CoPilot Live: an RV-Aware GPS for Mobile Phones and Tablets

by Jim Guld, www.geeksontour.tv
CoPilot Live Premium, North America Maps $14.99 for iOS and Android. For complete pricing and map availability, visit their website at www.copilotlive.com. There is a free version, but it does not offer voice-directed turn-by-turn instructions.
Technology can make travel a richer experience. Teaching technology to travelers is what Geeks On Tour is all about. We have been using GPS for navigation since we started RVing back in ’03. Keeping up with this stuff is a full time job and we love it. Visit us at www.geeksontour.tv.

Our Advice

Don’t get rid of your paper maps and atlases. Do get the CoPilot Live app for your mobile devices – we like it! It is available for Android phones and tablets, iOS iPhones and iPad 3G/4G, Windows mobile, and laptops, too. Be sure to read thru the excellent user guide available on their website under the Support menu.
ALK, the company behind CoPilot has been in the business since 1979. They know what they are doing, and they do it well.
I first got the CoPilot app for my Droid RAZR phone and used it in our travels from Louisville, KY up through New Jersey, New York, and New England. While in Vermont, I bought the new Google Nexus 7 tablet. The main reason for getting the tablet was for navigation. This review is based on those 2 devices.
Stand-alone Dashboard GPS navigation tools have been around quite a while, and they still have their place. More and more I see them being replaced by general purpose devices like smartphones and tablets running navigation apps.

The Big Picture, Planning Vs. Navigating:

Size matters. So does distance. I still like planning our trips using a laptop and a combination of Microsoft Streets & Trips, Google Maps, and paper maps. The big laptop screen makes it easy to see and the information available is unprecedented. Navigation using the laptop requires a GPS receiver and a secure place to mount the laptop. It is much easier to mount a mobile device running CoPilot for navigation. I have decided that for me, the 7 inch screen is ideal for trip navigation. I attach it to our dashboard with a simple strip of Velcro.
I still use the free Google Navigation with voice search on my Droid for around-town driving, finding restaurants, stores, etc. It is always with me.
The Nexus 7, with its superior resolution, Android 4.1 OS, reasonable price, and responsive touch screen is a great way to go. And, unlike other Wi-Fi only tablets, it includes the GPS receiver. More on the Nexus 7 in an upcoming review.
Though you can use the app right after downloading, you will want to customize it for best results. Spend some time with the settings for the Map Display, Guidance, Traffic, Speed Limits, Language & Voice, etc.
Vehicle Preferences are especially important for RVers. Height restrictions and Propane restricted tunnels are nice to see and are usually available only on higher end GPS units. We entered our RV height at 12’ 6” and it properly routed around some low bridges but not all. Admittedly, we’ve never seen so many low bridges as we did in Connecticut, none of our devices or other resources showed all of them.

The Pros: Almost too many to list. Here is a summary.

• Great street maps which are stored on your device. No need for a data connection while navigating.
• RV aware settings for height and propane.
• Excellent spoken turn by turn directions – short and clear. Visual cues on the screen are easy to follow.
• Trip planning is easy. Alternate routes are suggested. You have complete control to drag your route to exactly where you want.
• Choice of 2D and 3D views, with or without directions on screen.
• There are multiple ways of adding a destination. You can select a contact from your address book, pick a location on the map, input lat/lon coordinates, and even use a geotagged photo.
• Price. It is inexpensive if you already have a device. It is worth buying a device just to have the app.
• FREE Quarterly Map Update for All CoPilot Live Premium Android and iOS Customers

The Cons:

• Sound is not as loud as most dedicated dashboard units. You can use Bluetooth or cable to your radio, if so equipped. I think I will get a new dashboard radio with Bluetooth capability for better volume.
• The onscreen keyboard is flakey. Strange things sometimes happen when using it for input. Occasionally typing an entry just won’t work at all – pressing search enters your typing twice, or adds extra characters. This can only be called a bug. I have seen this mentioned in other reviews.  This needs to be fixed.
• Discrepancies in maps and directions. No GPS Navigation or map is completely and absolutely accurate. This app is better than most, it did correctly route us around some low clearances, but not all. We are using the CoPilot Live Personal – not CoPilot Live Truck, which is available for $149. There is a way to send corrections to CoPilot. On their website, you’ll see a link to ‘Submit a Map Improvement.’ They guarantee that the corrections will be made within 45 days.

In conclusion, this is a great app for navigation and planning on your smartphone. It is even better on a tablet like the Nexus 7.

A Short Video Demo of CoPilot Live on the Nexus 7 Android Tablet

This tip brought to you by Geeks on Tour

Geeks on Tour is a membership website with hundreds of Tutorial Videos on topics of interest to travelers, such as using smartphones, managing digital photos with Picasa, Route-Planning with Streets and Trips, and sharing your travels with a website using Blogger. You can subscribe to our free enewsletter, or become a paid member and be able to view all of the videos in the Learning Library.

Don’t Trust your GPS!

by Chris Guld, www.GeeksOnTour.TV

We have several GPS devices, some are test units, some are our old standbys.  Every time we encounter an issue with driving an RV on this country’s highways, we like to check out the various devices to see what they tell us to do.  We often have two or three of them talking to us in different voices at each turn.  We love it when they all agree.  When they don’t, I tell Jim to follow the female voice … mine!

We are currently in New England.  The northeast has more low bridges and other RV unfriendly roads than other parts of the country.  For example, traveling north from New York City in the Hudson Valley, every one of our units, routed us on the Sprain Brook and Taconic Parkways.  As soon as we took the on-ramp, we saw a big sign saying Passenger Vehicles Only.  Since we are driving a 37 foot long, and 13 foot high motorhome, we got off at the next exit. This is where having a small, handheld GPS is very useful.  I can hold my smartphone in my hand and easily manipulate the screen to see what we should do.  We had to follow city streets in the Bronx, until we finally got back on a highway … 9A, only to see a heart-stopping sign:

Jim’s pounding heart didn’t stop his quick thinking and he moved into the left lane where the clearance was much higher in the middle of the stone arch.  I held my breath until we were on the other side.

Now we are in Massachusetts and, when we called an RV park to inquire about a site for the night, we were told to take a specific route.  She said to go past the designated exit to the next one, then get off and take a local road for a few miles back up to the park.  After safely parking for the night, we investigated the reason for the detour and discovered an 11 foot clearance bridge ( 42.668005°, -72.547709°).  None of our GPS devices knew about this, they all routed us on the road where we would have been caught by that low clearance.

I love our GPS devices and wouldn’t travel without one, but we have learned some important lessons over our 9 years of RV travels with GPS devices. 

1. Consult a paper map periodically, just to see if what your GPS is telling you makes sense.
2. Review your day’s route in the GPS before you turn the key and start driving, especially the beginning – from the campground to the highway.
3. Learn how to see the entire day’s route in your GPS before following it.  I’ve heard of people traveling 6 hours out of their way before they realized that the GPS was taking them to a different ‘Greenfield’ than their intended destination.
4. Always call your destination and verify your directions, or read the directions from the RV Park’s website or directory listing.  The local park owners or staff know better than the GPS devices!  It’s that last mile that is the most problematic.
5. Any time you find a routing issue that is not correctly identified in your GPS unit, communicate that problem to the manufacturer.  Garmin gives you a web form to report a map error.  Google Navigation has an option at the end of your route to specify '”Destination Not Here.”  Microsoft Streets and Trips uses Navteq maps.  Here is a Navteq form where you can report a map error.  Rand McNally units have a button to “Tell Rand.”  The more we all communicate with the manufacturers and map makers, the better the information will become.

What lessons have you learned in traveling with a GPS?  Leave a comment below.

This tip brought to you by Geeks on Tour

Geeks on Tour is a membership website with hundreds of Tutorial Videos on topics of interest to travelers, such as using smartphones, managing digital photos with Picasa, Route-Planning with Streets and Trips, and sharing your travels with a website using Blogger. You can subscribe to our free enewsletter, or become a paid member and be able to view all of the videos in the Learning Library.

Magellan releases more RV GPS units

Magellan announces the availability of its new RoadMate GPS navigators designed specifically for traveling in recreational vehicles. The new RoadMate RV9145, RV9145-LM, Pro9165T and RV9165T-LM models are pre-loaded with the Good Sam Trailer Life Directory and Good Sam discount locations, featuring comprehensive North America campground information, pet-friendly campgrounds and parks, and more than six million points of interest. The new models make for a safer, more enjoyable and less stressful RV road trip, with features that assist drivers both before and during their journey.

List prices (from Magellan's web site):

RV9145: $349.99
RV9145-LM: $379.99
Pro9165T: $399.99
Pro9165T-LM: $429.99

You may recall our rvtravel.com product evaluators did a head-to-head comparison of Magellan's RoadMate Pro 9165T with competitor Rand McNalley's TripMaker 7710.

As part of its Safety Series, Magellan also offers a Wireless Back-Up Camera as an ideal safety companion for the new RoadMate RV GPS models, which allows the driver to see what is behind the vehicle. The new models also come with specialized heavy-duty extension mounts that help to provide fully-adjustable, personalized comfort and safe viewing.

The backup camera add-on lists out at $149.99 on Magellan's web site.

Magellan's new RoadMate RV GPS models are available now from Camping World, Good Sam Club,  and Magellan's retail and online channel partners.