Reviews
Waypoint
200 GPS
It
was clear to me the moment I opened the box that the developers
of this product tried hard to offer a user friendly and complete
mobile GPS solution.
Let's
start with what comes in the box. On top is a well-illustrated
quick start guide that shows precisely how all the components
fit together, and there are a great many pieces to this package,
as you will soon see. There is a comprehensive manual that covers
the use of the Pocket PC included as well as the operation of
the GPS program. A CD contains necessary software, some bonuses,
and .pdf manuals.
This
is not exactly a wireless setup, for there are myriad cables to
plug in that connect the cradle to the PC, more cables for connecting
without the cradle, and more cables for connecting the PPC to
the gooseneck, suction cup window mount holder, and cables for
supplying power to the holder. There's even a cable for connecting
the holder to the included 12 channel Bluetooth receiver and another
to connect the PDA to the built-in speaker on the holder.
I
appreciate the cradle because it has the capacity to charge an
extra battery even when the Pocket PC is docked, which I think
is a nice feature that not all cradles accommodate. Another nice
feature of this cradle is that the holder guides the base of the
PDA right into docking position, something many cradles do not
do, and it is annoying trying to made the connection.
The
Mobile Crossing Pocket PC
The main focus of this product is that of a mobile global positioning
system, but first let's briefly discuss the PDA that comes with
it. The package contains a handsome, blue, plastic-cased unit
with a Windows Mobile 2003 operating system, a 3.5 inch 65,535
color transflective touch screen. There are two memory slots:
CF and SD. The main memory contains 40 MB of memory, and the flash
memory will hold 125 Megs. It is powered by an Intel PXA260 running
at ___MHz. Its lithium ion battery is rechargeable and removable.
I cannot report on battery life because I've always had it connected
to a power source while testing it in the car.
It
comes with the usual complement of Windows Mobile software such
as Word, Excel, Microsoft Reader, Tasks, Contacts, Calendar, MSN
Messenger, Windows Media Player, Picture Veiwer, Internet Explorer,
plus Gizmo Watch. It also comes with a year's free subscription
to TrafficWatch and WeatherWatch, but you have to be online to
use these programs.
The
CF slot is normally used for the Bluetooth receiver, which comes
with the unit, but it could be used for other peripherals such
as a camera or a modem. The company opted for a plug-in Bluetooth
card rather than a built-in option so that users could more easily
upgrade their devices.
Most
of the buttons are dedicated to GPS functions and will be discussed
later. I do appreciate the thumb wheel on the side, which can
be used for GPS purposes as well as for scrolling through documents
and eBooks. The reset button on the left side is so small that
it cannot be reset with the stylus. Instead, you must unscrew
the top of the stylus and use the plastic tool inside that I promptly
broke off the first time I tried it. I do like the way the style
locks in and pops out of the silo. There is a master on/off switch
inside the unit that can be reached by removing the battery and
is used for a hard reset of the machine.
GPS
Functionality
Mobile Crossing takes its mission seriously of allowing the customer
to use the Waypoint 200 for its intended purpose the moment it
is removed from the box. It even comes with the customer's home
geographic area already installed, plus a highway grid of the
entire United States. So, it is indeed possible to remove this
unit from the box and begin navigating. There is no setup and
no installing map software that must be uploaded to the device.
In fact, the whole system is designed so that no PC need be involved
at all. You can install maps using a Bluetooth cell phone if you
don't have a desktop available.
Let's
talk about Bluetooth first because I've found it the most frustrating
part of getting started with GPS on some systems. The basic components
for Waypoint 200 consist of a CF card that plugs into the PDA
and a Bluetooth 12 rechargeable receiver that lasts up to eight
hours. Device discovery is automatic and built into the system,
a nice feature. Hooking up to the satellites can be a long process
the first time around, but it takes less than a minute with Waypoint.
After that, assuming you are in the same neighborhood, it only
takes a few seconds. Mobile Crossing has done a good job of making
this, often painful, part of the process fast and easy for the
uninitiated user.
Next,
we need to be concerned about maps, but Mobile Crossing has done
a marvelous job of making this easy as well. As mentioned, the
unit comes loaded with the purchaser's territory already loaded
so that you can literally turn on the machine and start navigating.
But there's more to it than that if you need to load more maps.
The
country is divided into 17 geographic regions plus the entire
country of Canada. These data do not come in the box. You must
buy them separately and download them. Each extra region costs
$19.95, and you can download only the ones you need to save money.
Or, you can buy the entire country plus Canada for about $90 on
a CF card that you can take with you for easy access at any time.
I have the CF card and find it quite convenient to use. All you
do to load map data is plug in the card, go to Choose Maps on
the tools menu and select the region you want. You may specify
if you want to load the data into the flash memory or onto an
SD expansion card.
This
map loading system is marvelous because you are self-contained
and don't have to depend on a PC to chart courses and load data.
But, what happens when you need to start plotting long itineraries
that may cross several regions? Will the memory be up to the task?
The problem is that you must load all the counties involved in
an itinerary if you want any points of interest to be available
along the way. If you don't care about that, you can get away
with using the general highway map and the counties for the origin
and destination.
This
is where I began to have doubts about this system. How am I supposed
to know the names of all the counties on my itinerary? I'm not
sure I know all the counties adjacent to my own county, let alone
counties along strange roads in Texas or Tennessee. I discovered
the solution to this quandary, but it is a bit tedious and perhaps
could be more streamlined. What you do is plan your route and
then look at the route you will travel using the highway grid
map. You will see little sunburst icons spattered over the map.
Tap on the ones adjacent to your route, and it will give you the
name of the county. With a list in hand of all the counties you
will traverse, you can then go back to the Choose Maps menu and
select the counties from the list of files. Bother!
The
system is well designed and easy to use in any local geographical
region already loaded. Navigation begins from home or your current
geographical location by default. Then you must pick your destination
by one of several means. You may pan to the spot you want to reach
on the map using the stylus to drag the portion of the map into
view. Then tap on the spot, and a information box will appear
giving the address. Tap on the box, and an options menu will come
up giving you the opportunity to navigate to it or save it as
a favorite or a landmark for future reference. You can call up
a list of favorites or landmarks and select your choice to navigate
to. The program also allows you to select an address from your
Outlook Contacts file. Specifying the specific latitude and longitude
will get you there too. Finally, you can get there by selecting
a location from the POI or points of interest database from among
many categories such as bank, hospital, police station, restaurant,
gas station, tourist attraction and many others. Once you have
made your destination selection, the program quickly routes you,
and navigation commences.
This
is the fun part, for you are guided every step of the way both
graphically and verbally. The computer-generated voice is understandable
most of the time, but not always. It will warn you the distance
before each turn and then notify you when you must turn. There
are different styles of navigation panes giving such information
as estimated time of arrival, speed, distance to destination,
latitude/longitude/altitude and headings. You may select the style
containing just the information you want.
Now
let's talk about the hardware buttons beginning with the scroll
wheel on the left side of the unit, which is used for quickly
zooming the map view in and out. This is a great convenience while
driving so that you are not unsafely trying to use the stylus
as you must with some other systems.
The
four buttons at the bottom of the screen have specific GPS-related
functions rather than the conventional PPC functions. The far
left button has a heart on it and is used to access your favorite
places. You can scroll among them using the thumb wheel or the
joystick button. Make a selection by pushing in on the thumb wheel.
Moving
to the right is a button with an arrow on it that is the detour
button used in case you get in a traffic jam. Or it can be used
to get you quickly from your present location to another selected
spot. The next button to the right is the Information button.
Pushing this will display your GPS status showing the satellites
you are connected to, your exact speed and location. The last
button to the right will toggle between the GPS program and the
previous running program. The cursor pad below the four buttons
allows you to view up-coming turns and to pan around on the map
quickly.
Above
the thumb wheel on the left side of the unit is a record button
so that you can record any thoughts or messages you may have while
driving without having to fumble for pen and paper, which is a
dangerous maneuver.
Speaking
of dangerous, I feel I need to comment further on the points of
interest database. As you may logically expect, the bigger the
city of reference, the more points of interest are included. However,
in smaller towns the paucity of points of interest in the database
is pitiful and even dangerous. For instance, in my small town
of about 23,000 in Idaho the database is missing nine tenths of
our restaurants and gas stations. It says we have no library.
It has us without a police station and a hospital, and that could
be dangerous in an emergency. I could go on, but you get the point.
I
suspected that there would be a paucity of data when I noticed
how few categories were included in the points of interest file.
Other programs offer much more robust points of interest with
many sub-categories to choose. For instance, instead of just restaurants,
there should be a sub-listing of various kinds of restaurants
such as Japanese, Chinese, Mexican, Italian, fast food etc. Some
programs even give the restaurant's logo for easy recognition
while driving. More attention needs to be focused on this aspect
of the program, particularly when the majority of the country
is located in small towns on the way to big towns, and you need
to eat, sleep, get gas, and be entertained en route.
Conclusions
Mobile Crossing has done a superb job of making the Waypoint 200
unit easy to use right out of the box and not dependent on a PC.
For this they receive the highest marks. The way this baby jump-starts
and hooks right up to Bluetooth and the satellites to get you
going is a marvel.
While
the PDA that is the heart of the system has many nice features
such as the specifically GPS programmed buttons and the thumb
wheel, I think for the price it could have a faster processor
and a more up-to-date operating system. I really appreciate the
two expansion card slots and applaud their inclusion.
However,
I think future versions ought to include built-in Bluetooth so
that it is not necessary to keep track of an extra BT card and
the slot could be freed up for other peripherals. And, speaking
of built-ins, I'm disappointed that there is no built-in Wi-Fi
card in this machine. For $750, I would expect it normally and
hope it will be there in future editions. I would also expect
maps of the entire United States and Canada to be included for
this price instead of having to download additional regions at
twenty bucks a shot. The necessity of having to look up each county
along the route in order to load it is tedious, and I hope it
will be improved in future versions, even if it necessitates using
a PC. This method may serve for when a PC is not available, but
there should also be a more streamlined way to load data. I have
to say that I thought the graphics were on the pixilated jaggy
side and could be sharpened up in the next version. I've already
nagged about expanding the POIs.
I
probably should not complain too much about the price, for I do
feel that there is a valuable package here, especially for those
for whom GPS is an important consideration. I particularly appreciate
the nice, powered PDA holder for the car. I would point out that
it does wobble and vibrate excessively and needs to be more stable.
But I know that such units can cost as much as $150. Add Bluetooth
GPS to that at around $400 and a decent, dual-slotted PDA with
ample memory on top of that, and you have a pretty decent bargain
that really is a great navigation system.
Give
Mobile Crossing a visit at www.mobilecrossing.com and check out
some of their other offerings while you're at it. Waypoint 200
is also available in many retail outlets.
The scoop: The Waypoint 200
consists of a relatively basic PDA, a GPS receiver, and all the
cables and mounting gear you'll ever need. Maps for your area
are included, others you need to buy. The system is easy to use,
but all the cables may drive you nuts.
Cool:
ð Comes with everything you need
ð Easy to use
ð No need for a PC
Uncool:
ð Hey, Bluetooth should be built-in!
ð Pretty pricey
ð Look-up-by-county method is cumbersome
Rating:
B+
www.mobilecrossing.com
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