Co-Pilot, MASSIVELY unimpressed (understatement) - it is GARBAGE. (1 Viewer)

[Ian-n-Suzy]

Hi,

I have collected and tried each and every make and model of Sat Nav, over the years, and as of yet have never found a replacement that could lace the boots of my trusty and highly configurable Garmin 7500 which in the end became a little too old to update to current maps.

In fact, I would say I've got an obsession with them (hence the numerous Aguri, Snooper, Garmin, Android units, etc that I've sold recently in the classifieds to thin my collection out).

I had previously tried Co-Pilot (iOS - probably 8 years ago), and didn't really get on with it.

After, reading some glowing reviews of the current version, I decided to give it another whirl a couple of months ago, and after being impressed with the initial trial configurability on my phone I tested it on an Android tablet and later registered to the full Caravan / Motorhome version (as it seemed perfect, trial routing seemed great, and moreso for me, it would display all my own specific POI's on a journey, and allow me to view them "en route" which was a great feature).

Fast forward to the past few days, and it has been nothing short of useless in France. It is taking me down totally unsuitable routes, no matter what vehicle dimension / weight settings I choose.

It has had my nerves shot on more than the odd occasion due to the totally unsuitable routing (taking me down alleyways for 300 yards, only to rejoin the main carriageway I left for absolutely zero gain). I also narrowly averted it taking me through a very narrow ford crossing. Not ideal in a 5.1ton Van.

No matter what changes I make to the routing options or vehicle. It still stitches me up every time.

I have had to admit defeat as Google maps on standard car settings picks far more suitable routes (we have taken to running this alongside it, such is my distrust in the routing).

My advice, as somebody who has tried more than my fair share would be to avoid it like the plague. IT IS ABSOLUTELY GARBAGE, and as a Motorhome specific Sat Nav (to be used abroad), I would argue that it is totally unfit for purpose.

 

[Driventemple]

I have to agree with you. I recently returned from France using CoPilot for the first time after seeing encouraging comments from users on this forum. I too registered the full Caravan/Motorhome version and as you describe, CoPilot forced me to take the most obscure routes and diversions only to rejoin the main route shortly after. I installed several sets of POIs, however, I found the icon diplaying the item was very small and easily overlooked.
I have decided to continue with my original TomTom 5100 and simply keep a cautious look out for any 'car only' routes it might throw up.

 

[tony_g]

I have no knowledge of the motorhome/caravan version of Copilot but have found the standard version no more flaky than anything else I have used over the years. On the whole it is fine. Actually, I doubt that any of the vehicle specific algorithms on any device will turn out to be any real improvement on the standard generic. I adopt the 'keep your wits about you, check against a map and if in doubt follow road signs' approach.?

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[Ian-n-Suzy]

I have no knowledge of the motorhome/caravan version of Copilot but have found the standard version no more flaky than anything else I have used over the years. On the whole it is fine. Actually, I doubt that any of the vehicle specific algorithms on any device will turn out to be any real improvement on the standard generic. I adopt the 'keep your wits about you, check against a map and if in doubt follow road signs' approach.?

Your adopted method should come as a standard warning on the packaging of Co-Pilot. It really is abysmal (at least on the East Coast of France - which is as far as I've tried / am willing to try).

I would agree re checking against a paper map. But my faith in a couple of previous systems, that were correctly configured, kept that to a minimum.

However, I'd throw Co-Pilot out the window, and bypass that bit entirely.

I'll pull no punches - in my opinion, IT IS S**T

 

[Vipar]

Have a look at the Floureon on eBay I have got one it performed perfectly on my trip to Weymouth I never hit any bridges or got stuck in a narrow lane £32:00 free maps and lodsa of uver stuff.

 

[thebriars]

While I've never used Co-Pilot, nearly all sat navs (including Co-Pilot) have a preview route facility to avoid the exact situation the OP found himself in. You can follow the route on screen and check the roads its taking you down, even zooming in to check difficult points such as roundabouts with multiple exits. With the preview facility you don't need paper maps

https://support.copilotgps.com/en/support/solutions/articles/19000046276

Sorry, don't blame the sat nav (or the maps it uses), its down to user error.

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[autorouter]

It really is abysmal (at least on the East Coast of France - which is ad far as I've tried / am willing to try).

When I tried it on the South Coast of Germany, as far as the West Coast of Switzerland, it was 100% accurate.

This is a wind-up, right?

 

[thebriars]

CoPilot forced me to take the most obscure routes and diversions only to rejoin the main route shortly after.

No it didn't force you, you chose to blindly follow it!

 

[Minxy]

Your adopted method should come as a standard warning on the packaging of Co-Pilot. It really is abysmal (at least on the East Coast of France - which is as far as I've tried / am willing to try).

Does France have an East Coast????? ?

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[Driventemple]

While I've never used Co-Pilot, nearly all sat navs (including Co-Pilot) have a preview route facility to avoid the exact situation the OP found himself in. You can follow the route on screen and check the roads its taking you down, even zooming in to check difficult points such as roundabouts with multiple exits. With the preview facility you don't need paper maps

https://support.copilotgps.com/en/support/solutions/articles/19000046276

Sorry, don't blame the sat nav (or the maps it uses), its down to user error.

On a projected journey of 200 miles surely you would only preview the general route, looking at which town or part of town it was going through. Surely you are not going to look at EVERY junction? I am describing CoPilot telling you to turn off a major route then struggle for 200 - 300 meters then take you back onto the major route with no obvious reason.

 

[Clarky]

Sorry but I can't agree with the OP's comments about CoPilot.
Just done 2000+ miles in France and I don't recall it putting a foot wrong.
I have been using CoPilot alongside my Garmin 760 Caravan sat nav and the CoPilot is so much easier to use and so much faster to react to changes of route.

I can't say it's perfect every time but what sat nav is? it is very fast to plot the route and easy and quick when you want to amend the route it suggests.
If you just trust the device to take you to your destination without first checking where it wants to take you you're asking for trouble, particularly in a big van.

I still use the Garmin as it sits up on the dash and it acts as my speedo but now its the backup to CoPilot rather than the 'go to' option.

Richard.

 

[Clarky]

On a projected journey of 200 miles surely you would only preview the general route, looking at which town or part of town it was going through. Surely you are not going to look at EVERY junction? I am describing CoPilot telling you to turn off a major route then struggle for 200 - 300 meters then take you back onto the major route with no obvious reason.

You must have the settings wrong.
I have never had that sort of routing from CoPilot and have used it in several countries and many thousands of miles.
Go into the settings menu and sort it.

Richard.

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[keithchesterfield2]

I get the feeling that someone is playing silly beggars with the settings on the Copilot device and most of the problems are self inflicted.

Just saying.

?

 

[tonyidle]

Carthago Owner And Serial Tinkerer!!!

Was wondering how long it would take

 

[tonyidle]

I get the feeling that someone is playing silly beggars with the settings on the Copilot device and most of the problems are self inflicted.

Just saying.

?

Sounds like a "shortest route" rather than "quickest route" setting.

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[SMB]

I've used Copilot for several years now and overall it has been very good apart from occasionally routing me off a motorway or two then straight back on to it via a roundabout and once in Italy routing me under a 2.2m tunnel (using CoPilot truck with vehicle dimensions input into settings) and the moho is over 3m high, but a satnav is only supposed to be an aid to navigation. Overall its been very good although the new owners have got rid of some features which caused some consternation, namely the ability to choose the type of road you preferred. I'm sticking with it since I've already paid for it!

 

[Richard n Ann]

Correct, they are all Garbage.

I haven't used sat nav for about 3 years and the journey is now totally stress free. It's just a case of following the signs to the next city/town or "Toutes Directions"
I have Google maps on so I always know where we are and maybe switch to navigation mode for the last couple of turns to guide us in.

 

[DuxDeluxe]

Interesting discussion - I’ve used it for years and have had no issues at all with routing, this is the caravan version

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[Ian-n-Suzy]

You can follow the route on screen and check the roads its taking you down, even zooming in to check difficult points such as roundabouts with multiple exits. With the preview facility you don't need paper maps

Whilst this would obviously help, if you are suggesting that checking down every single road and turning, on a 200 mile journey is the best method of using a Sat Nav, not for me, might as well just stick to paper maps.

A simple option of avoiding minor roads would suffice, but my configuration (of which the only route options appear to be "quickest or shortest" alongside the correct input of my vehicle dimensions). The routes are terrible (maybe I've been unlucky, as it seemed fine in the UK), it seems to want to leave the main carriageway and "zig zag" down all the side roads only to rejoin the next main carriageway having cut out a corner.

There is not enough configurability in my opinion for anything to be set incorrectly.

*Oh and apologies as this is embarrassing due to the nature of the post. But I was a little drunk when I typed the OP, and we're actually on the West Coast, lol (how many others of you would have owned up to that )

 

[63720]

Correct, they are all Garbage.

I haven't used sat nav for about 3 years and the journey is now totally stress free. It's just a case of following the signs to the next city/town or "Toutes Directions"
I have Google maps on so I always know where we are and maybe switch to navigation mode for the last couple of turns to guide us in.

I agree. After years of driving in Europe dodging narrow lanes with parked cars, household bins and washing lines just for a shortcut we now follow the signs unless we have time to kill. Although we still use a Garmin we also have an ageing tablet running Maps.me, which works offline, so we can we the bigger picture.

 

[funflair]

I had an issue a couple of years ago with CoPilot when we were in Spain, it just would not go down a stretch of main road and wanted to do all the back roads and dirt tracks to get to our destination, a couple of people tried in on theirs and it worked OK. After a while I changed my phone and reinstalled CoPilot and what do you know when I went back to that route all was OK,

How about giving one of us a route start and end point and we can see which way ours goes.

Just to clarify though I still use CoPilot and like it although I would like to see the choice and weighting of road types in the routing that we used to have.

Martin

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[Ian-n-Suzy]

Hi Martin,

Well a nice short route (about 6Km) that it managed to get spectacularly wrong was leaving the ferry at Oustriehem, in the dark, on our first time to this port.

We put in the site at Hermanville sur Mer as the destination, and it zig zigged me off the main road all the way round the back to have to take the Van down the small back roads, and come in from the wrong entrance with the Van been dragged between a very narrow stone wall and overhanging trees to get onto the Aire. With having no prior knowledge of the area it wasn't till I got to the Site did I discover just how bad a route it had took me on.

Had it turned me right out of the port and stuck to that D road that runs parallel to the beach, and then left at the D road on which the Aire is, I'd have been there sooner, less stressed, and with far fewer branch scratches on my Van and windows.

* Strange thing I discovered later, it offered no alternative routes from the port, just one single option, but when I re ran it later to test it, it offered 3 routes including the correct one.

 

[funflair]

So here you go, 3 routes and the shortest and quickest gets their recommended Purple colour, I might have been tempted to go for the one that is 3 minutes longer and 4 miles as it looks more straight forward at the end.

 

[Ian-n-Suzy]

Hi Martin,

The recommended route is the only one initialy offered, it is the route we took. It is NOT a good route, you come in from the back roads (right,left,right,left ala zig zag), and it WILL result in branch scratches unless you are in a Bambi Van. In our Van there was very little space to the wall even with dragging it along the branches.

So I don't think that it's down to my having a bad install unfortunately.

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[Reallyretired]

I have used copilot for many thousand miles in Europe with only a couple of minor glitches. I also use a chinese cheapy so always have a second opinion if needed. The routing on the chinese cheapy always seems to be the best. I always use the 'easy' route option, which minimises road changes.
I would just use the chinese as the main one but know the hardware can sometimes be unreliable.

 

[Pausim]

The only redeeming feature of Co Pilot Caravan used to be that not only could you profile your vehicle but could profile the road speeds too. By setting the speed on c/unclassified roads as 5 MPH I eventually got it to stop taking silly short cuts down unsuitable roads. Just because there are no weight or height limits does not mean they are suitable for a larger vehicle.

I never really liked Co Pilot and soon regretted paying for it. However the latest version no longer has the road profiling so as far as I am concerned it is now a complete waste of space.

 

[funflair]

Hi Martin,

The recommended route is the only one initialy offered, it is the route we took. It is NOT a good route, you come in from the back roads (right,left,right,left ala zig zag), and it WILL result in branch scratches unless you are in a Bambi Van. In our Van there was very little space to the wall even with dragging it along the branches.

So I don't think that it's down to my having a bad install unfortunately.

Yes I have had a quick look on Google earth and as you rightly point out the Purple route is not the best, you are most likely not going to stick with CoPilot but if you want to try again you do get a choice of three routes after you have put the start and end point into the "plan" just go to "maps" and click on the one that you like the look of, as you have found the fastest is not always the best, yes you put in your van dimensions but if the information is not actually on the maps the software can't use it as it is only a dumb machine we are supposed to be the thinking sensible ones I always say it's the last 100 metres that are the most stressful.

Martin

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[cliffanger]

Oh My Goodness! We had an horrendous day yesterday- being taken off the RN 7 through little towns and then back onto the main route in France! We ignored it twice, but followed it twice - what a nightmare!

I was just about to add to the comments here - when I looked at settings ...... after installing the new caravan version, I didn’t see the road preference section ......

It was in neutral for every type of road, with speeds just above walking pace!

We are driving from Chalon - sur Soane to Reims today - on new settings - I’ll let you know how we get on!

 

[Clarky]

Yes I have had a quick look on Google earth and as you rightly point out the Purple route is not the best, you are most likely not going to stick with CoPilot but if you want to try again you do get a choice of three routes after you have put the start and end point into the "plan" just go to "maps" and click on the one that you like the look of, as you have found the fastest is not always the best, yes you put in your van dimensions but if the information is not actually on the maps the software can't use it as it is only a dumb machine we are supposed to be the thinking sensible ones I always say it's the last 100 metres that are the most stressful.

Martin

Looking at Martin’s routes the zig-zag sharp turns on the recommended blue route would immediately ring alarm bells for me. They usually mean back streets and are best avoided if possible.
If those sort of sharp turns show up it’s usually worth zooming in on the map to get a better idea.
Sometimes the long route on ‘larger’ roads is far less stressful.

Richard

 

[Ian-n-Suzy]

Hi,

I think I must have missed the 3 options (it had been a long day), I don't remember it offering the 3 routes which I have noticed ever since.

Though on routes since where I have selected the more straightforward, but maybe longer routes, it has made some crazy routing decisions, at Montreuil Bellay (sp?) it tried to lead us on a right merry dance at the end of the route (as mentioned, usually the most stressful part of a route).

The water crossing was another crazy example. Not exactly confidence inspiring considering these are the only 3 routes we have used this far in France.

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