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Microsoft Streets & Trips 2009 with GPS

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Microsoft Streets & Trips 2009 with GPS

(148 customer reviews)

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ELA456666

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Microsoft Streets and Trips (GPS) 2009 Win32 English Mini Box US Only

List Price:	$69.95
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Product Details

Product Length:	7.6 inches
Product Width:	5.5 inches
Product Height:	1.7 inches
Product Weight:	0.6 pounds
Package Length:	7.5 inches
Package Width:	5.4 inches
Package Height:	1.3 inches
Package Weight:	0.6 pounds
Average Customer Rating:	based on 148 reviews

Features

MINI BOX DVD HAIER

Customer Reviews

Average Customer Review: 4.0

( 148 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

41 of 41 found the following review helpful:

Great Navigator Feb 28, 2009 By Ken
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.

40 of 40 found the following review helpful:

Not perfect, but still a great product Dec 29, 2008 By Robert Davis
Only a couple of complaints. First, the documentation and help for this are horribly inadequate, causing a serious learning curve in order to figure out all the features. Be prepared for a lot of trial and error before you can quickly and easily navigate with this thing. You're on your own.

Second, the audio is VERY low. I have my laptop volume as far up as it can possibly go, and I still cannot understand the navigation voice over highway noise. And I drive a brand new car that is quite quiet. They definitely need to put a volume control on the program itself. I mean seriously, this is made to use in a car! What was MS thinking?

Third, the database of sites that can be displayed on the map is terribly inadequate. If you set it to display schools, you won't see many schools. I realise that new schools are being built all the time, but even old schools are commonly not shown. Same with many other sites. It would also be nice if fire and police stations were in the database to be shown as an option.

Now the good stuff. The program was incredibly easy to install, set up, and get started using. No problems at all quickly getting on the road with it, albeit very basically.

Not sure what everyone is complaining about with the GPS hardware. It has worked just fine for me. During the several interstate trips I have taken since buying this, I have only a couple of times lost GPS contact. But I had the GPS module attached directly to the laptop. The problem was very quickly remedied by putting the GPS module on the dashboard, using the extension cable.

I am amazed at how many streets that I would never expect to see appear on this product. Even the streets on some military bases and many private roads. It is also very good about showing all names for a road when multiple names are used locally. There are obviously some inaccuracies found in all maps, and this one is no exception. Some long closed streets still show up, and some newer ones still do not. But overall, the accuracy is extremely impressive. I have used Delorme, and this program is definitely more accurate and easier to use.

36 of 39 found the following review helpful:

Five stars for software, two stars for GPS. Read below if you are going to use on a netbook. Jun 20, 2009 By Two kids mom "scienceteachermom"
I installed Microsoft Streets and Trips on my ASUS Eee PC 1000HE netbook.
Software installed easily and quickly using an external DVD drive. The computer recognized the GPS unit, however it could not find any satellites (in comparison the Garmin sitting next to it was finding 10 satellites).

I contacted Microsoft and through remote access the tech did the following. I asked him to send it in an email to me so I could provide it here.
*******
Following are the steps we did

Step 1: Click on START and then click on RUN. In the RUN box, type MSCONFIG and click on OK.

Step 2: Under System Configuration, click on Selective Startup, and uncheck the following items...

Process System.ini file
Process Win.ini file
Load Startup Items

Then click on the tab SERVICES and check the option - Hide all Microsoft Services. Then click on DISABLE ALL and the click on APPLY and CLOSE.

When prompted to, restart the PC and try Streets and Trips with the GPS, it should work. Once it Starts working, repeat Step 1 above, and then switch back to Normal Startup, apply that change and click on CLOSE. That will get the computer back to normal. Now, try Streets and Trips with the GPS again, and it should be working, with the PC in normal mode.

********

Once this was done the GPS did pick up satellites. However, when actually using it on the road the connection was dropped and picked up once every few minutes, then every time it would pick it up it would recalculate the trip again. After speaking again to the tech he told me that it might be that the USB ports are not powered enough. He got this information from another tech and sounded unsure about it. I myself do not know if this is true. Perhaps someone who does can comment on it. I learned also from the tech that there are two different GPS units provided with this software. I got a Navation GPS 168 with mine.
The software is great and intuitive. My 13 year old son quickly figured out how to use it. Great for finding restaurants, gas stations ect. You do need someone else to run it, it would be dangerous to be making adjustments while driving yourself.
I am giving it 3 stars, five stars for the software and one for the GPS receiver to average 3 overall. The only downside I have found to the software is that sometimes it knows the street name (displays it on the map) but still calls it a "local road" when speaking directions. I think it should work with a netbook, or if it does not they should tell you so in the description. Tech support was very helpful and even called me back to see if it was still working a few days later.

****UPDATE

We bought a longer USB cord for the GPS so it could be right up in the windshield and now it works much better. The cord supplied did not have a very tight connection and the short length made it hard to get it near a window. I am upgrading it to two stars, since now it works pretty well but Microsoft should have sprung for a slightly better USB cord that holds the GPS securely and reaches far enough to go into the window.

12 of 12 found the following review helpful:

MS Streets Dec 08, 2008 By Albert K "Ratsnozzle"
When using MS Streets with the GPS Doggle it allows 2D Map view rather than the 3D tunnel view that the Garmin/TomTom family of windshield GPS units offer. Have already found streets (that have been built for years) missing and 1 incorrect in a small area. There mapping company needs help. A co-worker with a TomTom that is a year older has the (missing) streets. Good program, but the data needs more updates sooner.

15 of 16 found the following review helpful:

Witnessing the extinction of a dinosaur.... Jul 12, 2009 By D. P. Schroeder "Paukenwirbel"
I've had four previous versions of this product before online mapping sites made the pre-trip-planning portion of this software mostly obsolete. It has had a good run. It still offers something to those who want to plan long road-trips in legs, I guess, but even that use is fading with more compact GPS systems. The mapping system does what it says it does, so that's fine....

What bothers me is how poorly the GPS hardware works. Upon first installation, I was right next to a window, and it could not pick up any satellites at all and asked if I had a clear view of the sky -- well, no, and unless you're driving in a convertible....

Finally, as a passenger in a mini-van, I was able to obtain "constant-intermittent" service. "Huh?" you might well ask. Well, at least every mile, the hardware would lose satellite tracking, reacquire it, and then squelch out in its chirpy/brittle voice (even my old GPS has 6 smooth voice-choices for English) that it was re-routing and tell me again and again and again what the next turn is. That became extremely annoying after about 3 minutes, as it was impossible to have a conversation in the vehicle, even when the next turn is in 51 miles.

I tried the male-to-famale USB cord they included to enhance the signal. It's 28" long (not including the connectors). This is just long enough to be too long to rest the receiver on your lap(top) and too short to tape it to the windshield or a window, which might actually be useful. Another loser component.

There's no traffic notification system designed into this system, which is something even my 2-year-old Garmin has. That feature saves me a LOT of time sitting in traffic, and I can't see going backwards to this MS offering.

Also, you can't just type in a destination while driving. You have to set up a complete "trip" before-hand. This is just silly. What you must do is create and plan a "trip" to your destination from some place you recently passed, while driving (disclaimer....), from whence it will re-route your "trip," just to make the unit function using the same approach it did years ago before the GPS component was introduced. It's almost as if the MS designers knew this was a dying breed and didn't bother to fix such obvious flaws, such as the passenger (or driver) trying to manage a laptop while driving....

See all 148 customer reviews on Amazon.com