Windows Phone Thoughts: Are We There Yet? - PowerLOC's Destinator 3 (v3.0.04) Reviewed

Gotchas
At the risk of beating these issues to death, here's a recap:

• Occasional tendency to overuse circuitous back road routes;
• Isolated case of illogical routing.

Where To Buy
Destinator 3 can be downloaded for $199, which includes the software and US/Canadian maps. [Affiliate] Maps of Europe are also available.

Specifications
According to PowerLOC, Destinator 3 is compatible with most Pocket PCs, including older models such as the Cassiopeia E-125 and early Jornadas. It supports GPS receivers that can connect to your Pocket PC through the serial port, the CF card slot or via Bluetooth and are compatible with the common NMEA and SiRF protocols. Installation requires approximately 4 MB of storage space, not including maps.

Conclusions
As with previous versions, Destinator 3 is an impressive piece of navigation software, very capable and very powerful. The latest version provides a much improved interface and such useful new features as multiple waypoints and the “avoid roads” functionality. The only thing that keeps it from being “nearly perfect” is the “tour of the back roads” routing issue that occasionally surfaces. But in most cases, the routes are great. When you’re traveling, the customized routes that Destinator provides will make your trip much more enjoyable and far less stressful. And with the kids in the back seat screaming “Are we there yet? Are we there yet?”, a little less stress is a welcome thing.

UPDATE (03-29-2004): The folks from PowerLOC were concerned about the routing issues that I reported in my review, and they supplied me with an updated version of Destinator 3 which they felt would address my concerns.

The update was quite successful... the little routing glitch that took me off of my main highway path was corrected, and the tendency for side road routes to become overly complicated was reduced. Overall, the fine tuning in this version was evident, and addressed any reservations that I had about the product. I can now give it my full endorsement.