I got the MS streets and trips 2005 GPS package recently on an excellent
rebate deal for $50.  It comes with the USB GPS module/receiver that seems
to work well despite its tiny size.  Definitely worth the money, but not
great.  I have been running it on a feeble old laptop that does not meet
system requirements for the program.  I am taking that into consideration
in my evaluation of the product.  It is pretty cool to be driving
along  and glance at the laptop and see the map with your highlighted
location moving along.  The drawbacks are those which I have seen in
previous versions of streets and trips.  Sometimes it puts you on roads
that don't exist, or the roads are not where they show on the map.  This
has gotten better and better over the years since I first started using S&T
back in 98.  The other main drawback I see is that it doesn't seem to be
able to correlate your location with the directions.  So If I have a route
planned and I am on direction that says stay on Main St. for 5 miles, It
will show my location on the map for that direction, but the directions
pane will not highlight the direction I am on, etc.  It would be great if
it could do that, and then you could see what the next direction will
be.  It would also be nice if it could track your time and update the time
you will reach your destination as you go slower and faster or get
lost.  It does have a nice feature to recalculate directions to a location
from your current gps location.

Edward

At 06:34 PM 10/24/2004, you wrote:
>I'm in the market for a USB GPS receiver and software bundle for my laptop..
>
>Anyone have any suggestions? I've been looking at Earthmate and the
>Microsoft/Pharos models..
>
>Chris