Microsoft Street & Trips 2008 GPS with Connected Services Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I've owned several of the earlier versions of S&T including 2007 and have used them extensively on road trips throughout the Western US. While my previous reviews have had issues with S&T I still really like S&T. I just wish that the development team owned cars and tried their product.
Then along comes 2008 with Connected Services. I tried it out in the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles. The traffic information is completely unreliable. I was stuck in stop and go traffic in green zones in S&T. A zone is a traffic direction on each side of a freeway on the map. The red and yellow zones rarely show at all. Instead you have to guess what may be happening when there is a gap in a green zone. Is it supposed to be red, yellow, or no data? So the strategy is to look out the window and figure it out as you drive along. That may sound similar to what you do now without S&T CS.
The incident markers are consistently outdated. Rarely is there any sign that an accident ever occurred there. Don't bother re-routing away from accidents because so far they don't exist and usually traffic is flowing as well as could be expected for the time of day.
The GPS unit is a pain and loses the connection somewhat frequently, like twice in a six hour drive or more. The 2007 model is much more reliable and I've switched back to that unit except when I want to test my humor. Hint: You have to reboot not just the computer to get the 2008 CS GPS unit to work again, but you have to pull the cable from the unit and switch it on and off with a pocket knife point. Try that on an LA freeway late in the afternoon.
I do recommend S&T but pass on Connected Services for at least this version unless you are an early adapter who loves self-abuse with innovations.
- jim

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Microsoft Streets and Trips 2008 Review

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(More customer reviews)Unless you really need the updated maps, I would not upgrade from Streets and Trips 2007.
* The 2008 version is the first one with a product key that needs to be registered. I assume this means I can no longer sell or give away the old version when I buy the new one. So I won't be upgrading every year anymore.
* After I did the install, it corrupted a dll that Money 2007 uses. I had to reinstall Money to get it working again.

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Travel with complete confidence!Product InformationPlan it customize it drive it. Every trip is a good one with Microsoft Streets& Trips 2008. This comprehensive trip planning software makes route planninga snap around town or anywhere across the U.S. and Canada. Microsoft Streets& Trips gets you where you're going quickly easily and without all theguesswork.Your trip...your way!Customizable trip-planning options allow you to planroutes scenic detours and fuel stops.Reroute any time you wish instantly without goingonline.Optimize your trip by calculating mileage time andexpenses in advance.Store or print your travel plans or share them online orthough e-mail.Find everything you'll need along the way from landmarksto airports to golf courses.Use full screen map view for easier map viewing on thego.Import contacts from Microsoft Office Outlook into yourmaps.Microsoft Streets & Trips 2008 gives you accurate driving directions tojust about anywhere in the United States and Canada with more trip-planningfeatures than major online mapping Web sites. Instantly find more than 1.6million points of interest such as hotels restaurants ATMs museumscampgrounds and more without the need to be online. Use Live Search to findadditional local business listings when you're online then take selectedlocations with you on the road. Get detailed door-to-door directionsanywhere along millions of miles of routable roads streets and highways.Planning your trips just got easier and more fun!New FeaturesNew features in Streets & Trips 2008 make your planning more productive andyour trip more enjoyable.Updated maps for the United States and Canada.NEW: Use the new perspective map view to get a view more like you wouldsee through your windshield.NEW Automatic re-routing helps you get back on track even when you miss aturn.Customizable trip pla

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AAA Map N' Go 7.0 Review

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(More customer reviews)I just bought, installed, and used this product to lay out a long trip. This software quickly plotted the trip which would be over roads ranging from interstates to secondary roads. It has a very large points of interest database and produced an extensive report (maps of various scales and lists of points of interest) and features (personalization options, integration with GPS).
After about 5 hours of use, I found the product was not acceptable for my purposes and returned it. Some problems were:
1. When I tried to constrain portions of routes from interstate to secondary roads, the program would either show both routes or show the secondary route with a return to the secondary route start on the interstate. (Same behaviour if the road was a state vice interstate route.) Although an annoyance, this behaviour effectively added duplicate miles to the route total milage.
2. When points of interest are added, a bulk add to map feature is available. No delete from map is available. In one case I had added 208 points to the map, only to find that they all appeared in the final printout report. In order to remove the points, each had to be deleted individually - a large chore. In addition, some information apperared in the printout report of no value to me. I could find no way to delete this other data.
3. Documentation is marginal at best. Workarounds for the problems may have existed, but I could not find them in the documentation.
4. I am a AAA member so expected to see all AAA points of interest and accomodations. The information, when compared to AAA books, was incomplete.
5. The internet download features (road conditions) produced error messages but some data appeared.
The above shortfalls may not be important to all - but evaluate this mapping product carefully before committing to extensive planning.

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Microsoft Streets and Trips 2009 with GPS Locator for PC Review

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(More customer reviews)I purchased this program with GPS recently to use with my laptop as a navigator on road trips. I have used it on a couple short trips so far, and it works great. Getting ready to use it on a long, 7,000+ mile road trip. Easy to use, easy to change course for side trips. I like the display of all restaurants and motels at any given spot. Great price - approximately $50. I saw this same product at Office Depot for $75. I like it better than a Garmin GPS I purchased a couple years ago for $500.

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Updated street maps with improved interface. Multi-destination routing, calculate mileage, timetables&costs. Customize your trip to match your personal travel preferences. Free highway construction updates from the Web. Send location information to your mobile device3. Spoken street names&directions, automatic re-routing. Compact GPS locator & cable included

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Microsoft Streets and Trips 2008 with GPS Review

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(More customer reviews)The program installed fine, but in order to use it, you have to 'activate' it online (as you do with, for example, Microsoft Office and Windows). This is the first time activation has been required for Streets & Trips.
The activation process refused to function on my laptop. And despite the program's assurance that "you can use it for up to 60 days without activation," the program in fact would not run at all without activation.
I placed two calls to Microsoft Support about the issue. The first technician worked with me to reboot, uninstall, reinstall, etc., with no luck. The second technician acknowledged that there is a known issue with activation on some PC's. He suggested I could either wait for a patch (but he could not predict when one would be forthcoming), or I could get a refund.
It's a shame, because I've liked previous versions of S&T and was really looking forward to trying out the GPS features. I haven't decided whether to request a refund yet. If I keep the program and a patch is released, I will update this review accordingly.

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