MICROSOFT STREET & TRIPS 2008 PRODUCT REVIEW

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There were many things along the 2007 Ultimate Road Trip last year we took note of, one of them being that we would have liked to have had a software program with us that we could download the current road information as we traveled. Another was that we felt having that type of software would have been a useful tool to route our trip with beforehand, this year we decided to get software that had maps we could use to get a little more info with plus, we wound up with software that would allows us to use one of our laptops as a GPS system, what we found was Microsoft® Streets and Trips 2008. We had a small hand held GPS last year and it worked great for the trip but this year we wanted to have a larger screen and with the program we will be able to utilize our Microsoft® Streets and Trips  and get turn by turn directions from one of our computers. 

We started using the software to route this years trip with, as with anything it takes a little while to figure out the nuts and bolt of the program but it didn’t take long and we were on or way to planning our route for the 2008 URT 4,000 mile journey.  

There are things that I do and don’t like about this software. The data was detailed down to the mileage once our trip was mapped out with the program which was definitely a positive. You can even change the option of how fast you drive on different roads as well as the price of fuel and the hours per day you want to drive, all of this info helps the program inform you of time, distance you should be able to cover in a day, and fuel consumption. You can find hotels, restaurants, scenic attractions, ATM’s, and a host of other places to visit in most cities with the use of Microsoft® Streets and Trips with a few clicks of the mouse if you’re traveling with your laptop. Routes can be highlighted, emailed to friends and shared via Windows Live. 

Now at first glance the box gave me great hopes, after using the program for awhile I didn’t find it as user friendly as the box and advertisement’s made it sound. Planning the trip I wanted a highlighted map to show our route, it was able to do that but not without all of the stops that I had to use in order to plan our route since we are forced onto the back roads most of the way and the route had to be mapped one town at a time. That clutters the map and makes some of the towns and stops hard to identify. For unknown reasons I still can’t get the software to send the maps and info by email or to set it as a web page. When I try to get the route to the internet map that it is supposed to be compatible with it just shows a plain map without the route, I don’t really understand the value of a map that is supposed to transfer but doesn’t show the route on the second map. We actually had to use other software to capture and save the map so we could show our route with it. I didn’t find the instructions detailed well enough, I would like to see more of these types of programs to use a tutorial system to help the user better understand the software to get the best and most use out of it.  

We haven’t had much time to try out the GPS portion at this point but hope it will be a valuable asset as we travel on this year’s trip. All in all I would have to say that what this software program can be purchased for makes it worth the investment. I would like to see how some of the other programs out there with these types of capabilities compare in user friendliness and available options. I would recommend trying all brands before setting your mind on one to see if the program you’re looking at is going to be helpful in planning the trip you may have in mind. I would think that for the majority of folks this software would be very useful and helpful. Our trip and plans are a little different than the majority mainly due to the fact that we are forced to take back roads and plan our routes knowing that we will be lucky to hit 45 mph as a top speed on our trip.

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