DeLorme Earthmate GPS LT-40 2009

List Price: $69.99 Discount Price: $49.99

Features:

• Support for Ultra-Mobile Personal Computers (UMPCs) laptop PC, PDAs, and touchscreen phones
• USB-powered GPS receiver includes super-high sensitivity STMicroelectronics GPS chipset; DeLorme ConstantLock technology for superior signal retention in challenging GPS environments
• NavMode with optional 3-D perspective and larger, more accessible user controls
• Voice-guided navigation, automatic back-on-track, GPS Radar to locate travel services, and other top-end features
• Locate over 4 million places of interest; create routes automatically; calculate fuel usage and costs, and GPS-navigate with total confidence anywhere in the U.S. or Canada, and on major roads in Mexico

Customer Reviews:

Very poor program [Posted on 2008-07-07]
My Streets and Trips GPS receiver broke while on vacation and I'd thought I'd try a competing product. What a mistake. The maps were very clunky and often my car would not even be on the road, but way off to the side. Street names were often listed as "unknown," as in "turn left on unknown." The pronunciation was also poor, reading "three tengths of a mile," and similar hard to hear items. Places were also difficult to find if listed at all. Using Streets and Trips I could find the nearest subway station, gas station, museum...whatever. A very impressive list. When I could actually find something useful in this program, it took a long time, never while pulled over for a second.

The worst problem was the roads it wanted me to use. Always back roads, often 2 lanes with signal lights with a major freeway running parallel to it. Even using the "via" feature, the program couldn't plot an accurate route. I went back to using Streets and Trips without a GPS receiver, only as a route planner and had a much better experience. I would only occasionally use Earthmate to get a starting location to plug into Streets and Trips. If Earthmate had been my first GPS program I would've figured the technology wasn't ready yet and gone back to paper maps. It's that bad. The only positive thing is the GPS receiver is well built, unlike the MS product, which broke after about a year. And alas, I can't use the DeLorme GPS receiver with Streets and Trips as there is a driver issue. A very poor program not worth any amount of money.

CRAP [Posted on 2008-07-13]
My Streets and Trips GPS receiver broke and I was using a Garmin etrex with Franson emulator. We are taking a 10 day driving trip of Washington State and I'd thought I'd try a competing product. What a mistake. Street names were always listed as "unknown,"."THAT REALLY IS ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW.

Fortunatey I had STREETS AND TRIPS without a GPS receiver, I could only as a route planner from which we could create a written route. I can't use the DeLorme GPS receiver with Streets and Trips as there is a driver issue. A very poor program not worth any amount of money.

Unfortunately we are still in WASHINGTON STATE for 8 more days without a GPS routing system AND MY WIFE IS NOT HAPPY WITH ME.

Complicated and Requires a Lot of Time [Posted on 2008-07-14]
This software DOES NOT WORK AS ADVERTISED!!!!!!!!!! I have had the GPS receiver plugged in for over four hrs (outside with clear sky) and no connection and the mapping software cannot find simple address that Google and Map Quest find with no problem. I tried the advanced find and it gave me an address right up the road from my starting address (when it is actually about 75 miles).....this is a waste of valuable time!!!!!!!!! Their advert said "plug and play" which is not the case......This software will take days to figure out, if it works at all......every hr I spend with it raises the cost by $150 and I am not spending $1000 of dollars for it. They need to simplify it and make it smarter.... maybe hiring someone away from Google Maps might be the answer... Bottom line it is too complicated and requires a lot of time and effort to get up and running. I could see spending time to learn a software app if I could earn money using it. However, spending countless hrs with an app like this is waste of time......Easier to just go get a Garmin to help find your way.................

Much improved [Posted on 2008-07-14]
I had a Copilot Navigator 9.0 before but the GPS device died after one trip so I was looking for another one with updated map and new feature and this one was on sale for $50 so I thought I tried.

As stated, this new device was quick to acquire the signal unlike my old one which can take 15 mins to do that. So this one is really good and I love it. The map is 2009 I have the latest map data. The software took a while to adjust to as I was already used to the Copilot.

This product qualifies for free super saver shipping. I need it within a week so I upgraded the shipping to standard. Amazon shipped it from Memphis which is 2 hrs away from Little Rock and it took them 6 days to get here which is ridiculous. I do realize they said standard shipping take 3-5 business days but come on it's 2 hrs driving. I ordered stuff from newegg all the time and they shipped it from Memphis within 2 days. Amazon should learn from newegg.

Pros:
1. Quick to acquire signal (#1 reason to buy)
2. Map is updated (#2 reason to buy).
3. Software has a lot of features and customization.
4. Ability to download aerial image of location and impose it on the map which I think is neat. The software comes with free $40 of images you can download.
5. Ability to search of POIs. Several times we wanted to know where walmarts were or where shopping malls were and it found them for us from where we were.

Cons:
I mainly have the issues with the software. The device is working as advertise and I love its quickness to get the signal.
1. Point of Interests(POIs) - I like what Copilot navigator did on this. With Copilot navigator you can just tell it to display or not to display upcoming POIs, how far ahead you like to search, what kinds of POIs and it will automatically search for these POIs along the trip. So you only set it once and it will do that for every trip. With Earthmate you have to search them ahead before or during the trip every time and whenever there is a POI coming up it lets you know but instead of a display it has a red info bar on the map where you click on it for more information. With Copilot it displayed the POI on a pop up window for 10s with voice and then close it which is very convenient. I found at times that I had to click on the button with Earthmate to bring up more info on the POI which is troublesome when you drive.
2. I tested this new device & software on a trip to Dallas and for the most part it did a great job. Dallas has so many on going road/highway construction that it's impossible to get new the new road data. Some roads were closed but now opened. Twice we had to drive trace back to previous road since the software didn't know where we were. On one location it took us to a wrong place. We were looking for the Restland Cemetary in Garland and the address number must have been mixed up or something but the location took us to was way ahead of what it was. We ahd to drive several blocks to get to the correct place.
3. Voice navigation could be a little better.
4. The 3-D tracking view isn't as good my old Copilot. The road/street names aren't easily readable. The high contrast color which it says should help with daytime driving didn't really help much. My old Copilot was better. I used the 2-D view and it's better.

Overall I am satisfy with this and I look forward to another trip with it.

Works great, Even in the air - Worth the money! [Posted on 2008-07-19]
This baby gets the full five stars as it exceeded my expectations. First of all, using this in a car is possible but who really drives and uses a laptop at the same time? Get a nice hand held GPS if you need driving directions. I got the Delorme just in case as a backup to my portable GPS. I travel and cannot be without one while on the road. For $50 you can't beat this product and it is well worth the money. The main reason I chose this was to use when I am a passenger on a commercial aircraft (I like to track my position but not all airlines allow this). Most hand held GPS will not work while flying. This one does, and very well. It will show exact position, speed and altitude. For this purpose, the map need not be highly detailed. In addition, this is one of the few GPS to feature included Mexico maps. Overall, this is a great buy for those who want a PC-based GPS. The software has many more features than portable GPS receivers. If this sounds like what you are looking for, you can't go wrong with this.

Pros:
Works great, even on aircraft
Includes Mexico map
Low Cost
WAAS-enabled
NMEA-compliant 16-channel receiver
STMicroelectronics new high-sensitivity Teseo chipset
Proprietary Kalman filter for enhanced position accuracy
Maximum Velocity: 1000 knots
Works on XP or Vista
Software has many, many features


Cons:
Long time for satellite lock (Like all GPS but stays connected once locked)
PC-Based so portability is an issue. Hard to use in a vehicle
Maps not highly detailed

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