Hello all,
I am planning on a road trip to NYC from Toronto and have recieved a best route from family. I have plotted it using Microsoft Streets and Trips 2009 using route stops. Also install the hotkey (AMAZING!). Got my RAM mount and installed and ready to go.

I want to ask the experienced out there if there is anything I need to be aware of or anything that would make me feel confident that the route I plotted will not have any surprises for me?

Thanks everyone!

agent

Just make sure you keep your eyes on the road ahead, not that pretty laptop screen. That will help avoid bad surprises.

...ken...

Thanks Ken.
I will definitely keep that in mind!

Agent,

If you are like me and pretty visual, you may try the "mouse buttons for spoken instructions" feature of S&T Keys. I am using it myself to avoid looking at my big laptop screen (turning the head) very often on long travel (highway and so on). This allows to drive mostly with voice feedback as requested (using a single ear earphone if needed), controlled with a touch of a mouse button (that you put near you in a strategic location so you don't need to look at it to use it). The purpose is to keep the eye on the road most of the time which is still difficult for me (i am often trying to look at the screen. So voice guidance can allow to close the screen when not in critical city driving)... With this feature, you may ask anytime S&T to give you how many km are there till the next turn without using/touching/looking at your laptop at all...

See instructions of S&T Keys 2009 (link in my signature) about it and also the link on an experiment i have done with it...

Good travelling

Ironically, GPS navigation can be less distracting when the computer is dash-mounted. Even though the center console is closer to the driver than a low-mount or a side-mount, this also allows you to glance at the screen much more quickly, almost like glancing at your speedometer.

Information like distance to next turn doesn't even require you to take your eyes off the road, since the map is now within your peripheral vision.

Thanks for the feedback. I do have the mount positioned so that my netbook is centre mounted. A quick glance is all I need like looking at the speedometer. I do find that a headset is needed because the volume on the netbook is just not loud enough to hear the navigation. I will need to remember the hotkey commands so that I don't fool around with the laptop too much trying to do what I want it to show me. Since I will have the laptop plugged in, I turned off the screen saver. I think I'm set.

Thanks again for the responses. If you have anymore, keep em coming.