Product Description

Microsoft Autoroute Euro Gps 2007 Euro Only En

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #706 in Software
• Brand: Microsoft
• Model: C3Z-00008
• Released on: 2006-10-27
• Platform: Windows XP
• Dimensions: .0" h x .0" w x .0" l, .71 pounds

Features

• AutoRoute 2007 EN DVD Win32

Manufacturer's Description
Microsoft AutoRoute 2007 with GPS Locator combines AutoRoute 2007, the customizable trip planning software, with a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver. With advanced GPS features and voice-prompted directions, you'll always know exactly where your next turn is.

Customer Reviews

Pretty good value at £85 or less
This Microsoft Sat Nav has some very useful improvements on the previous versions, and offers good value compared to other SatNavs.

For example,

You CAN automatically re-route from your current location by clicking 1 button.

There is a Night Vision map style suited for driving in darkness

On your laptop you get a large (up to 17 inch) helicopter view of the places you are driving past, not a narrow and skewed 3.5 inch view.

The new SirfStarIII chip satellite link is much faster connecting up.

You can prompt for verbal instructions to be repeated.

Pushpins can be set to key junctions and roads for a precise routing if required - you are not stuck with the route the sat nav creates. You can move a pushpin and automatically re-route at any time.

The map styles may look similar to those on the internet but you don't need a live internet connection to make it work.

The auto-centre function is great, and you can choose for the map to stay geographically correct (North to South) or to always point ahead.

You can sit at your desk and check out various routes easily on the laptop before going to the car.

Yes it does have a couple of niggles - occasionally the road does not exactly match the satellite's expectations and it says "off route" for a hundred yards or so before re-linking. Also there is no user-defined time multiplier to allow for traffic conditions on certain routes or at rush hour (the time estimates can be optimistic at times).

Personally, I like using it, and feel I know the route better because my 17" screen shows me all the villages around, not just the road in front. Unlike other SatNavs, I've not heard of anyone being directed into a river or down non-existent roads.

For about £85 this is not a bad system.

Not comparable with Satnav. A waste of money.
This program was very disappointing. I bought it with high hopes that it would obviate the need for a Satnav unit. Sadly, I feel my money was wasted. The following comments are necessary:

1. The route planner itself worked reasonably well, but no better than the several free route planners available on the Internet.

2. The GPS Unit worked - it was probably not made by Microsoft. It accurately placed the unit on the map.

3. The most damning feature was the fact that when you venture off the planned route, the programm declared 'off route' repeatedly, but did nothing to help you get back on the route. Tom Tom and others automatically re-plan your route from the new location. Microsoft's version is useless. If you were driving, you would be completely stuck, as you would not be able to manually tell the program to do this.

4. Even when you stayed on the planned route, the program does not alert you in time of when to leave the motorway, etc. 300 yards is not sufficient warning when travelling at 70mph.

Amazon, I want my money back!

Unreliable, sporadically useless
The system works well - until you try to use it. I've had it suddenly stop recognising its GPS receiver almost every time I need it in earnest. And when it DOES see the receiver, the program crashes 200 metres down the highway - infuriating!

The GPS is found by the Device Manager, and talks to other software, but often A/R can't find it. This can be disastrous when a complex trip is meticulously planned and you find you suddenly have a map but no navigator.

If all the curses I have laid on this horrible system were to take effect, Microsoft would vanish in a greasy puff of sulphur.

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