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 - Need for Street NamesMicrosoft Street & Trips 2008 GPS with Connected Services It would be extremely helpful if the spoken directions also included the street name as displayed in the written directions. Some other GPS software already includes this feature. Otherwise the software worked as promised. We are very pleased with the product. Rating:  - Just not a very good productNot only am I a gadget addict, I have a GPS jones as well. It all started with a Magellan RoadMate, then a Magellan Maestro 4040, then a Verizon Navigator on my LG VX 9900 cell phone, then Microsoft Street & Trips 2007 GPS, on to S&T 2008 with Connected Services, and on to a Tom Tom, and lastly to a DeLorme Earthmate GPS BT-20 for my Gateway laptop with a 17" screen. For quick and easy across town, Navigator is a good bet. I've got the phone with me most always anyway, so it is very easy to use it for short trips. For long trips, DeLorme is hands-down my favorite. For one thing, the maps are ACCURATE. Not so with the Microsoft product. When you zoom down very close to the weeds with Microsoft, the streets flat disappear! My Maryland house, my mother's Connecticut house, my sister-in-law's in Georgia, all are not on the Microsoft maps. S&T brings me close, sort of in the vicinity, a street or two away, then says brightly, "You've arrived!" This is OK when going to my own house, of course (what better way to test a map than see if it can find a place you already know); however, if it can't find your house, how can you rely on S&T to find somebody else's? The other real drawback of Microsoft S&T, though mapping inaccuracies are big problems, is its GPS device. The S&T software fails to detect it too often to make it practical. I have tried resetting it numerous times, but the button is extremely small, and difficult to get to. Plus the device has to be plugged into three cord/adapters which makes it seem very slapdash, thrown together who cares about the customer fashion. I like the Magellan Maestro, for longer trips when I'm travelling alone, but when I have a "co-pilot" using a strong mapping program combined with a solid GPS device and a (comparatively) big laptop screen and fat memory I really prefer the DeLorme Earthmate product. Rating:  - Not HappyOn a two thousand mile trip I was not once able to use the Connected Services. Basically I would say it is worthless. Rating:  - Mixed bagI've had S&T connected for about a week now and will probably keep it. Til now I've been using DeLorme software, which I like a lot but it doesn't have the connected features I wanted to try. The downsides to S&T: 1. I bought it for use on a car computer installed in my vehicle. It's probably not up to the task but is easier to use than DeLorme. One major drawback for S&T is that DeLorme has voice input which makes for a nice hands off experience. So far S&T is easier to use, has a better display but is distracting if I have to use the mouse. 2. So far it's on a par with DeLorme for accuracy of maps. However, DeLorme provides regular updates (for a year) but Microsoft does not. Doesn't seem fair for Microsoft to aske for error reports when the only benefit to the customer is to get fixes when they buy the next version. Shame on you Microsoft! See if you get any error reports from me! 3. Connected services seems to work fine. Two major drawbacks though. Services are very limited. Here in Oregon only the Portland area is covered. If I go south to California I have over 600 miles of uncovered area! At least DeLorme has good coverage on services across the country, albeit not real time. Second is price. First year is free, but after that you pay; I'm not sure it's worth it. 4. I'm concerned about more than just the map updates. What about 2009? Will I have to buy the connected version to retain those services? Does that mean I have to pay for another GPS and connected device? You've really got to do better Microsoft on cleaning up your upgrade path for this product Microsoft or I won't be buying it again. 5. The GPS device and connected services weren't easy to install. Connected took more work than was necessary for this device. GPS was a royal pain. I'm an old hand system administrator and did all my tricks to get it working. You would think with S&T being Microsofts product, the hardware being Microsoft, and the operating system Microsoft's as well it would be a snap. DeLorme took a little work to get a 3rd party Bluetooth GPS to work (which is potentially a riskier proposition). Ironically the 3rd party GPS worked fine on S&T and it took hours playing with drivers to find the problem. Not very positive Microsoft! 6. S&T has crashed twice now. DeLorme never gave me a problem in over a year. 7. The install offered to create a link to Outlook, which would be a really nice feature. Unfortunately this part of the install failed. It gave instructions on where to find more information but I've been unable yet to find them. The positives? Easier to use than others. Connected services has huge potential. Support responded fairly quickly. (However, by the time they responded I had already gone through most of the steps and fixed the problem. Their suggestions were not for the faint hearted and were the right steps to take. Unfortunately, the problem was one that would have taken them another step to find. I know what the problem is, but I'm not telling them! When they give me updates during the life of the product I will!) Bottom line - better than before, still not a threat to Garmin. Rating: - No Updates.This product is amazing for the price ($150): the features that it has and the fact that it turns your laptop into a GPS map with a very large screen. The GPS locater is extremely accurate. I did not find the software features intuitive but they worked well once I figured them out. However, the mapping software(ie names of streets) was not up to date and I discovered to my distress that it is not updatable until the next version (2009) is released. Microsoft has this in common with several other GPS mapping hardware and software systems. I returned it to Microsoft.
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