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Microsoft Streets and Trips 2006 [OLD VERSION] Review (continued)
More User Submitted Microsoft Streets and Trips 2006 [OLD VERSION] Reviews
Date: 2006-06-13
2005 SUCKED BUT 2006 ROCKS
I had 2005 and it always crashed or locked up. I never used it because of that. But I bought the 2006 version because Delorme Street Atlas sucked worse than 2005. The 2006 version worked perfectly and most if not all of the bugs were worked out of it.
I use it everyday for work. The trip times and mileage are accurate. And the MSN Virtual Earth feature is very cool and helpful for finding places. The information for points of interest, gas stations, restaurants and hotels are mostly accurate but they don't have many Hampton Inn hotels plotted in on the maps and those are the ones I usually stay at.
Overall, I am very satisfied with the program and I highly recommend Streets and Trips 2006.
Date: 2006-05-24
Useless release
I bought S&T 2002-5. After installing 2005, I immediately removed it and re-installed 2004. Microsoft had removed the numerical "set your speed" controls with some useless slow/ave/fast sliders??? Who felt that this step was an improvement. Map data in the 2005 was not improved either. Despite my personal submissions over 3 years of 12 seperate suggestions, none of the was implemented in S&T 2005.
When 2006 was issued, I bought it with the hope that I was buying an update...Another disappointment!! I have a built in GPS NAV suystem in my car and a Garmin 3600 GPS in my wife's car. All of the "improvements" seem to have been in adding bells & whistles to S&T's GPS mapping features. While I cannot speak personally as to how well this feature works, I have read other reviews here that seem to feel that it has many shortcomings as well. There are many smaller and better designed GPS NAV systems for cars that do not entail running my expensive (read easily stolen or damaged) laptop in my passenger seat. I can imagine that explaining to the police officer that you were distracted trying to read the screen and use the touchpad right before the accident is not going to gain you much sympathy.
The numerical "set your speed" funtion has not been returned. The road data hasn't been corrected in the Atlanta metro/suburban areas. The most obvious error is the failure to correct/update the "Find Nearby Places" data. It has more errors than an early Mets game.
I will continue to plod along with the last decent version of S&T, (the 2004 edition) and will not buy another until it has positive consumer reviews.
Date: 2006-05-16
Very useful tool, even if you have GPS already.
I have been using Yahoo map and Google map for long time. I also own a very good GPS (Garmin Nuvi 350). There is no much incentive for me to buy MS Stree & Trips. I bumped into a promotion deal to get the MS Street & Trips (the version without GPS) at a very low price. After playing with the MS Street & Trips for a month, I feel this tool is very useful. It's for sure better and faster than Yahoo map and Google map in all aspects. Once you use it, you will not going back to Yahoo map or Google map. It offer couple of print-out options that are handy and useful. I like its rich point-of-interest database. On the road, I rely on my Garmin Nuvi 350 GPS, but when I am in front of my computer, I sure can count on this Street & Trip software.
By the way, do not click "cancel" during installation. It's a lot of hassles to reinstall it if you ever hit "cancel" during the installation. I have to send email to Microsoft and talk to their life support to install this tool. But if you just let the installation process runs all the way through by itself, it's very easy to install. I will still gives this tool 5*.
Date: 2006-05-04
It's so frustrating and disappointing. Who signed off on this release?
I've used 2002, 2004, and now 2006. All things considered, 2006 is merely a slight improvement over 2004.
I miss the feature from 2004 and 2002 that alllowed you to estimate your travel speed on various types of highways. Now you have a slider that defaults to 'average' (whose average? I don't know) and you can tell the program you'll be going faster (how much faster? I don't know) or slower. In 2004, you could just tell it: I'll be going 80 on the interestate.
My disappointements are with the feature I was most looking forward to: the voice navigation.
1) Not LOUD ENOUGH. When I'm going 70, I can't hear the driving guidance over the sound of my tires on the road or the wind flying by my car. I know my laptop speakers are powerful enough to do the job. My music, which I can't turn on if I want to use voice navigation, is much louder than the voice in Streets & Trips.
2) When I drive under a bridge (and lose GPS signal for 0.25 seconds) I don't actually need the voice navigation to let me know out loud. After the 10th time on a long trip, I start to get annoyed. How about if I lose GPS signal for 5 seconds, then the software can tell me? Or better yet, let me set the time.
3) Use the voice feature to try to pronounce the road I'm turning onto. I know it won't always get it right, but it'll be close enough.
4) My voice navigation turns off, seemingly at random, while I'm driving.
5) The program locks up while I'm driving - often. Especially when I'm near a turn, which is exactly the wrong time.
6) When a new highway gets built parallel to an old abandoned highway that MS doesn't know is abandoned, and you find yourself driving along the new one, be prepared to be told repeatedly that you are 'off-route'. A smarter program would understand that if my car is travelling parallel to the old highway at 65 mph, I'm probably not actually off-roading. Put simply, 90% of the time, when Microsoft Streets and Trips is nagging me about being 'off-route', I am actually on the correct road, and the problem is that Microsoft's map doesn't know where the correct road is.
7) My laptop won't hibernate unless I remove my GPS first. This didn't seem to be a problem with older versions of Streets and Trips. I think it's because the voice navigation warning window that 'warns' me that the GPS antenna is gone interferes with my laptop's attempt to sleep.
It seems to me that Microsoft didn't road test this software at all. Or maybe they road tested it in a huge lab-on-wheels van with multiple technicians.
Date: 2006-04-30
You WILL be disappointed.
There are so many mistakes in this program, its not even funny. Use the map service from Google or Yahoo instead. You'll be happy you did.
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