OnCourse Navigator 6 – The Review

 

 

OCN 6 North America Premium Edition (2GB & 12.5 million POI) Review

$145.00 – $10.00 instant savings at www.BuyGPSNow.com = $135.00

Introduction

For the last three years I’ve only used one GPS software, and it wasn’t OCN, so I was very excited to try this new version out and see how it would compare to my other brand.  I tested it out on a Dell Axim x50v running wm2003se.  A unique feature of OCN 6 is that it comes on an SD card, with all the maps preloaded as one seamless map, and it comes with a 30 day return policy.  They also offer the software on micro and miniSD cards and with less POIs for a slightly lower cost.

 

 

 

 

 

Installation

Ideally you just pop the SD card into your slot and follow the directions.  But I had tons of software on my SD card, so I removed it all and reinstalled it onto my CF card.  Apparantly that wasn’t good enought, b/c I kept getting "Memory Full" errors, so I ended up doing a hard reset.  I must say, OCN’s support was very responsive and willing to help solve my problem.  After my hard reset, things worked far better.  It’s amazing how much software gunk your machine can collect in three years.

One other thing that helped my installation run smoothly is the "sys.txt" fix.  That link will explain how it works.  Download it here.

Upon installing the SD card, the software asks you to approve its EULA, then it searches your contacts.  To navigate to your contacts, you simply go to your POIs, then to Contacts.  Then the main screen appears:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Getting Started

So my first thought was, "Now what?"  Am I connected to my bluetooth receiver?  Apparantly not, as you can see at the top of the screenshot.  At the bottom left of the screenshot is the icon for the GPS, and when it is black, you are not connected.  I know my other GPS software connects automatically, so this perplexed me.  I spent over 30 minutes in my car pressing every button trying to figure out the problem.  Then I exited the program and connected to my old GPS software, just to make sure my bluetooth GPS still worked, which it did. 

One of the oddities of OCN 6, as I later found out, is that it does not automatically connect to the bluetooth GPS.  You have to establish the connection manually, then open OCN.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My First Destination

Now I’m connected, as you can see in the above screenshot.  OCN certainly has beautiful graphics and 3D buttons that really look great.  Find & Go is the button to take us where we want to go.  Let’s hit it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hitting Find & Go will take you to your Recent Cities list.  I didn’t want any of those, so I entered a different one.  I then have to enter a street name.  As you enter the street name, letters are greyed out, thus allowing you to choose only the remaining valid letters in a street name that remain.  For example, I entered the street name, "Dundee."  See the following screen shot:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Only 7 letters can be entered after the initial "D."  This makes typing streets and cities much easier.  However, the keys are so small on the screen that they must be entered with a stylus, whereas my other software has big enough keys that I can use my finger.

The street is entered and I’m ready to go.  Here’s what the screen looks like now:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My first turn is in 910 feet.  I have a 40 mile drive and I’ll get there at 5:54pm.  It will take me 44 minutes and 40 seconds.  It happens to be that it was remarkably accurate, by the way.  The icons on the right side top to bottom are, the compass showing South, the gps icon which you press for gps info, full battery, turn speaker off.  Top right shows the menu button, which gives lots of options, the left turn button gives a neat Fly Over option which I’ll illustrate in a bit, and the arrow at the bottom right adds more options.  This software has so many options you can get lost in them.

As I start to drive, the software gives me a route I never like to take.  Us native Chicagoans know all the shortcuts.  Can OCN reroute on the fly?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As you can see, OCN is rerouting me as I drive.  It did an admirable job of giving me the route I wanted.  My other GPS software would’ve screamed bloody murder for a mile, "turn around when possible!" 

One really cool feature of this software is called, "Fly Over."  It takes you on a low helicopter-like flight through the rest of your route so you know what’s coming ahead.  You can cancel that flight anytime and get back to normal routing.  I got a great kick out of it.  Here’s a picture of it, but my static picture won’t do it justice.  Just imagine it’s like watching a golf match on TV, and they do a Fly Over of the hole so you can see how it’s laid out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can see that I was scheduled to arrive at my destination at 5:54pm, and now it changed to 6:01.  I’m only 7 minutes behind schedule.  Rush hour in Chicago.  It’s a bitc, uh, it can be unpleasant. 

You can add stops as an itinerary by pressing the up arrow at the very bottom right.  This will cause a menu to rise and give you options to add stops among other things.

Route Parameters

So what do you want to do?  How do you want to get to your destination, quickly, economically, short way, avoid certain areas like tollways or highways?  You can decide all the parameters that you operate under:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Do you sometimes want to read your directions as text?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This software has 12.5 million POI.  I didn’t get to see all of them, but they are easy to find.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Conclusion

I don’t like change.  I like to get in my car, type in my address and go.  This new software was so different than my old one that it required a ton of attention on my part.  They are heavy on the graphics, the layout is radically different, there are so many options and buttons that I haven’t even scratched the surface on this review. 

This software, while not extremely intuitive, is loaded with features and options.  It may take awhile to get familiar with it, but once you do, you’ll get alot out of it.  I can’t go back to my old GPS software now.  It’s like when you take your car to the shop and they give you a brand new loaner car for a day.  Then you tell them to keep your old car.  Keep my old software, I want OCN 6!

 

Pros

• Loaded with features
• Itiniteray Planning
• Great graphics
• 12.5 million POI
• Seamless North America Map
• Great support
• Has many languages, but few voices

Cons

• Doesn’t automatically connect to bluetooth gps
• Requires stylus instead of finger to type in addresses
• Not very intuitive
• Give up your SD slot

[tags]ocn, buygpsnow, gps, bluetooth, jamm, just another mobile monday[/tags]

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