I just finished a 10 day, 4900mi trip, where I followed the planned routes, as well as recorded the tracklog. This years trip leader created the routes in Google Maps, and I created the routes in the MRA Webplanner based on those so I could follow along. All good.
I had recently purchased a Carpuride 702 to use via the CarPlay function, and as it turns out, was one great decision - it worked very well.
So I'll start with this - I have to say I was pleasantly surprised at how well this version worked.
That said, there were some annoying issues. I had previoulsy tried to use the NN app and tracklog with much less than satisfaction.
Details:
Navigation/GPS - started each days route & tracklog via the 702.
at NO TIME did I even entertain using the NN app as the daily temps were in excess of 90deg F most days, and with the extreme battery usage the app uses, it would have been an excercise in futility.
the 702 never dimmed or lost brightness, so it was actually a pleasure to be able to see the entire route each and every day - shout out to Carpuride.
Waypoints - for the most part, this worked well - auto skip was on - if the route detour appeard to be small. However, there were 3 instances where the auto skip did not work well AT ALL. Beacuse I was only following, I did not go into Waypoints and delete the troublesome point, I let it run to see what would happen.
on at least 2 of these occasions, the app continually tried to re-route me back to that waypoint (yes, I know the difference between a waypoint and a via point) FOR OVER 20mi and at least 6 - 7 voice attempts to re-route. It's my understanding that after 3 attempts, the waypoint is skipped and on to the next - THIS did not happen - unacceptable for any group leader - luckily, it wasn't me this year.
Tracklog - very substantial improvement here, IMO, compared to the last time I used this function.
the only issue is when saving the tracklog...it MUST be a VERY good internet connection. I found that on an iphone with 2 bars of service in a 5G+ area simply did not work. Because of this, I did lose that days tracklog. Worked flawlessly on a good WiFi connection every time.
Crashing each time the bike was stopped (for gas, food, the night, etc), EACH & EVERYTIME upon start up, the app crash error came up on the iphone. E.A.C.H and E.V.E.R.Y.T.I.M.E
The crash issue even happens when the app is NOT EVEN USED AT ALL, and has not been started. At different version upgrades, the instances of crashes tends to dwindle, or almost go away. BUT it comes back with each and every new version release - baffling.
Fortunately, when it was time to continue the route, the Navigate message that shows up on the 702 worked well, and the route picked right back up. So did the tracklog.
The only real issue where this occured was the last 100mi of the trip - the 702 screen went blank. Tapping the screen to bring up the search/settings icons and attempting to restart the route with the search function did restart the route, and the distance box showed up and appeared to be working - HOWEVER, no actual map would display. When I opened the app on my iphone, the route was there, just as it should be - but nothing would carry over to the 702 (closing app, reopening, etc).
- managed to get everything back up and running once the iphone was rebooted. Once the phone was back on, I restarted route & tracklog via the 702.
There were a couple other crashes that did the same things, but in those instances, simply opening the app on the phone, hard closing it, then re-opening on the 702 worked - it was the last crash that had the serious issues.
All in all, I have to admit that the app/702 CarPlay worked very well!!
I was very dissappointed with the app and had not used it in a very long time (as mentioned above, still won't use it standalone on the iphone for said issues), however, with the continued improvements and the 702 CarPlay abilities, has re-installed my faith that things are moving in the right direction. May it continue.
