Review: Milebug - Mileage Log
by Jeff Noble
September 30, 2008
Overview
Milebug - Mileage Tracker is a nice little app that does one thing really well - keeps track of your mileage.
Functionality
Milebug has a very easy, user-intuitive setup. At the bottom of the main screen, you have three buttons:
Presets - This allows you to setup different A) the businesses that you use the most and B) the vehicles that you use the most. Under "Businesses" you will notice that you can add a business and designate its business type as Business, Charity, or Medical.
Trips - Allows you to create a trip to record your mileage. You will date the trip, specify what type of trip (selecting from your Presets or creating a new type), give your destination and purpose (you can save purposes as well for use with other trips!), designate what vehicle you used and then enter the odometer readings.
The odometer entry screen is rather fun, like a roulette wheel. Upon entering your mileage, MileBug automatically calculates what your legal business reimbursement for that mileage is (currently $0.585 cents a mile).
You can also add notes about the trip on the trip screen.
Reports - Allows you to email your travel reports, with a specified date range to your email address. You can filter the reports by business and also by vehicle!
Review
I was really impressed with the customization offered by MileBug. It does everything that I need it to do, and its features are excellent. However, the price of $2.99 seems a bit steep (and that's just an introductory price!) given that there are another dozen apps out there that purport to do similar things, and do it cheaper (most range in the $0.99 range).
One feature that this app lacks that I think would be an excellent addition is the ability to calculate MPG. I'd like to have another button at the bottom for gas fill-ups, where you enter your odometer at that point and have it calculate your MPG since the last fill up.
In addition, it would be perfect (and well worth the price) if the app also looked up the cheapest gas around your location for you.
Summary
While I know that all MileBug seeks to do is help you keep track of mileage (and it does that very well), I can't help but think it might get lost in the traffic of all of the other mileage and MPG apps out there if it doesn't offer more for its octane.
