TopoUSA 5.0 (DVD)

Rating:
Summary: Poor Printing Options
Review: I found the software to be slow and have poor printing capabilities. I wanted digitized USGS 7.5' quads to print and use for offroad trips, but not with this software. Advancing to higher level of detail was slow and I had to go through each incremental increase. The largest map size for printing is 11x17 (I asked Delorme). You can select 2x2 or 3x3 mosiac prints, for manual assembly, but not what I wanted. I used the 30 money back guarantee.

Rating:
Summary: Poor Printing Options
Review: I found the software to be slow and have poor printing capabilities. I wanted digitized USGS 7.5' quads to print and use for offroad trips, but not with this software. Advancing to higher level of detail was slow and I had to go through each incremental increase. The largest map size for printing is 11x17 (I asked Delorme). You can select 2x2 or 3x3 mosiac prints, for manual assembly, but not what I wanted. I used the 30 money back guarantee.

Rating:
Summary: Totally Disappointed!
Review: I had TOPO v1.0 and was pretty well happy with it. I decided to upgrade to v5.0 (DVD disk) along with my new eTreck Legend C model only to discover that v5.0 does not support USB! How long has USB been around? Delorme still is using serial ports for all the uploading and downloading and I'm not only frustrated to find that I spent $90 dollars on this useless product, but very disapointed. TOPO v5.o does have some very good features and could be a very usefull program, but the developers have got to implement newer technology with the newer versions.

One would think that Delorme has a patch on thier website resolving this issue, but sadly no. The only alternative is to go out and buy a USB to serial adapter in order to get this thing to talk to each other. In other word's, it's kind of like buying a new Corvette only to find out you can drive it on a road with a speed limit of 15MPH...pointless.

I just really hope Delorme gets thier act together as the new GPS's are going to move to USB and the company is going to be washed away by newer technology and better competitor programs. Just my two cents...

Rating:
Summary: A Big Waste of Money
Review: I wanted a program to map trails for my off road trips. This program is so unwieldly it becomes a real labor to use it. I cannot copy map files to a floppy to give to my fellow travelers, the transfered files have no data. It is too cumbersome to use and unreliable. I cannot get any support from Delorme. Many of the advertised features simply do not work.

I am very disappointed in this program. I saw it work on a trip where my fellow traveler was using it. While it looked impressive at first, he was complaining about basically the same things I found when I bought it. I should have listened, but I was anxious for a map program. We'll have to use his on our next trip because I can't get mine to work. Let's hope we have a paper map so we don't get lost.

I'd recommend avoiding this program, too many bugs, too cumbersome to use.


Rating:
Summary: A real dissapointment
Review: The first thing I noticed was the lack of contrast on the screen. It was very difficult to pick up roads, trails or streams. Next, I began looking for change in elevation along a stream, and was stunned to find water moving uphill. After about 2 hours searching for a reason to keep it, I gave up and sent it back.

Rating:
Summary: A poor alternative
Review: This 21st Century is blessed with a lot of good topo software for the average backwoodsy person. I'd call the industry standard the USGS Topos on paper and digitized. If a product's as good as the USGS 7.5 minute topo provided through an all-right source, I'd call it good.

This one doesn't make the grade. I do some consulting work in erosion mitigation. Some of the folks I work for wanted to get an overlay of their streets and lots that could be provided to Delorme so they could get the five year old development onto the next upgrade of Street Atlas USA, which it wasn't on the 2005 version. So they bought this and asked me to perform the dread deed.

The mapping is mediocre, the functions are awkward and the Earthmate receiver is tempermental.

Give this one a miss, do some searches and you'll find a good receiver, good software, and support people who will actually give you a hand if you have problems. Delorme doesn't even provide email addresses so you can contact them outside the website. Makes you awfully easy to ignore.

Incidently, the Earthmate receiver isn't supported by Delorme for 3rd party software, which makes no sense, but there's a darned good reason they don't.

Rating:
Summary: Missing Too Much Information
Review: Within 5 minutes of trying to map my first route, I have already discovered a bridge that is missing from the map. This bridge was present in other versions of the program and I was hoping the data in the new version would be better than the old, not worse!