere with a view of the sky, and run the CoPilot software on your handheld or laptop. It is completely wireless, unless you tether it to its 12 volt power adapter or attach an external antenna.

The performance of the CoPilot GPS is quite good. It starts fast and lasts a long time on its internal battery, and it seems to usually get a better fix than the other Bluetooth GPS (a Nokia LD-1W) I currently have to compare it to. (GPS geeks will probably want to know that it is a 20-channel receiver with WAAS and uses the SIRFStar III chipset.) It outputs standard NMEA position information so you can use it with any GPS-ready device and application.

Conclusions

I quite like both parts of the CoPilot Live navigation system. The smartphone software is easy to use, looks nice, and works well. The GPS receiver has good battery life and seems to be quite sensitive and accurate. What I like most is the portability of it. The receiver is much less cumbersome than a dedicated unit, the software does more than a typical handheld GPS, and it goes with you in whatever vehicle you're driving. Also, if you already have a smartphone or PDA (and if you're reading this, you probably do) the price of CoPilot Live is less than a standalone navigation system. Although the CoPilot system is good enough to deserve a recommendation just based on its core performance, the live tracking features add an interesting dimension which you can't get from a standalone GPS navigator.

The CoPilot Live software is available directly from ALK Technologies for $199, or bundled with the Bluetooth GPS receiver for $299.