MapmyIndia RoadPilot GPS Device

Full Review

GPS devices have become more of a portable media player than just a navigating device.  However, if you just need the navigation feature , this basic device RoadPilot from MapmyIndia is one good option.

Features & Design
RoadPilot  is a simple and pocketable GPS devices  that has a 3.5-inch TFT touchscreen. The screen has a resolution of 320x 240 pixels which provides a good clear view for the map.  MapmyIndia loaded the all India maps on the device with turn-by-turn voice guided navigation across India.   Currently, MapmyIndia maps support street turn-by-turn directions in 620 cities across India and also supports search over 52 categories of points of interest ( POIs) and it has over 2 million unique destinations.

Signal lock time and signal strength was much better than what I saw with the costlier and more feature-packed MapmyIndia Navigator Lx130.

The device is powered by Sir Atlas IV GPS and it has 64MB of RAM and 1GB of internal memory.  Its built-in battery is rated at 1000mAH. The device charges via its miniUSB port on the side and there is an SD-card slot on the side as well.  The device also has a 3.5mm audio out which you can use it to  plug it to either a car audio system or headphones.  MapmyIndian also provides a stylus, a  car holder, a car charger, AC adapter charger,  CD with user manual, warranty car, city coverage list, and quick install guide.

The device measures 98.5x78x17 (mm) which fits well on hands and its 141.5g weight is portable enough even when the device resides in the pocket.  The body has a matte black rubber finish with at thin metallic silver strip running across the body. Due to the rubbery finish, the device offers a good grip on hands and makes the built solid. The 3.5-inch screen is bright and clear but it was hard to make out the screen contents outdoors under the bright sunlight.

Interface and Usability
The Roadpilot does not do anything else than assisting you on the road. The Home screen also has just two icons as there are not many features you can play with -  one to open the map and the other for device settings. The map interface is the standard MapmyIndia map’s interface i.e.  Mireo viaGPS 3.1 Black Edition which is the usual interface used on other MapmyIndia devices we tested earlier as well.  The default map view has different elements on different sides without obscuring the map view.  The map supports rotation, 3D or 2D view at different angles, and day/night with auto options.  Searching can be done by simply touching the menu button on the lower right and search by street address, city center, longitude/latitude, POI or by selecting the point from the map. The smart search feature also enable searching for address or places faster as we could just pick up the places from the suggestion drop down menu without the need to type in the full name.   Handy features like recording routes, favorites, importing geotag images were all present.

Performance
Booting up the device took 10 to 11 seconds (approximately) while waking up from the sleep mode took just a second which is one convenient and standard feature we’ve seen on any MapmyIndia devices that all MapmyIndia devices we tested has. The screen was responsive to our touch commands and the device operated at reasonable speed. While dragging and zooming the map though,  the response was a bit sluggish but still manageable. Entering text via its full QWERTY keyboard was easy and there is also an alphabet keyboard option.

The route suggestions were accurate in Bangalore and signal lock happened within 2 minutes even when the weather was not clear - very impressive for a basic GPS device. Most of the time, the device used at least five satellites and the signal stability was very good unless we were indoors. Signal lock time and signal strenght was much better than what I saw with the costlier and more feature-packed MapmyIndia Navigator Lx130. The RoadPilotIt never lost the signal even while we were passing through areas with many obstructions like tunnels and trees. One slight lagging we saw with the RoadPilot is, while taking turns other than the suggested route, the responded with a few 3 to 4 seconds delay – this may not a be a deal breaker for some but worth pointing out. Route recalculation happened fairly quick after a few seconds delay.

Route suggestions were up to date except for some constantly changing routes in Bangalore where the RoadPilot obviously failed to suggest correct routes. However, the maps showed all the city’s important places and centres. We could easily locate many popular restaurants, shopping centers which is very impressive.

The onboard mono speaker also did not sound loud enough while driving in a busy traffic and even at maximum volume, the voice guidance sounded more like a radio, for better sound output, we definitely recommend using its audio out and connecting it to a headphone or car audio system. The battery lasted us for approximately 2 hours with default screen brightness and voice guidance at default volume settings which is average. The battery lasted for 2 hours of navigation with voice at default settings for screen brightness and volume.

Bottom Line

Priced at Rs 7,990, the MapmyIndia RoadPilot offered very good performance in terms of navigation and got our recommendation if you need just a basic solid GPS device that does its job well.