Wednesday, February 18, 2004
Are We There Yet? - PowerLOC's Destinator 3 (v3.0.04) Reviewed
Posted by Doug Raeburn in "HARDWARE" @ 10:30 AM
If it’s true that competition is a good thing, then things are great in the GPS navigation software category for Pocket PCs. Many fine products are available, new releases are frequent, and the products get better with each release. PowerLOC’s Destinator has been among the top players in this category for several years, and their latest version, Destinator 3, is part of their ongoing effort to remain a top player. With a redesigned interface and many new features, Destinator 3 is certainly improved, but is it the right choice for you? Let’s take it for a spin.
I reviewed Destinator 2 a little over a year ago for another site, and I liked it quite a bit. As with any software, there were areas that could be improved, and since I had reviewed other navigation products of a similar vintage, I came to the conclusion that all of the products were still in the process of maturing. So I was very interested to find that PowerLOC had released their latest update, Destinator 3 (version 3.0.04). Naturally, I was curious regarding where the product had been changed and improved. And I also wanted to find out if any of my issues with the previous version had been addressed.
Time for another road trip!
Installation and Setup
Installation was pretty much standard issue. As with all products of this type, there’s a PC component as well as the Pocket PC component. The PC component is required to select and create maps and send them to the Pocket PC.
Figure 1: US/Canada map selections.
The maps are a bit more manageable than in the previous version. The sections of the country are larger, so you can get more maps with just one selection.
Figure 2: Drag to create a custom map.
Of course, the maps aren’t particularly small, so Destinator provides the ability to create your own maps. Just load one of the standard maps and drag an outline around the area that you wish to include.
Once you have the desired maps selected or created, Destinator provides the means to copy them to your Pocket PC or some other storage device. The standard map that includes my area (USA2) requires 199 MB of storage, so you’re obviously going to need a storage card for that. Even a smaller version that I created, including southeastern Wisconsin and the Chicago area, required 51 MB. You can copy the maps using ActiveSync, but if you’re going to do a lot of large maps, I’d recommend using a card reader… it’s MUCH faster.
With the size of the maps, it could be difficult to plan a longer route, not only because of the large maps but also because Destinator only allows one map in memory at a time. However, a new feature is a specialized map called USAROADS, which provides all major roads in the US. I mapped a route from the Milwaukee area to Monterey, CA with no problems at all. Of course, you don’t get all of the detail on this map, but it’s a key addition for improving Destinator’s overall functionality.
Installation on the Pocket PC is also “standard operating procedure”. One additional thing that you have do deal with is getting Destinator and the GPS unit to communicate. Destinator makes this easy since it has the capability of finding the GPS. It takes a few minutes, but it eliminates the need to connect to the GPS via trial and error. I used my trusty NavMan 3420 (an iPAQ sleeve) with my iPAQ 5455, and they worked together just fine, once I downloaded a necessary serial driver for the iPAQ from the Destinator site. I had to do this with the previous version as well, but this is a Compaq/HP issue, not a Destinator issue.
Figure 3: Satellites acquired.
Figure 3 shows the GPS status screen. This shows the number of satellites that have been acquired and other information, such as longitude and latitude, altitude and velocity. In general, the more satellites acquired, the better. First, only a 2D fix is available with a smaller numbers of satellites (horizontal position only, not altitude)… a 3D fix will give you accurate altitude as well. Also, if one or more satellites is blocked by a tree or building, a larger number of satellites makes it easier for the GPS to switch over to another satellite to replace the blocked one.
If you’re interested in more information about how a GPS works, this article is very informative.
I reviewed Destinator 2 a little over a year ago for another site, and I liked it quite a bit. As with any software, there were areas that could be improved, and since I had reviewed other navigation products of a similar vintage, I came to the conclusion that all of the products were still in the process of maturing. So I was very interested to find that PowerLOC had released their latest update, Destinator 3 (version 3.0.04). Naturally, I was curious regarding where the product had been changed and improved. And I also wanted to find out if any of my issues with the previous version had been addressed.
Time for another road trip!
Installation and Setup
Installation was pretty much standard issue. As with all products of this type, there’s a PC component as well as the Pocket PC component. The PC component is required to select and create maps and send them to the Pocket PC.
Figure 1: US/Canada map selections.
The maps are a bit more manageable than in the previous version. The sections of the country are larger, so you can get more maps with just one selection.
Figure 2: Drag to create a custom map.
Of course, the maps aren’t particularly small, so Destinator provides the ability to create your own maps. Just load one of the standard maps and drag an outline around the area that you wish to include.
Once you have the desired maps selected or created, Destinator provides the means to copy them to your Pocket PC or some other storage device. The standard map that includes my area (USA2) requires 199 MB of storage, so you’re obviously going to need a storage card for that. Even a smaller version that I created, including southeastern Wisconsin and the Chicago area, required 51 MB. You can copy the maps using ActiveSync, but if you’re going to do a lot of large maps, I’d recommend using a card reader… it’s MUCH faster.
With the size of the maps, it could be difficult to plan a longer route, not only because of the large maps but also because Destinator only allows one map in memory at a time. However, a new feature is a specialized map called USAROADS, which provides all major roads in the US. I mapped a route from the Milwaukee area to Monterey, CA with no problems at all. Of course, you don’t get all of the detail on this map, but it’s a key addition for improving Destinator’s overall functionality.
Installation on the Pocket PC is also “standard operating procedure”. One additional thing that you have do deal with is getting Destinator and the GPS unit to communicate. Destinator makes this easy since it has the capability of finding the GPS. It takes a few minutes, but it eliminates the need to connect to the GPS via trial and error. I used my trusty NavMan 3420 (an iPAQ sleeve) with my iPAQ 5455, and they worked together just fine, once I downloaded a necessary serial driver for the iPAQ from the Destinator site. I had to do this with the previous version as well, but this is a Compaq/HP issue, not a Destinator issue.
Figure 3: Satellites acquired.
Figure 3 shows the GPS status screen. This shows the number of satellites that have been acquired and other information, such as longitude and latitude, altitude and velocity. In general, the more satellites acquired, the better. First, only a 2D fix is available with a smaller numbers of satellites (horizontal position only, not altitude)… a 3D fix will give you accurate altitude as well. Also, if one or more satellites is blocked by a tree or building, a larger number of satellites makes it easier for the GPS to switch over to another satellite to replace the blocked one.
If you’re interested in more information about how a GPS works, this article is very informative.
