Just completed a long trip

[Dr. Q]

I just completed a long trip, for which I used Trip Wizard to plan...82 days and 7,500 miles. Every stop was planned using trip Wizard and downloaded to my Rand McNally navigation system multiple times. All without a hitch... And to be sure, my plans and route changed numerous times, during the 3 months on the road.

While I have previously used the fuel stops feature, I did not use that feature on this trip, as I like to plan my fuel stops myself, based upon mileage and planned overnight stops and fueling stations. However, if used properly, the fuel stops will function as advertised.

I did export the route plan to my calendar, for the first time. I like that function, as it's easier to glance at the calendar than to pull up Trip Wizard to determine where I'll be in another week. I found the travel times to be fairly accurate, if you drag the start time to the proper time. From a practical perspective, it's easier for me to drag the start time to another time, than to input the start times into each planned stop.

The only real issue I have with Trip Wizard, is the "Pinned Date" issue. I did have a few hard-coded stops (Rally's) where the dates were not flexible and I had other reservations that were not flexible. For those, it would have been advantageous to be able to pin those dates in the stop. But, there are some advantages to having the software calculate the dates for you. Like readily knowing that you have to spend 3 extra days somewhere to arrive at your reserved destination on the proper date... So, if changed, I hope it's an optional change that can be turned on or off.

So finally, Trip Wizard is a good planning tool; it is NOT a navigation system and cannot route you around low underpasses or roads you shouldn't be on. Your navigation system will have to handle those tasks. For planning purposes, I drag the route to where I want to go or to avoid something, but my navigation system will do whatever it's gonna do, unless I use waypoints to lock in the route.

Sorry for the long post....just wanted to relay my recent experience with Trip Wizard...

[timjet]

RVTW is usually the only planning tool I use, it's great.
Concerning the date pinning issue, the developers are aware of it. This was posted a few weeks ago:
http://www.irv2.com/forums/f287/feat...ps-375252.html