Microsoft Streets & Trips 2005 with GPS Locator - Geek.com: News Reviews for Gadgets, Gaming, Macs, Mobile, Technology & More!

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Description:

Streets & Trips 2005 with GPS Locator combines the power of Streets & Trips with a sleek Global Positioning System receiver hardware component turning your notebook computer into a real-time GPS tracking device.

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Product Type: Software

Summary

Product Title: Microsoft Streets & Trips 2005 with GPS Locator

Manufacturer: Microsoft

Power Score: 3.6 | 23 Reviews

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Product Reviews (10)

Not recommended

Strengths: Easy use interface.

Weakness: No turn-by-turn voice instruction. PPC version is almost useless.

Hardware: Only has PC interface (USB). Unless mounting or having someone holding a laptop for you, this is not a handy solution for GPS tracking. An optional BT adaptor is available in the market, but $99 price makes it much expensive than other integrated BT GPS. Software: No voice instruction. Have to look at the laptop screen to find out the place, not safe for drivers. Included PPC version...
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By junjunxu - Sep 23, 2005

Great for traveling in new areas,...

Strengths: Small, well made. None of the GPS are supposed to work inside buildings, yet it picks up about 6 satellites in my family room, single story wood construction.

Weakness: None that I can see. I have read in various places complaints that the system does not have voice promts. True. Not a problem for me.

Great for traveling in new areas, it beats opening a map and trying to figure out where you are, specially at night. Great finding hotels at night and have the unit guide you through the streets. I use it with a laptop, bought an inverter (24vdc to 110vac - 400watts) on ebay for less than $20 including shipping. My Tablet-PC has a 12.1 inch screen with 1400x1050 resolution, and after a 1200 mile...
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By kochpda - Feb 25, 2005

I've got this product right before...

Strengths: Easy Installation. Initialize GPS is quick (less than 30 sec). Don't need CD for full installation. GPS is precise w/ little to no delay. Very detailed maps. Reroute direction is easy.

Weakness: Direction is confusing. It doesn't tell you when is the upcoming turn based on your GPS location. GPS lights up blue and is distracting at night when placed on dashborad.

I've got this product right before my trip to Toronto from NYC over the Labor Day weekend, and used it extensively during the 5 days in NY and Toronto.

In brief, this product is not for you if you are looking for something similar to in-car GPS system. However, this product is for you if you don't want to spend a lot of money and you always have someone (who has a good sense of direction) next to you to navigate.

Here are more details:

This package comes with:
1. Setup CD -- for installation
2. Run CD -- You don't need to use this CD after you do a full installation. However, you will need this CD if you don't do a full installation. Full installation requires about 1 GB of disk space to stores all the maps.
3. GPS Unit -- It is a USB GPS unit that you put at the windows of your cars. It has a cool blue color light when you plug it into your USB. However, I've found it to be very distracting at night when you have a blue light on your dashboard.
4. Manual -- very simple without a lot of details.

The overall installation was a breeze. It took me less than 10 minutes to install. And it took less than 30 seconds for the GPS to find my current location (in North Jersey). The GPS unit was able to precisely pinpoint my current location with the speed and direction that I was traveling without much (if any) delay. The software is pretty easy to use. At anytime, I can easily reroute my direction from my current location, and it will recalculate the direction.

One of the complaints that I have is the confusing direction. MS provides too much details of each turn, which makes the direction very hard to follow. In addition, the direction doesn't work with the GPS unit. So, it doesn’t tell you when to turn. I was expecting it would tell me to "Turn right in ?? yards" when I am approaching the intersection. All it does is to show you your current location on the map, and you do need someone next to you to read the direction and tell you when to turn. Besides, the GPS unit lights up in blue when you plug it into an USB port. It was really cool when I first saw it. However, I've found it to be very distracting at night when placing it on the dashboard with reflections on the windshield.

In general, this product is very good with only a few things I hope it will improve in the next year release. This product is definitely for you if you are looking for a cost-effective way to navigate through town, and you have a passenger (who has a good sense of direction) next to you to help you navigate. And this thing is very fun to play with. Overall, I am pretty happy with this product. Hopefully, MS will release one with voice command and better direction next year.

By ottolam - Sep 14, 2004

Had this baby up and running...

Strengths: Accuracy, speed, compactness, software is intuitive and easy to use

Weakness: No directions via voice

Had this baby up and running inside 5 minutes, installation was a snap. The actual GPS device is pretty small, a bit smaller than a hockey puck. There is a LED on the GPS to let you easily know if it's connected or not. The signal isn't too bad either, I was indoors and it was able to pinpoint my exact location. One gripe though, is that the software does not have turn by turn directions via...
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By Krym - Oct 18, 2004

Excellent value for the price (I...

Strengths: Excellent Price. Easy installation. Can be completely installed on the hard drive. GPS is accurate and initializes quickly. Accurate Maps. User friendly interface. Online Road construction updates.

Weakness: No audible driving instructions. Lighted GPS receiver is distracting at night. Suction cup is not effective. Difficult to create travel plan that does not follow pre-defined rules.

Excellent value for the price (I paid 89.98). Compared to the Delorme mapping software, the Streets and Trips interface is more intuitive and its maps are more complete (Delorme’s software still cannot locate my address since my house was constructed 3.5 years ago). However, Delorme’s program can provide audible driving instructions thereby making its program usable without a passenger. You...
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By thomaswilson - Nov 17, 2004

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