alylea
19th May 2007, 02:51 PM
Wayfinder offers a free 5 day trial so I decided to give it a test run. Here is my experience:
1: The download was easy but getting it to work was another thing. 3 installs and 2 uninstalls later it finally came up. Pairing it with a GlobalSat BT-359 took a few atempts also before Wayfinder saw it.
2: You need to authenticate prior to first use. Authentication took about 5 attempts including having to ask for the code from tech support which delayed thing 24hrs. The code is supposed to be included according to the Readme but it wasn't. The code sent didn’t work and I finally authenticated when the software asked permission to do so by sending an sms to their server.
3. This application requires an internet connection to download maps, which means that if your connection is slow, good luck. It took over 10 minutes to download the data. If you loose the connection due to drop out or no service you are screwed. If you loose connection, you get a pop-up error message and the software seems to be no longer useable because you close the message but it keeps returning. The only option is to close the application. This actually happened to me about 1/2 mile from my home which is a dead zone. Glad I know how to get there on my own... :D
4: The search function worked very well. My office is in a good sized city but my home is almost in the middle of no where. It found both locations with no problem the first time. That's an advantage of an on-line service.
5: The accuracy was good and the auto corrections worked well on a 32 mile drive home. I purposely took a different route to see how it would respond and I must say it reacted quickly and accurately.
6: The task bar is at the top of the screen and is very large, too large in fact. I couldn’t find a way to reduce the size or minimize it.
7: I couldn't get the screen zoom to show me the entire route. It wasn't as if I was going cross country, it was only 32 miles.
The bottom line for Wayfinder is that if you have a good signal all the time you are fine. Cingular does not have 100% coverage nationwide which means you may run into problems planning routes and using the system if you are in a low or no signal area. I think I'll stick to a maps-on-board program.
Finally, I previously worked with Rt66 on a Nokia e61 for a work related project. Rt66 supplies all of the maps in the application so you don't need to be on-line at all which is a good thing. Rt66 also plots your course with a line overlayed on the map which I like. Wayfinder doesn’t. Rt66 is not perfect and had some quirks of its own but overall was a much more useable product. Would I buy Rt66? Maybe but I think I need to check out the other map on-board applications first. GPS software may be the most expensive mobile application out there. It would be nice if someone got it right but maybe this type of product is just too complex.
Lyle
1: The download was easy but getting it to work was another thing. 3 installs and 2 uninstalls later it finally came up. Pairing it with a GlobalSat BT-359 took a few atempts also before Wayfinder saw it.
2: You need to authenticate prior to first use. Authentication took about 5 attempts including having to ask for the code from tech support which delayed thing 24hrs. The code is supposed to be included according to the Readme but it wasn't. The code sent didn’t work and I finally authenticated when the software asked permission to do so by sending an sms to their server.
3. This application requires an internet connection to download maps, which means that if your connection is slow, good luck. It took over 10 minutes to download the data. If you loose the connection due to drop out or no service you are screwed. If you loose connection, you get a pop-up error message and the software seems to be no longer useable because you close the message but it keeps returning. The only option is to close the application. This actually happened to me about 1/2 mile from my home which is a dead zone. Glad I know how to get there on my own... :D
4: The search function worked very well. My office is in a good sized city but my home is almost in the middle of no where. It found both locations with no problem the first time. That's an advantage of an on-line service.
5: The accuracy was good and the auto corrections worked well on a 32 mile drive home. I purposely took a different route to see how it would respond and I must say it reacted quickly and accurately.
6: The task bar is at the top of the screen and is very large, too large in fact. I couldn’t find a way to reduce the size or minimize it.
7: I couldn't get the screen zoom to show me the entire route. It wasn't as if I was going cross country, it was only 32 miles.
The bottom line for Wayfinder is that if you have a good signal all the time you are fine. Cingular does not have 100% coverage nationwide which means you may run into problems planning routes and using the system if you are in a low or no signal area. I think I'll stick to a maps-on-board program.
Finally, I previously worked with Rt66 on a Nokia e61 for a work related project. Rt66 supplies all of the maps in the application so you don't need to be on-line at all which is a good thing. Rt66 also plots your course with a line overlayed on the map which I like. Wayfinder doesn’t. Rt66 is not perfect and had some quirks of its own but overall was a much more useable product. Would I buy Rt66? Maybe but I think I need to check out the other map on-board applications first. GPS software may be the most expensive mobile application out there. It would be nice if someone got it right but maybe this type of product is just too complex.
Lyle