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View Full Version : PocketNow Reviews OnCourse Navigator 5


Ekkie Tepsupornchai
08-26-2005, 10:00 PM
<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://pocketnow.com/index.php?a=portal_detail&t=reviews&id=685&p=1' target='_blank'>http://pocketnow.com/index.php?a=po...iews&id=685&p=1</a><br /><br /></div><i>"OnCourse Navigator 5 is the result of a collaboration between EasyPocketNav and Navigon to offer a Navigon software based GPS solution for North America. Earlier this year we reviewed OnCourse Navigator 4, which faired quite well and had the potential to be a great product dispite a couple small issues (such as the slowness of launching the application.) OnCourse Navigator 5 aims to address those issues, but have a number of previous features strayed off course?"</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/ekkie_OcN-5_1_small.jpg" /><br /><br />OnCourse Navigator (OCN) is undoubtedly one of the premiere GPS software solutions today. There were some shortcomings issues with version 4 that prevented it from really taking a bigger chunk of the GPS software market in my opinion. So how did they fare with version 5? Well, PocketNow has weighed in with their own thorough review. Check it out and let us know if you think OnCourse Navigator is solution to beat.

MikeB
08-27-2005, 02:33 PM
Their product activation is WAY over the top, in my opinion. You can't even run the software one time without activating it. This is a real pain because if it won't take your activation code (like mine wouldn't - spent a week or so trying to get the crazy thing activated and finally had to send the Pocket PC to them so they could activate it - ugh!) then you are out of luck. They should let it run for a week or so without activating, to give you time to use the software while you try to resolve registration issues. Also, if it would at least run a day or two before activating, you could try the software on another device if you have two, to see which one it works the best with. I'm all for protecting software from piracy, but I've had two versions of this software (OCN 4 and 5) and ran into problems activating both of them. I can't imagine the support headaches they must cause themselves with this method.....

Mike B.

Lday
08-27-2005, 05:05 PM
I just can't see upgrading from version 4 and losing the map export feature. I have most of Southern California, all of Arizona, New Mexico, some of East Texas with a buffer zone into the surrounding states on a map thats a little over 70MB. That's just a deal-breaker to me. I'm satisfied with the shortcomings of version 4 over losing most of my storage to bigger maps.

signothefish
08-29-2005, 03:10 PM
I've read about map activation problems a lot with OcN5. Guess I'm one of the lucky ones that it activated flawlessly first time each time for me on both of my Pocket PCs. As far as the biggest complaints in the community go, I think it's tied between no route list and loss of map cutting. But with the new fast screen updates (3-4 frames/sec) during navigation, the new Navteq database, speed limit info/caution, and better VGA support with an aerial view which gives you a better look and feel of your surroundings, it was a no-brainer for me to upgrade.

Phillip Dyson
08-29-2005, 08:39 PM
I'm sitting on the OCN5 upgrade since neither version was compatible with my Toshiba e830.

Right not the resource demands are a bit steep for my eten at the moment. I'm lucky to have 20mb of Ram after a soft reset.

Hopefully the WM5 upgrade will make it more possible.

Does anyone know how hard it would be to transfer the activation to another device later if I decided to go ahead and install it?