Mobility Site - View Single Post - i-go and iGuidance mapping software question

Amamba · 12-07-07, 09:54 AM

I own iGuidance and tried iGo for 3 weeks.

+ iGuidance has better maps, better routing, Text To Speech (TTS) feature which is very useful, doesn't require much memory and starts up very fast.

- It however doesn't work :( since it loses GPS signal every 20 - 30 sec. (The signal is there and receiver gets it, iGuidance just doesn't see it for some reason). It may have to do with me upgrading to WM5 ACU 3.5.2 and then to WM6, however somebody here posted same problem. Also, in v4 you have to load the entire US and Canada as one map - takes up over 1 Gb.

I used friend's iGo for a two week vacation in Florida (while still on WM5), and a couple of 2-day trips to Tennessee and Texas (after upgrade), also a bit in Michigan and Ohio. I didn't quite like it.

+ It has a nice 3D view, tons of POI, and maps are individual files so it's easy to load just what you need.

- It's very memory hungry - need to close all program to start it. It seemed to have some memory leak problems on WM5 - sometimes, if I used screen menus / recalculations etc. too much, it would sort of "stutter", i.e. the display would lag behind by about 3 sec or so, updating in jerky movements. (Didn't see this problem on WM6). It has a very busy interface and menus - some like it, some don't. Its routing is a bit less accurate than iGuidance, tending to choose freeways over highways at most settings even if it means 2-3 miles of extra driving; and re-calculations were much slower (iGuidance was very fast, at least in v3). Another feature that drove me nuts was the voice prompts. Every time I passed a left turn pocket on a divided highway, it would tell me to "keep right". That's roughly 10 times a minute.

It's still a solid, useful package, but I didn't like it that much. Not enough to buy.

I finally switched to TomTom and I love it. Its very reliable, it has the best user interface (menus, etc) that I've seen. It also has some unique route planning features that other programs lack. The routing is not as good as iGuidance's (also seems to prefer freeways over highways) but on par with iGo, and reviewing / planning / changing the entire route is better than any other package. It still requires to load a full map of US & Canada but it's smaller in size, or so it seems. I wish it would tell what side of street the destination is at (iGuidance does it, iGO doesn't). All things considered, I think it's a better overall package of three, especially for long journeys. I was initially worried about memory requirements, that on paper seemed quite high, but this wasn't ever a problem, I can have TT and GSPlayer on at same time.

12-07-07, 09:54 AM	#3 (permalink)
Amamba Aximsite Minor League Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 295 Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post	I own iGuidance and tried iGo for 3 weeks. + iGuidance has better maps, better routing, Text To Speech (TTS) feature which is very useful, doesn't require much memory and starts up very fast. - It however doesn't work :( since it loses GPS signal every 20 - 30 sec. (The signal is there and receiver gets it, iGuidance just doesn't see it for some reason). It may have to do with me upgrading to WM5 ACU 3.5.2 and then to WM6, however somebody here posted same problem. Also, in v4 you have to load the entire US and Canada as one map - takes up over 1 Gb. I used friend's iGo for a two week vacation in Florida (while still on WM5), and a couple of 2-day trips to Tennessee and Texas (after upgrade), also a bit in Michigan and Ohio. I didn't quite like it. + It has a nice 3D view, tons of POI, and maps are individual files so it's easy to load just what you need. - It's very memory hungry - need to close all program to start it. It seemed to have some memory leak problems on WM5 - sometimes, if I used screen menus / recalculations etc. too much, it would sort of "stutter", i.e. the display would lag behind by about 3 sec or so, updating in jerky movements. (Didn't see this problem on WM6). It has a very busy interface and menus - some like it, some don't. Its routing is a bit less accurate than iGuidance, tending to choose freeways over highways at most settings even if it means 2-3 miles of extra driving; and re-calculations were much slower (iGuidance was very fast, at least in v3). Another feature that drove me nuts was the voice prompts. Every time I passed a left turn pocket on a divided highway, it would tell me to "keep right". That's roughly 10 times a minute. It's still a solid, useful package, but I didn't like it that much. Not enough to buy. I finally switched to TomTom and I love it. Its very reliable, it has the best user interface (menus, etc) that I've seen. It also has some unique route planning features that other programs lack. The routing is not as good as iGuidance's (also seems to prefer freeways over highways) but on par with iGo, and reviewing / planning / changing the entire route is better than any other package. It still requires to load a full map of US & Canada but it's smaller in size, or so it seems. I wish it would tell what side of street the destination is at (iGuidance does it, iGO doesn't). All things considered, I think it's a better overall package of three, especially for long journeys. I was initially worried about memory requirements, that on paper seemed quite high, but this wasn't ever a problem, I can have TT and GSPlayer on at same time. Last edited by Amamba; 12-07-07 at 10:00 AM.