Delorme Topo North America 9.0

[dzzz]

This new version has been out for a week or two. I received mine yesterday. $80 retail for the program plus five regional dvds. Then an optional $30/year for for unlimited downloads of :

- High-Resolution U.S. color aerial imagery
- USGS 1:24,000 topographic quads
- 1:50,000 Natural Resources Canada topographic map sheets
- NOAA nautical charts

So tons of data for explorers. I like other programs better for regular street navigation -like Garmin's PC program.

 

[gahi]

where did you buy it from? it came with the regional dvds?

 

[dzzz]

Sorry, the version for the PN handhelds has the disks. I don't know what comes in the box for Windows only.
There's a bundle of topo 9.0 and the PN40 for about $220, which is a good deal.
I think the windows only version comes with some credits to download more detailed topos and photos. As usual with delorme it's a bit confusing.

 

[85CUCV]

I'm starting to feel techno impaired. I just received my PN60wse yesterday. I'm currently trying to unravel Delorme North America Topo 9. Looks like it will do alot. Big jump from my Garmin GPSV.

 

[crusader]

Is 9.0 more user-friendly than 8.0? Almost NOTHING is intuitive on 8.0.

 

[sds]

I just bought 9.0 software only (no PN) and it does include the regional disks. $40 download credit was included as well. Google shopped for the lowest current price and found it for $79.99 w/ free shipping.

Currently using it on a Win 7 Asus T91MT touchscreen netbook with a Globasat BU-353 usb receiver.

I'm not an expert user and I have no experience with previous versions so I'll not attempt a real review. But here are some of my noob thoughts...

So far I like it. I haven't finished the vehicle mount for the netbook so no serious trail time yet. I have had it out on a couple of short runs just to start the learning curve.

I found it a bit clunky at first until I learned which tabs and menus I could live without in order to get the most from the little 8.9" screen. I wish it had a 'full screen' mode that would eliminate all tabs, menus and frames. It does have a 'netbook' mode that allows you to hide the lower tabs but I find it easier to just minimize the tabs by dragging the little divider to the bottom of the screen.

I've downloaded some of the USGS quads and used them to draw in some roads/trails that do not appear on the Delorme maps. Drawing in navigable roads seems easy enough, although I have not used other software packages for comparison. I prefer the Delorme maps over the USGS quads for driving as the quads are not as clean and clear. It is handy to have the quad available for reference and drawing in missing data, though.

I have not found a quick way to drop a waypoint yet. I'd love to have a one touch solution for that to mark things on the fly. It would be doubly good to have a voice command for that, too. The voice command seems to work well so far, but the only really useful ones for me so far are zoom and pan.

Well there's my first two cents. I look forward to hearing and learning more from more experienced users here.


Later all,

Dave

 

[AxeAngel]

Any free places to download maps? Only sites I know of are garmin compatible and not DeLorme.

Running DeLorme Topo, Delorme Street Atlas, GarminRoute, GlobalSat BU-353 on a dedicated laptop.

-Sam

 

[Mamontof]

Is 9.0 more user-friendly than 8.0? Almost NOTHING is intuitive on 8.0.

My question the same , where a difference between them ?:Wow1:

I use 8.0 , work really good

 

[crusader]

I found it a bit clunky at first until I learned which tabs and menus I could live without in order to get the most from the little 8.9" screen. I wish it had a 'full screen' mode that would eliminate all tabs, menus and frames.

Don't know about 9.0, but in 8.0 you can deselect "show tab area panel" and "show control panel" in the "options" button on the top of the page to eliminate the display of those areas, increasing your map area.

 

[sds]

Don't know about 9.0, but in 8.0 you can deselect "show tab area panel" and "show control panel" in the "options" button on the top of the page to eliminate the display of those areas, increasing your map area.

Yep. Same option is available in 9.0. After initial setup one of the first things I did was hide the tabs (lower) and control panel. And unless I'm using the menus a lot I keep the top toolbar cleared of all controls as well. If I could get rid of the actual Windows frame I'd be a happy camper.

So far I think 99% of what I'll need to do in the truck can be accomplished with voice or touch commands. Those will cover zoom, pan and route commands. I still have not found a quick way to drop a waypoint, but with a right click (touch and hold) and a couple of clicks I can drop a notation and come back for editing later.

More involved editing of routes, roads etc will likely be handled while out of the vehicle.

Also, an update to my initial post and comments about the USGS quads I downloaded from Delorme; I used the rest of my download credit for the eastern portion of the Ouachita National Forest here in Arkansas. I am now seriously liking the topo quads on this thing.

The first quads I had tried were for a nearby WMA and didn't seem to be of high quality. It could be that since I was using them to add some missing route-able roads that I was just zoomed in ridiculously close and the raster image quality didn't hold up when compared to Delorme's clean scaling vector maps. Under normal use at less extreme zoom levels the scanned quads work just fine.

The quads for the NF are impressive. I'll definitely be using them.


Dave

 

[old_man]

I just picked up 9.0 today. I will be doing a lot of investigation on adding maps as well. Without loading any supplimental maps, I am not impressed with the resolution of the maps.

 

[SFROMAN]

Question about delorme 9.0

Is this type of map like having google earth?

Being an ARMY guy I am more accustomed to using paper maps but I have been messing around with google earth and I kind of like the idea of having digital map with me at all time.

When you purchase Delorme 9.0 is it in cd form or is it a file you download?


Thanks
DEL

 

[deserteagle56]

Topo comes as multiple DVDs, each covering a different part of the country and Canada. You can then load the region you are interested in from the DVD onto an SD card and plug that into your Delorme GPS unit.