Why should it require half an hour to 'read the manual'? That implies that the system is insufficiently intuitive. As is anything which is 'fiddly, but now works'......
Still, it will only improve with user feedback.
And WTF is 'route syntax'? Plain English please, not geekspeak!
Drop downs for time and date should be the norm - let the software translate that into ar$e-about-face flight plan date/times IF required.