Customer Reviews

DeLorme Street Atlas USA 2006 Plus (DVD)

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First off, its important to point out that DeLorme products are functional, accurate and offer comprehensive tools for what they do. What boggles my mind is that the company has continued to evolve their product using a near DOS-based interface. Nothing about Street Atlas USA is intuitive in the Windows sense of the word - there are no pulldown menus with familiar headings that might lead a user into a more logical sequence of tools or user options. Everything is laid out in the workspace with switches and overlapping options that are OFTEN difficult to grasp - frankly, aside from the lush graphics that are the maps, the rest of the program layout looks remarkably "1996". There has been no noticable innovation in user friendliness of the product in years, and apparently no movement to migrate the productline into the Windows (or Mac) realm. Its often as though the developers have advanced this product without ever looking at another software title...

Only buy this product if you want an awkward program. I have used Street Atlas from an early version. I bought the "Deluxe" version as soon as it came out. It's the precursor to SA2006. I test drove "Deluxe" for a couple of weeks and got VERY frustrated. In my area, the Deluxe maps were more outdated than good old SA8 - hard to believe but true. Functionality is VERY difficult. I run a laptop with GPS and find it too difficult to both drive and use the newest Street Atlas products. It needs too much "mousework".

My recommended solutions.
a) Get hold of an old SA8 or earlier version and check routes before you drive against maps.google.com
b) Use Microsoft's Streets&Trips. Much better search engine. MUCH easier to use (intuitive for all Windows users). Driving speed/distance seems more accurate. Routes are generally better. And as a bonus, the maps include Canada.

I chucked it and went back to 8.0. 2006 was the most confusing, junked up interface I'd ever seen.