My experience with the PC Miler Navigator 440 GPS unit

OK...now that the fishin and drinkin is over with, I'm back to work.

From home to Murfeesboro, TN to deliver then to Russelville, KY to pickup...all went well with the PCM 440.

I am finding that I got a little too used to the 15 inch widescreen while I was using the CoPilot 9 on my laptop...the little 4.3 inch screen leaves a lot to be desired, but then again a 15 inch screen stuck to the windsheild would block a lot of view.

On my way to Ft. Worth, TX...

 

Shot the breeze with a Canadian driver that had an English accent today. He told me he got a $2000 something fine in New York City 10 days ago because his PCM 430 with the latest updates led him where he wasn’t supposed to be. He told me he junked it and is now looking for another solution entirely altogether.

 

LOL! Ain't none of these "magic boxes" going to replace the Rand McNally atlas, local maps and common sense. Yup they're helpful. Best advice I've heard yet is from Ken Rutherford on Roaddog... buy a cheap one, use it to help locating what you've already done your homework on, and don't trust it.

I posted this in another thread on GPSs, but my company has been evaluating them and a QualComm product. They won't recommend any of them because they all have shortcomings. The biggest problem in their view is that most of the standalone units can't be updated. The data is only as good as the copyright date on the software.

So... can the PCM440 be updated?

 

Anybody who trusts a GPS in NYC deserves any ticket they get...just my opinion.

The ONLY reliable info on NYC truck routes is here (PDF download...save it to your computer)... http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/motorist/trucks.shtml

 

I gave him one of the six 2009 New York City Truck Route Maps that I keep in my truck since that same website will send them out to your home address for free.

 

Which is why the 5" and (much louder) 7" versions are now out as an option.

I would be extremely curious to see his routing settings. I have been testing the new maps with correctly configured routing profile in NYC for a week now. It has been remarkably accurate, (a big improvement in NYC over the original maps.) That link to the free NYC truck route map is definately a "must-have" like you say for anyone who goes into "the city."

There will never be a substitute for common sense. If you find one, please call me and we'll become millionaires together. The update schedule for the PCM series will be once per year in June/July timeframe as communicated to me at this time.

 

Well I'm in "the Rock" waiting to get a tire replaced so I'll give a short summary of the 440's performance so far.

I like it...but I'm still working on the routing profiles, haven't quite found the combination I want yet.

The small screen I can get used to...thats really the only thing I don't like though.

DieselBoss,
I agree, with the correct routing profiles NYC could be done....but the reason i said what I said up there is this...

On CoPilot 9 Truck for laptops...the streets and avenues in NYC are backwards, every road I took it said I was going the wrong way...LOL. It didn't cause any problems for me though because I had the maps from NYDOT on my computer and picked that route myself. That happened 4 years ago....so the maps may or may not have been updated since then.

 

Ya, the CoPilot 9 program was the best version that ALK ever put out as far as FEATURES. The ability to manipulate POI's, add your own, avoid/favor particular roads, send map feedback tracks directly from the program itself - these were excellent features. However, the maps and routes on that version are about 4 or 5 years out of date at this point. I still have many drivers that still use version 9 because they have it so very "customized" believe it or not. I did love that version and I have communicated to ALK many times that the next version needs to return some of those.

As far as NYC, I sent them the link to the NYC truck route map that you refer to last year and they integrated that data - the result is the much more accurate routing in the boroughs. However, the "route profile" that you save has a GREAT deal to to with how it routes as well. Play with those settings in the PCM. Make a couple of different profiles by tweaking your size and road settings and preview the rotes first. This will help you create the "sweet spot" to match your particular preferred driving style.

 

Yep...I'm missing the CoPilot 9...for some reason it just quit working though. I uninstalled and reinstalled it and it worked for a few minutes then quit again. It won't recognize the GPS antenna...

I really miss that avoid/favor roads feature.

With that said, I'm glad I got the PCM 440 though...my poor old laptop has seen its better days and I'd have to either install Vista on this one (it is Vista capable) or buy a new one if I got another laptop program.

The 440 is wrong about a few exit ramps (Flyin J in Wichita Falls, TX to name another one), but the routes it spits out have been good so far.

I'm still tweaking on my routing profiles a bit, and as I get more familiar with its controls I find myself liking it more and more...even with its occasional mistakes.

 

Does your CPT-9 start up correctly and it's just a receiver issue? Or does the program crash? Is this the same laptop that it ran correctly on in the past with the same hardware? Because if the program is running ok, and just the receiver (no gps signal) is the issue, then you need to go into your Windows control panel and see if the receiver shows up under "ports" or "universal serial bus controllers" with NO exclamation point next to it. If it doesn't show up there at all, or has a yellow exclamation point next to it then it is merely a driver issue with the receiver. Is it the round, black receiver (model BU-353?)

On that PCM440, I found that there are some turns once in a while where the arrow (left, right, etc) and/or the road description (in yellow on the bottom of the Nav screen) is backwards. However the route itself shown on the map and the "voice" command is saying the correct turn direction. There is an email address to feed that info back for correction if you want at data@alk.com and when I see a map error I've been at least feeding them back so they get fixed. The V23 maps are dramatically better than ever before on their PCM or their laptop products though. If you make yourself a couple of profiles in it by varying your road settings or vehicle dimensions you will find subtle changes in routing and that will help you dial it in to your exact routing style. It sounds like you are doing that now.