dfine238 wrote:Flame On!...bought one last year and as long as you can use it without wrecking, it's great.

True enough. However, I have about 3 years experience with a in-dash Nav in my car, so if this can be run from my PDA in a rental, I think I can handle it.

for you amateur cartographers check out:
http://www.topografix.com/default.asp
http://www.mapcruzin.com/free_gis.htm
http://www.mapwindow.org/

Its not a bad bit of software but there is another one I use a lot more its CoPilot 9. I has more points of interests, roads, and some other stuff microsofts software doesnt. Its about the same price too.

Just as an FYI.

I bet since this is a "microsoft" compliant device (is that an oxymoron?)

it MIGHT even work with my wifi sniffer sw to put data points on the networks!
hee hee

tarnower wrote:I travel a lot for work, and often have to drive around unfamiliar cities in rented cars. I just ordered this, and hope to be able to run it from my Dell Axim. Where can I get one of the CF adapter cables you mention?

Use Froogle. Search for pharos pxt01.

TommyPappas wrote:
I am not 100% persuaded this is true. I found numerous references by Googling streets trips 2006 sirf star III. Maybe they were planning to offer a different receiver but decided to sell off their Pharos stocks first. Maybe they couldn't get it to work correctly.
Here's one from buygpsnow.com:
Globalsat Serial SiRF Star III GPS Receiver (BR-355) (Free NEW Arkon Mount) (Supports WAAS/EGNOS)

Note: the box shown on the front page reads NEW! Advanced GPS features - but doesn't specify what they are.

I have two retail boxes of S&T 2006, one came with a sirf II(iGPS360)receiver the later came with a sirfIII(GPS500)receiver. The markings on the two boxes are identical. The box with the sirf III chip was purchased about 4 months ago from a Costco returns seller in my local area. The two receivers (Pharos) appear identical also except of course for the part number and performance.

Ed

There is no GPS in this offer....beware and read carefully.

kavinmehta said:
Alright fellas i froogled it....it is available for $39.59 with free shipping at
http://www.atomicpark.com/xq/aspx/microsoft-streets-and-trips-2006/wt.mc_id.55/prodid.22308/buy.software/qx/productdetail.html

for the first time i have seen something that is more expensive on woot then anything out there....

cfBraille on Cookies wrote:
I've used Streets & Trips since 2004, and it's definitely been one of my favorite M$ products!

Favorite M$ product? Please clarify. Does it or does it not pull your hair while it abuses you?

edorfox wrote:

I have two retail boxes of S&T 2006, one came with a sirf II(iGPS360)receiver the later came with a sirfIII(GPS500)receiver. The markings on the two boxes are identical. The box with the sirf III chip was purchased about 4 months ago from a Costco returns seller in my local area. The two receivers (Pharos) appear identical also except of course for the part number and performance.Ed

Aha! Mystery solved. Thanks.

Woot! please tell us -does it do or does it don't have the SiRF Star III receiver!? If yes, I'll take it.

Please reply before midnight.

My first woot with my first card!!!! TY woot, maybe this will save me when im lost somewere with a laptop.

The Wootcast for this product. I could swear that the background music came from... an Atari 8-bit home computer??!?!

I want to clear up something on the re-routing. It WILL reroute you. It will not AUTOMATICALLY reroute you. There is a panel in the GPS task pane called "Recalculate route from current location to..." and there's a dropdown where you can select places from your route planner. Then you click the Go button or F3

I own this (got it at Christmas 2005) and just used it last weekend on a NY to IL drive. I love this software but agree with everyone that it's necessarily bulky since it uses a laptop. All the issues you imagine with a laptop are there. Even the rerouting, you need to either click the Go button or feel your way to the F3 key, there certainly could be a safety issue.

Like others, I hook it up to an inverter and usually sit it in my passenger's lap. One thing I haven't seen people mention is that I generally jack the laptop into the Aux jack on my car stereo. I play music using the laptop and dial the volume on the media player down so that the turn by turn voice directions are coming out of my speakers along with the music. Definitely would not hear the laptop with the volume I play the tunes at times!

Interesting to hear that 2007 has a better GPS; I've been very pleased with this product for a whole year. Consider the laptop ramifications, then pick it up if you're OK with those. I do wish it had a bluetooth GPS so I could use the GPS unit with my Palm when I'm walking. (note that the S&T software does NOT work with Palm OS)

stallion5 wrote:Do yourself a favor and get an actual GPS unit. I scored the Mio for under $200 and it rocks!

I love my Mio... dont know if you can still get them that cheap though.... I got mine for about $160 with instant savings and sale price at staples.... this was around xmas though.

got mine...

It's a hit or a miss... I will pass.

frebitz wrote:


You never heard of standby? My notebook battery will last over 48 hours on standby vs. 3-4 hours active.

Yes I'm not that dumb even though staying up all night looking at Woot makes me appear to be. In my case I am using an second hand (cheap) notebook computer. The battery is not good. Also, I was not recommending only giving alternate thoughts on the subject. It seems that everyone else has that in mind as well.

I think my biggest complaint is the amount of wires and hardware that we have to deal with during a trip. The second biggest is that the software tries to get me back on the interstate if I have to hop off due to running into very bad traffic. I can make it stop but have to pull over and change the initial setting.

The dedicated units may be just as bad but not owning one yet I don't have comments.

hey look! another gps product that won't work with a mac. sheeeeesh.

Looks good to me, but I'm a (dare I say it) Mac user...at least for laptop purposes. And since GPS doesn't do much good sitting still on my floor in my PC desktop, I can't pull the trigger...

But does anybody know of a Mac compatible GPS system???

They just don't keep Streets & Trips updated. For example they show restaurants that have been closed for 5 years.

MS Streets and Trips 2006 blows. I this package and it's incredibly stupid. If you go off the recommended routing it doesn't automatically reroute you.

And it always says I'm about 200 ft below sea level. My two Garmins are much better.

WindowPain wrote:I [bought] this package and it's incredibly stupid. If you go off the recommended routing it doesn't automatically reroute you.

If you choose to depart from the plotted route, S&T offers you the choice of either returning to the original route (default) or re-computing (F3).

I don't like software that doesn't offer me useful choices, so I wouldn't touch a Garmin.

Linux and all the open source os's come with the best tech support there is, in every language. user groups. given they arent ALL reliable, but if you are an intelligent person, you could find any answer to any problem in a reasonable amount of time.

nefariouslover wrote:

I'm really sick of this style of Linux comments.

I don't ask you of your linux product comes with tech support so don't ask me if my m$ product comes free on linux.

Linux snobbery is one of the things that keeps me from even considering switching over.

jturnage wrote:Favorite M$ product? Please clarify. Does it or does it not pull your hair while it abuses you?

I thought I was on the woot website, but this comment made me think I was on my Slashdot tab...M$ is teh suxxors lol!1!!!1eleven
When will you people learn that both sides have their place? (queue "M$ software's place is in the trash" comments from *nix fanboys)

I'm still not sold on the GPS unit though. I'd have to buy an adapter for my iPaq. At that point it's not so great of a deal.

ausbun wrote:Does this work with Linux?

Yep. The PL2023 USB-serial driver will run it, and then it's nothing more than another serial GPS doohickey putting out NMEA data.

Great product at a great price, paid about $100 last year for it.

It has always worked well for me and I use it all the time as I am a district sales manager covering three states. The voice does give you upcoming turns when hooked to your laptop and to all of those who say it won't redirect you, all you have to do is hit the f3 button when you are off route and it will reroute you. You can also put in options such as avoiding toll roads, expressways, etc. Much cheaper than the traditional GPS systems (Garmin / Tom Tom) and just as easy to use. The only drawback is you have to have your laptop on and running so you will want a small power inverter, I have a Black and Decker 450 watt that does the job nicely. It's never frozen up on me as some have reports (hardware issue likely), or sent me to the wrong place, the closest that has happened is the address may be 50 yards off.

TommyPappas wrote:
If you choose to depart from the plotted route, S&T offers you the choice of either returning to the original route (default) or re-computing (F3).

I don't like software that doesn't offer me useful choices, so I wouldn't touch a Garmin.

just curious - what would you like it to tell you?

rayn wrote:
just curious - what would you like it to tell you?

Sorry, but I don't know what you're asking. As I said, I'd rather be able to choose what the software should do if I get off-route than having one alternative forced on me.

Some find the Garmin approach appealing. I find it dictatorial.

(The price/performance differential should be self-evident.)

TommyPappas wrote:
Sorry, but I don't know what you're asking. As I said, I'd rather be able to choose what the software should do if I get off-route than having one alternative forced on me.

Some find the Garmin approach appealing. I find it dictatorial.

(The price/performance differential should be self-evident.)

well, you enter a destination, follow the route, and at some point you decide you want to veer off course - what kind of options would you like the software to give you at that point? I could think of any number of reasons that you might want to not follow the original course (stop to see uncle harry, road temporarily closed, hungry and adventurous, really like the looks of that blonde in the car ahead, etc.).
other than getting you back on your course or recalc'ing, I'd think you would have to re-enter your plans

I have been using this particular software with the GPS for the past 3 years for business and for personal trips. Our company purchases the upgrade each year for around $30. I use this with my laptop in my truck and love it. I have traveled all over the U.S. with it and found it to be very accurate. I even used it in Canada to keep up with my speed since they use kilometers. It was much easier to watch it in the KPH mode than to try and keep up with it on my speedometer. I am very pleased with it. The price was excellent on Woot and I purchased a couple for gifts this time around.

whiteboy77 wrote:I have been using this particular software with the GPS for the past 3 years for business and for personal trips. Our company purchases the upgrade each year for around $30. I use this with my laptop in my truck and love it. I have traveled all over the U.S. with it and found it to be very accurate. I even used it in Canada to keep up with my speed since they use kilometers. It was much easier to watch it in the KPH mode than to try and keep up with it on my speedometer. I am very pleased with it. The price was excellent on Woot and I purchased a couple for gifts this time around.

Where do you get the upgrade?

tlopinski wrote:

Streets and trips is by far the greatest map program out there - its super easy to use if you're not a complete moron. and by complete moron, i mean knowing the difference between Main St EAST and Main St WEST.

I am actually a pro when it comes to software/computers. I can handle many softwares that are not "user-friendly". This software does not have the features to handle what I am looking for. It got me lost because it said I was going correctly, and then all of a sudden, it says "Wrong Turn" when I was on the highway. I didn't make an moves. And also, when I want to find restaurants, it will only find the ones in a circle radius. I want it to find restaurants on my route, not in a circle radius. I don't want to drive deep into many streets because it will be too hard to get back onto the highway. And I don't have that much time to click many many buttons and wait for it to load, and see whether the restaurants are in my route or already behind me. That is why this is a really bad software in my opinion. I guess it can be good just for knowing where you are. Don't count on directions or finding fast food in the area. Just my 2 cents.

mockamonkey wrote:

I am actually a pro when it comes to software/computers. I can handle many softwares that are not "user-friendly". This software does not have the features to handle what I am looking for. It got me lost because it said I was going correctly, and then all of a sudden, it says "Wrong Turn" when I was on the highway. I didn't make an moves. And also, when I want to find restaurants, it will only find the ones in a circle radius. I want it to find restaurants on my route, not in a circle radius. I don't want to drive deep into many streets because it will be too hard to get back onto the highway. And I don't have that much time to click many many buttons and wait for it to load, and see whether the restaurants are in my route or already behind me. That is why this is a really bad software in my opinion. I guess it can be good just for knowing where you are. Don't count on directions or finding fast food in the area. Just my 2 cents.

an aquaintance, who also claims to be a computer wiz, was experiencing that same "wrong turn" scenario - until I took a ride with him in his car.
I couldn't believe my eyes - he had fastened the wire coming from the GPS unit to his dashboard, but there was enough of the cable left between the tiedown and the actual unit, so that whenever he made a fast turn, the pickup would slide across the dash and re-orient itself along the way (remember - it's travelling in an arc)
took me 10 minutes to explain to him that every time that happened, the unit was now picking up a signal that was as much as 90 degrees off the previous heading

rayn wrote:

an aquaintance, who also claims to be a computer wiz, was experiencing that same "wrong turn" scenario - until I took a ride with him in his car.
I couldn't believe my eyes - he had fastened the wire coming from the GPS unit to his dashboard, but there was enough of the cable left between the tiedown and the actual unit, so that whenever he made a fast turn, the pickup would slide across the dash and re-orient itself along the way (remember - it's travelling in an arc)
took me 10 minutes to explain to him that every time that happened, the unit was now picking up a signal that was as much as 90 degrees off the previous heading

Nope, it was in the same place the whole time. At the place where I was driving, there were no more than 6 satellite signals picked up at a time for over 3 hours.

nefariouslover wrote:

I'm really sick of this style of Linux comments.

I don't ask you of your linux product comes with tech support so don't ask me if my m$ product comes free on linux.

Linux snobbery is one of the things that keeps me from even considering switching over.

Using working software is my reason not to switch to linux. Linux snobs don't phase me.

Stearic wrote:Are you on crack man? it says "with gps". The link you linked to the box doesn't say "with gps". Think before you post next time moron.

I think what guilty means when he says "this offer" is the atomicpark one, not the woot offer...

[quote user="Yankees368"]WOOT!

Arrghhhhh! Why didn't I check the prices myself?! http://www.atomicpark.com/xq/aspx/microsoft-streets-and-trips-2006/wt.mc_id.55/prodid.22308/buy.software/qx/productdetail.html

$40

frebitz wrote:

Check out GPSnow.com for background info galore.

I don't see any 3rd party software on GPSnow.com

sixgun wrote:[quote user="Yankees368"]WOOT!

Arrghhhhh! Why didn't I check the prices myself?! http://www.atomicpark.com/xq/aspx/microsoft-streets-and-trips-2006/wt.mc_id.55/prodid.22308/buy.software/qx/productdetail.html

$40

The product link you posted is for just the software, not including the GPS hardware.
Perhaps it is time to buy those new bifocals.

im lost right now. will this offer life direction advice?

tjhurt wrote:im lost right now. will this offer life direction advice?

Yes, mount the GPS unit to your head and input where you want to go in life.