Microsoft Streets & Trips with GPS Locator (2010) by Microsoft Software

Microsoft Streets & Trips with GPS Locator makes trip planning and navigating easy, so you can relax and drive with confidence--just plug the sleek, cordless GPS device into your laptop and go! Whether you are traveling across country or across town, Streets & Trips with GPS Locator has the easy-to-use tools to help you get there. Streets & Trips with GPS Locator requires no Internet connection and includes more than 1.7 million points of interest to choose from--plus additional listings that you can view when you're connected to the Web. The perfect trip is at your fingertips.


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
Click here to check price or purchase : Microsoft Streets & Trips with GPS Locator (2010)

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.