I lust for a factory in-dash navigation system, but in the meantime, I use a laptop loaded with Delorme Street Atlas 2005 and a generic GPS receiver I bought on eBay for $20. I've used a Delorme Earthmate, and it didn't work any better than the generic receiver. It's not the most convenient setup, since I have to rig the laptop to run in the car, but I was set up to do that, anyway, with an auto-desk doohickey that resides in the passenger seat, and a car power adapter for the computer. The receiver has a magnet that keeps it on the car roof, and the cord runs through the door seal. I've used this system for trips in unfamiliar towns and for long cross-country drives, and it's been great.

One "gee whiz" feature I like in the Street Atlas software is their "radar" function. Say that I'm on the road in an unfamiliar area and in the mood for pizza. I figure out where I'll be in 30 minutes or so, and set the map center to that area. Then I run the radar function to look for pizza restaurants within X miles of that location (the X is whatever you want it to be). I get a list of prospects, complete with phone numbers. I choose one, call them on the cell phone and place my order, and tell them I'll be in the pick it up. By clicking on that selection in the radar list, the program will automatically route me to that address as a stop on my route. I get my pizza and I'm back on the road in five minutes. This function works for just about any mapped feature: hotels, fast food, restaurants, hospitals, government buildings, etc.

One feature of Street Atlas that isn't too cool is their voice command function. You can supposedly tell the program "recenter map," "zoom out," and lots of other functions, but it just doesn't work, and wearing the required headset microphone is a PITA. I don't know why they bother to keep this feature.