First off I hate Microshaft. In my spare time (HAHAHAHA) I'm a computer geek. I use Linux for almost everything I do. The ONLY reason I still have a winblows partition at all is MS Streets and trips. This program is brilliant. I cannot comment on CoPilot at all as I haven't used it. Also MS is supposedly working on an addon for truckers, that contains truck route info that can be live updated. I have a wait and see attitude about the addon, but I have never had a problem with streets and trips.
CoPilot Truck GPS
- Thread starter raceman
- Start date
I've been using S&T for some time now and I just upgraded to '05. There seems to be routing issues. I went home over the weekend with freight I couldn't deliver until Mon. morn. Just to try out the new program I checked the mileage from Alpena to Port Colborne, On. The thing sent me north 40 miles to Rogers City, then over to I-75 and down. I plugged in Oscoda to have it send me down 23 and from Tawas City it sent me across 55 to I-75. Then it went NORTH on 75 and just stopped. Very weird. The rest of the trip was there, there was just this random line up 75. I hardly ever use routing anyway. The address finding is great. Oh, and I don't have GPS version.
raceman
Veteran Expediter
Ok, after a week of using CoPilot truck along side my Microsoft Streets and Trips, here is my feeling. Please keep in mind both of these are miles ahead of being lost.
I ran 2429 miles using both systems. I ran Oh,Ky,In,Il and Tn. In Kentucky I actually was lost in Louisville, downtown at 4:00. Although MST got me to where the address said I should be, it was the wrong address. Dispatch's fault not mine. Since I was downtown I turned on CoPilot truck typed in address and it guided me right to it. The problem was it does not react or update quick enough so I actually drove at 10 and 15 MPH so it could guide me. But it did get me there.
Copilot is just too slow for me personally. MS&T lets you see a big area on screen and shows all the streets like an overhead view and then you little car can be seen on its path right on the screen. It is real time. You see the street coming up as you move along and can react.
I am saving you all the details but I plan to keep both but CoPilot will only be my back up in city areas. CoPilot is good for a long trip just too slow when you need to react in traffic. MS&T has both the layout and written instruction you can see at same time. Even though CoPilot has a speaking voice it does not help me because of truck noise and the voice is computerized so it is hard for me to understand. Much like my kids when they were teenagers.
I would recommend CoPilot to anyone who has never had MS&T because you will like it. It simply does not compare to MS&T in my opinion.
Raceman
OTR O/O
I ran 2429 miles using both systems. I ran Oh,Ky,In,Il and Tn. In Kentucky I actually was lost in Louisville, downtown at 4:00. Although MST got me to where the address said I should be, it was the wrong address. Dispatch's fault not mine. Since I was downtown I turned on CoPilot truck typed in address and it guided me right to it. The problem was it does not react or update quick enough so I actually drove at 10 and 15 MPH so it could guide me. But it did get me there.
Copilot is just too slow for me personally. MS&T lets you see a big area on screen and shows all the streets like an overhead view and then you little car can be seen on its path right on the screen. It is real time. You see the street coming up as you move along and can react.
I am saving you all the details but I plan to keep both but CoPilot will only be my back up in city areas. CoPilot is good for a long trip just too slow when you need to react in traffic. MS&T has both the layout and written instruction you can see at same time. Even though CoPilot has a speaking voice it does not help me because of truck noise and the voice is computerized so it is hard for me to understand. Much like my kids when they were teenagers.
I would recommend CoPilot to anyone who has never had MS&T because you will like it. It simply does not compare to MS&T in my opinion.
Raceman
OTR O/O
In it's defense I will say that CPT can be set to give as narrow or broad a view as you want. I generally set mine on about the 4 or 9 mile scale while driving and pull it down to about 3/10 or 1/10 when getting close to my destination and/or lots of turns. As far as not responding quickly enough it may also be a setting. You can have it notify you at 2 miles, 1 mile, 0.3 miles and "just ahead". You can adjust the precise setting for "just ahead" and I have mine at the longest notice which is 8 seconds/100 feet I believe it is.
What troubles me most is the snap to "feature" that moves the position of the pointer on the screen. At times it moves it to an edge or corner when I don't want it moved. It also doesn't have a lot of the addresses in it that I get dispatched to and in at least one case of a small town consignee it only offered city center and no street addresses.
It's an ok product but it needs improvements to really be excellent. It shouldn't snap to until the pointer goes off the screen. It should identify at least the major chain truckstops. It should have a better filing system than favorites so you can keep track of places to go back to them. It should have options such as avoid toll roads instead of only being able to avoid a specific section of road you select. Eventually you could select all the toll roads in the country but it should let you just say avoid toll roads like MS does. There are other things as well but that's all for now.
Leo
truck 4958
Support the entire Constitution, not just the parts you like.
What troubles me most is the snap to "feature" that moves the position of the pointer on the screen. At times it moves it to an edge or corner when I don't want it moved. It also doesn't have a lot of the addresses in it that I get dispatched to and in at least one case of a small town consignee it only offered city center and no street addresses.
It's an ok product but it needs improvements to really be excellent. It shouldn't snap to until the pointer goes off the screen. It should identify at least the major chain truckstops. It should have a better filing system than favorites so you can keep track of places to go back to them. It should have options such as avoid toll roads instead of only being able to avoid a specific section of road you select. Eventually you could select all the toll roads in the country but it should let you just say avoid toll roads like MS does. There are other things as well but that's all for now.
Leo
truck 4958
Support the entire Constitution, not just the parts you like.
As newbies (5 weeks out) my wife and I got CPT on advice garnered at the EO meeting in Knoxville a while back. On installation I got a message saying that Microsoft didn't recognize the GPS and running it could cause problems. I installed anyway and it has had problems that I haven't heard anyone else mention here, that is, the program is unstable and crashes fairly often. Sometimes it just shuts off the program, sometimes we get compatability messages and we have to shut it down. I was wondering if anyone else has had this problem and what can be done to fix it. Neither of us are tech whizzes. I haven't called or emailed the manufacturer yet as I didn't want to spend a ton of time on hold and was hoping someone could give us a short answer here. I'm guessing buying Streets and Trips and using their GPS would fix it, but I hate spending any more money. Sometimes the program will not crash for hours and other times several times in an hour. Any help out there? Or am I doomed to either hold messages or waiting for an email reply? Thanks!
raceman
Veteran Expediter
Yes I have had the problem. I have a Tech Whiz friend and he did some things that helped this problem. I have no idea what he did so I suggest you call ALK. They are great and will help you.
I do recommend if you are not a tech whiz, go get Microsoft Streets and Maps. IT is too easy and works everytime. CPT is nice but in my opinion and for the things I like in a program of this type. MST is the way to go.
Raceman
OTR O/O
I do recommend if you are not a tech whiz, go get Microsoft Streets and Maps. IT is too easy and works everytime. CPT is nice but in my opinion and for the things I like in a program of this type. MST is the way to go.
Raceman
OTR O/O
Mine vanishes from time to time but nowhere near as often as you mentioned. It may just disappear once or twice a week. Email responses are pretty prompt from ALK, generally arriving within 24 hours at worst and often same day if you email early in the day. I tried using their gps with Streets and Trips but it wasn't compatible of course. I'm going to look into what it takes for gps for S/T and may make the switch. I'll keep CPT and use it when dispatched to purgatory (Chicago) because of all the height problems there.
Leo
truck 4958
Support the entire Constitution, not just the parts you like.
Leo
truck 4958
Support the entire Constitution, not just the parts you like.
I bought a laptop last Saturday, and also purchased MS Streets & Trips. I really love the program. I am a "computer geek" and set-up and operation of this program is super easy. Went from Bellefontaine, Ohio to Buffalo, W Va, then to Lexington, KY. The only time the GPS was off, was going down US-35, east of Chillicothe, where the new section is open. My track showed me going through the "woods". Great program. I give it 5 stars!
Thanks for the comments! We got home saturday am, did mothers day with the family and now we can do the home stuff to get ready and go again. I'll email ALK and see what they can do and let y'all know if anything good comes of it. If not, we may go with Microsoft, although I hate to do that. I always thought prior to the Y2K hoopla that Bill Gates was going to turn out to be the Anti-Christ,and I guess he still could, although I'm leaning to Donald Trump now! :}
Robert Finney
Expert Expediter
I had some similar problems with CoP 8; called tech spprt and they straightened it out in very short order. I still get an "Error, needs to close..." window popping up now and then but since I can just left click and drag it out of the way and the program still runs fine I haven't bothered to call tech spprt again.
It doesn't know where I live, though, and I've been unable to get home.
finney
It doesn't know where I live, though, and I've been unable to get home.
finney
I have had a number of map errors show up during my few months of usage. I am exchanging emails with the company attempting to get those resolved as well as changing/adding a few features to make it an even more useful product. I hope I can report positive results before too long.
Leo
truck 4958
Support the entire Constitution, not just the parts you like.
Leo
truck 4958
Support the entire Constitution, not just the parts you like.