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iLounge reviews 4 GPS Apps

ddrueckhammer

ddrueckhammer

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Aug 8, 2004
1,181
0
America's Wang
TomTom
Rating: C
http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/reviews/entry/tomtom-international-tom-tom-u.s.-canada/

"Overall, TomTom U.S. & Canada is only a decent GPS app for the iPhone, priced high enough even without its optional accessory that users could easily go out and buy a standalone GPS unit, yet lacking in the sort of enhanced iPhone-specific functionality that might justify the purchase of the app instead. Unless it drops significantly in price, or dramatically improves its functionality with a free update, we wouldn’t have any major reason to recommend it over less expensive alternatives."

Navigon
Rating: C
http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/reviews/entry/navigon-mobilenavigator-north-america/

"At its current price of $70, MobileNavigator North America is an okay solution that will get users to their destinations, albeit less efficiently and impressively than they’d expect from an iPhone 3G or 3GS; at its proposed regular $100 price, we’d sooner buy a standalone GPS and forget using the iPhone for anything but our most casual mapping needs. In the absence of an Apple-developed solution, our strong belief is that lower prices and superior functionality will be needed before third parties will have a shot at fulfilling GPS’s killer app potential on this platform."

CoPilot
Rating: B-
http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/reviews/entry/alk-technologies-copilot-live-8-north-america/

"All in all, CoPilot Live may start out on a somewhat low note because of its registration “feature,” and it might not have the big brand name that TomTom possesses, but it’s quickly apparent that this low-priced GPS app is currently a much stronger value and a generally better use of the iPhone 3G or 3GS hardware, apart from a few non-trivial issues. To the extent that it can leverage live Internet-based data to assist you with directions, display better-looking maps, and do multi-destination planning, it’s both an aesthetically pleasing and more functional piece of software. The clickable on-map POIs and settings menus give GPS fans a lot to play with, and even more to enjoy while on the road. However, the question marks as to its map database are significant, and as with all of the iPhone GPS apps out there, smoother animation, more detailed maps, and a better POI database wouldn’t hurt at all. ALK gets somewhat of a pass on most of these issues because of its asking price, but our advice for the time being would be to hold off until some of its bugs are fixed and some clarity is provided on the nature of its map database. Given its $35 pricing and the features it offers relative to its competitors, it would otherwise be instantly recommendable; its future success is truly a question of how wisely ALK handles the necessary upgrades."

Sygic
Rating: B-
http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/reviews/entry/sygic-mobile-maps-us/

"All of that having been said, it’s easier for us to recommend Sygic Mobile Maps US than MobileNavigator for two major reasons: superior pricing and POI management. Neither of these programs delivers a truly awesome, iPhone-optimized GPS experience, but Sygic’s $60 asking price for its U.S. map software is lower than Navigon’s for U.S.-only navigation, and even its $80 North American version is less expensive with Canada and Mexico included than the standard $100 price for the Mexico-less MobileNavigator. Moreover, though neither piece of software comes close to the ideal in identifying points of interest for your travels, Sygic’s database came closer and offered multi-destination planning, which at least as of now is absent from the Navigon software. We still have yet to see a truly great navigator for iPhone users, but Sygic is a fine option for the time being, and worthy of our limited recommendation."


They put more focus on price than I would personally like but interesting reading nonetheless.
 
Maybe because they all do the same? I agree with their review because out of all that I've read about these GPS apps, no single app really stands out.
 
Copilot bizarre routing

I want to love my Copilot because I am too cheap to buy a more expensive alternative, :p but I have noticed that on my way home from work [which is NOT the recommended route] Copilot tries directing me off the highway eastbound [towards my home] and then back on the highway westbound and then to some alternative sidestreet route. Has anyone else noticed weird clearly wrong routing on any GPS app?
 
aluren said:
Maybe because they all do the same? I agree with their review because out of all that I've read about these GPS apps, no single app really stands out.
Click to expand...

Agreed. You can only get so much from a phone GPS. That being said I think I'm leaning towards Navigon because of the screenshots of 2.1 on this forum. i like the idea of IQroutes from Tom Tom but I question their dedication to making the best GPS app possible for anything other than their own hardware. This is not even considering I've heard that Tom Tom's app is still buggy.

I'll still wait to see some more reviews and to see what Tom Tom does, but as of right now, I'm dissappointed in their offering considering I was waiting for their app for months.
 
Wakakanada said:
I want to love my Copilot because I am too cheap to buy a more expensive alternative, :p but I have noticed that on my way home from work [which is NOT the recommended route] Copilot tries directing me off the highway eastbound [towards my home] and then back on the highway westbound and then to some alternative sidestreet route. Has anyone else noticed weird clearly wrong routing on any GPS app?
Click to expand...

You might want to tweak CoPilot with the settings I've set up on mine.

I've tweaked the settings which are written here. My review is also found on that link.


Like what they said on CoPilot, wait for all the bugs to be fixed (aka their update) then give it a whirl :p I really love their user interface but the keyboard and sort of outdated map kills it. O well back to loading and saving routes for tomorrow..
 
Randman said:
POIs get too much attention, imo. I want effective mapping first.
Click to expand...
To each person it's different. POIs are important to me as that's usually how I use my GPS when traveling. So for you it's not important, for others it might be. That's why I've been saying all along evaluate the programs for their strengths and weaknesess and pick the one that's right for you, not what someone else says.

BTW, they left off iGO MyWay which is a very strong app.
 
FearlessFreep said:
BTW, they left off iGO MyWay which is a very strong app.
Click to expand...
Yeah iGO My Way gets no love... I just got it yesterday and tried it out this morning for the first time going to work. It worked great, and I only had it placed on my center console since I don't have a mount yet.
 
fasttech said:
Yeah iGO My Way gets no love... I just got it yesterday and tried it out this morning for the first time going to work. It worked great, and I only had it placed on my center console since I don't have a mount yet.
Click to expand...

More information? Can you give us more details about iGo, user interface, ease of reading in moving vehicle, GPS acquisition, etc.

thanks
 
None of the apps get anything better than a B-? And they didn't review all the available apps? What's wrong with this picture?

Quite frankly, I've never been impressed with any of the reviews done over at iLounge anytime in the past 4-5 years.

The user experiences posted, along with the professional and casual reviews done by members here at MR are much more worthwhile IMHO. Several of the GPS apps are quite capable, it just depends on what is important to the buyer.
 
fredf said:
More information? Can you give us more details about iGo, user interface, ease of reading in moving vehicle, GPS acquisition, etc.

thanks
Click to expand...
I have only tried it once so far on my drive to work this morning. Its about 20 minutes along fairly easy route. The route guidance listed the normal route that I normally take so that was good. You can select from 4 route choices (Fast, Short, Easy, Economical). The Short one was the only different route but it took longer since it went through back roads. This was very cool because it graphically showed you the difference of the route choices. I was glad it had my street where I live it, because even Google and Yahoo maps don't have my street, and it has been here for 3 years. And since Google uses Tele-Atlas (as does TomTom) I'm glad I went with a Navteq maps app.

I love the UI of iGO. Maps look good, the user interface flows really nice with animation on all the screen closes and button presses.

It was very easy to read in a moving vehicle with the street names very visible on the display. I thought I wouldn't like how the streets are like little tags pointing to the street, but it really made them easy to see.

The GPS lockon worked fairly well considering I had it resting on my leg or in the center console the whole time. Twice it said it lost GPS signal but in less than a second it was fine. I'm sure once I get a mount for it, it will be fine. But even when it said it lost the signal it was continuing on in the path I was going so its like it never really lost the signal (either that or it just assumed I was still going the planned route). Even last night when I installed and was just messing with the UI in my house it would get a GPS signal to get a current location.

I think we need to start a tips and tricks thread for iGO MY Way users.
[UPDATE]
One thing I can't figure out, is why it won't show all the POI along my route. I couldn't get iGO to show a single gas station or restaurant along my route this morning, and there are about a couple dozen choices it could show. They are in its POI database as I can search for them and navigate to them, but I want to see them on the map as I'm driving around. My wife and I do this a lot when traveling to cities we haven't been to to pick a place to eat.
 
Funny how every year iLounge editors and reviewers get further and further out of touch with what users want.

At a price of $100 (or even $70) they'd rather just carry a separate GPS?

They are idiots.

The whole point is to have ONE device in your pocket that can serve these purposes, even if it is only 90% as effective as a standalone GPS. Getting into a friends car, a 2nd family vehicle, a rental car, etc, and not having to worry about not having your standalone GPS and power supply with you to do navigation.

I've been using Navigon side by side with my top of the line Garmin Nuvi. Guess what? The Navigon is about as accurate and actually easier to use for inputting addresses (since it does auto complete). It also supports reality view, which my Garmin does not support.

Navi will also soon have Traffic, TTS, etc.

iLounge are idiots.
 
jmpage2 said:
Funny how every year iLounge editors and reviewers get further and further out of touch with what users want.

At a price of $100 (or even $70) they'd rather just carry a separate GPS?

They are idiots.

The whole point is to have ONE device in your pocket that can serve these purposes, even if it is only 90% as effective as a standalone GPS. Getting into a friends car, a 2nd family vehicle, a rental car, etc, and not having to worry about not having your standalone GPS and power supply with you to do navigation.

I've been using Navigon side by side with my top of the line Garmin Nuvi. Guess what? The Navigon is about as accurate and actually easier to use for inputting addresses (since it does auto complete). It also supports reality view, which my Garmin does not support.

Navi will also soon have Traffic, TTS, etc.

iLounge are idiots.
Click to expand...

iLounge are rating inferior GPS apps has superior then TomTom / Navigon while in the LA news and CNN rate TomTom and Navigon has superior to G-map... Sygic... CoPilot... Roadee...
 
Pika said:
iLounge are rating inferior GPS apps has superior then TomTom / Navigon while in the LA news and CNN rate TomTom and Navigon has superior to G-map... Sygic... CoPilot... Roadee...
Click to expand...

I've seen this sort of behavior before from iLounge. Do a round up of cases and pick some crappy piece of junk as their darling and poop all over the really nice ones.
 
jmpage2 said:
iLounge are idiots.
Click to expand...

Seconded. I cannot understand how people can rate CoPilot over Navigon or TomTom. Apart from the price difference, in my experience, CoPilot is not comparable to either of them. It's fugly, and has far too many bugs to make it competition for them. My experience of TT is so far limited, I only got it yesterday, but Navigon is far far superior to CoPilot in every way. First impressions of TT is that it doesn't show the same bugginess and has a much more user friendly and intuitive UI when I compare to CoPilot. I haven't used Sygic, so can't comment on that.

Ilounge do indeed seem to have some very questionable reviews and ratings of hardware and software alike, with a real inclination for raving about anything apple regardless of how good it is in reality. I used to find it a really useful site, but these days I just feel I cannot really trust the reviews as being close to what I would personally think of an app or piece of hardware. The software/hardware I have bought and rated quite often has come under questionable scrutiny from ilounge. I often get the impression from the writeups that they haven't anywhere near fully tested the review item.

Ok, I'm done ranting now :)
 
I expect iLounge to rate Roadee an A++ just because it's cheap and it's free map updates.
 
Thanks for posting the reviews. They tell me exactly what I expected, i.e., G-Maps is just as good as any of these expensive apps.
 
well...

rburly said:
Thanks for posting the reviews. They tell me exactly what I expected, i.e., G-Maps is just as good as any of these expensive apps.
Click to expand...

Well...these apps are for turn-by-turn navigation. If you just want a map then I totally agree with you, but if you want the turn-by-turn you have to pay. I'm not totally convinced any of them is reliable, my Co-pilot has bizarre behaviour if I don't use it's suggest initial route, but I guess I won't know if it's worth it until I go somewhere I don't know and see if it gets me there...a little trepidation...:eek:
 
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