Packing Pro Review

When I was told to review Packing it could not have come at a better time. I was set to go on a 10 day vacation in a week. This would give me an opportunity to test out and explore the latest Iphone travel application. I consider myself to be a very organized person. When I get ready for a trip I make a thorough list of all the items I need. I was excited to see whether Packing would streamline this process.

Upon startup you are greeted with a complex and somewhat confusing set of options. This is a symptom of how much is packed into the application. You are allowed to add a list from a template, from scratch, or from an expert. The user is also given the opportunity to view the items directly from the list in the catalog screen. Some users may find the menus and lists of options daunting.

I decided to build my list with an expert’s advice. I inputted the number of females and males in my party, the temperature of our destination, and advised that we were going to be staying domestically. I was presented with several checklists.

The first was a pre-departure checklist. This included items such as reserving your room and buying your airline tickets. There were a few items that I would not have considered such as unplugging appliances and giving an itinerary to friends. Unfortunately, some obvious issues were missed by my expert, like stopping your mail. Stopping your mail was listed on other lists but it was not added by my expert.

The clothing option really was not very helpful to me. It provided me with several options such as long pants and t-shirts. I understand the need for generalization of clothing items to suit all customers. However, this leads to a long list of things I really do not need. The vastness of the application becomes its own enemy.

For this program to work for me, I would need to create each list from scratch. Many things I needed such as contact solution or my portable dvd player were not on the list offered by my expert. The program does allow you to add these to your checklist. However, as I spun through menus and looked through options it occurred to me that it would probably be easier just to do this on paper.

The application shines by pointing out things you probably never thought of. The people who could really benefit from this software are individuals who are going on International trips. This program will recommend all sorts of valuable pre-departure and packing items that will make your trip go smoothly.

The software should also be useful for the frequent traveler. If you take a lot of trips to the same place then taking the time to make a customized list makes sense. If you desire packing software look no further, this application fits the bill. However, if you are like me you might find pen and paper faster.

The Good

Incredible customization

Vast library of packing and pre-departure suggestions

The Bad

Lists often have much more than you need

Sometimes requires more time and effort than pen and paper