Rand Mcnally Street Finder (Palm And Pocket PC)

Rating:
Summary: Big Mistake - Poor functionality, inaccurate
Review: Caveat Emptor - Buyer Beware! I regularly rely on Internet mapping programs (e.g., MapQuest, Yahoo Maps) and thought a personal computer based PC to PAD mapping tool would allow easy interface between address book locations (throughout the USA) and surrounding points of interest and other business locations. The write-up for Rand McNally StreetFinder looked like a perfect fit . . . and if the software actually worked as advertised, it would have been. Unfortunately, from initial problems with installation, through dozens of common address locations that the software could not find or map, to partial downloads to my Tero 600 - this is one of the poorest software investments I have ever made. Save your money and stick with downloading maps from the Web.

Rating:
Summary: Pure Junk
Review: Ditto to the other reviews. Misleading packaging. This is a worthless program that takes forever to load.

Rating:
Summary: Don't By This!!! Streets and Trips is vastly better-
Review: I bought this as an add on to my Tungsten E, what a mistake. I already own Streets and Trips from MS and use it instead of Yahoo or Mapquest. Streets, how ever does not load to Palm devices. This program is terrible. The user interface is crap. In trip planning for example, there is a time estimates, but there's no profiles for freeways v. side roads. Also you can't plan a trip based on start times, a handy feature for long trips. Stops can be added as appointments, and it routes you to your stops, but you don't know how long it might take to get there. It also has no calculated road expense. Like entering the cost of the gas and your mileage and then getting a trip profile that shows you how long and how much you can plan to spend on your trip. Simple stuff like that.

The Concierge feature, which is supposed to tell you about places to eat and such works OK, but it's not very flexible. For example, if you want to eat in a particular neighborhood it defaults to the whole town.

All in all this was a huge waste of money. If you want mapping software get Streets and Trips and print the maps you need. This one is garbage.


Rating:
Summary: Buyer Beware
Review: The packaging of this product seems delibertly designed to confuse the buyer. The product suggests that it can generate directions -- what it doesn't mention is that you have to go back to your computer each time to do so. You might as well use MapQuest! Other mapping products like Mapopolis and Tom Tom can actually do this. I finally decided to buy Mapopolis because it doesn't require a Tungsten T3 like Tom Tom (it doesn't even work on the T2 or Clie units) and have been happy with my purchase. It's a shame you can't return software, because I would love to send Rand McNally back ...