Rating: 
Summary: Amusing, but not actually useful
Review: I just got back in the door from my first short trip around town trying to use the GPS navigation features. The voice is great - it does things like flip back and forth between north and southbound exits from the freeway, and tells you to turn on streets that are a block or two away. It also likes to tell you to turn on streets you've just passed. Without the voice features, it's not too bad. You just get a moving dot (or series of dots, actually) and you figure out where to turn yourself. Accuracy seems pretty reasonable for the GPS. I'm not very impressed by the accuracy of their maps, though - they don't seem to have figured out that there are streets/highways where you can't make turns in particular directions. The UI for Street Atlas is abysmal. Apparently, Delorme has never looked at any real Windows application. They ignore most of the standard conventions. There's not even a menu bar!
Rating: 
Summary: Delorme's Earthmate USB Accuracy Is Not As Advertised
Review: I purchased this product and installed it as directed. The advertising on the box claims "2-to-5-meter accuracy using included software." My results indicate the GPS location displayed on the Street Atlas map is anywhere from 100-to-500-meters off. In other words, relying on this GPS/software to navigate an unfamiliar area is unrealistic. It can't even reliably indicate which side of the Interstate the GPS is located on. I called Delorme support and spoke to two courteous individuals. Both agreed that my experience is typical and they'd gladly refund my money. They could do nothing, though, to provide me with an Earthmate solution that functioned as advertised.
Rating:
Summary: Another strikeout for Delorme software and hardware
Review: If you're the sort of person who gets excited about great mapping products (such as Street Atlas USA, Map'N Go, and other Delorme products for Windows 3.1 were a decade ago) you'll give the 2005 Street Atlas a yawn. It's the bottom of a down spiral in Delorme mapping software that's gradually driving customers away. Delorme's paper atlas products are still the best on the market. But if you want good software mapping I'd suggest you go somewhere else. 2005 version has a lot of bells and whistles to wow you, but 5 year old subdivisions still show as raw land. The only 'update' about this software is in the bells and whistles, so far as I'm able to make out.
As for the Earthmate usb, it might be great if you only want to run it with the mediocre Delorme street atlas software. However, if you run XP, or if you want to use it with some decent third-party software I'd suggest you look elsewhere for a GPS receiver to plug into your machine. The earlier version Earthmate receiver with batteries was tempermental, good for testing your patience and vocabulary in curse words. The new one never gets the chance to be tempermental because it simply won't work on an XP machine running software that's worth standing in line at a cash register for, carrying home and loading (or buying online).
I'm sorry to see Delorme coming to this. I've been a loyal supporter of their products for a long time. Today I think they should lock the doors and send everyone home for some meditation until they can get their priorities right.
Too bad.
Rating: 
Summary: Easy setup, quick start, but poor voice prompts/commands
Review: Pros
- Easy setup (on Windows 2000)
- Quick to acquire GPS signals
- Map database installs on hard disk. No CDs required after install
- No noticable memory leaks in software
- No slowdown after 8+ hours of tracking (without voice)
- Good price/performance ratio (not bad for the price) Cons
- Slows down with voice prompts/commands
- Does not easily recognize voice commands
- Hard to use while driving (not recommended for safety reasons)
- Not the most optimal routing, but easy to edit routes manually
- Tracks outside the road when map is zoomed in.
- Needs restaring the software to get GPS signal if laptop goes to standby mode. From what I have seen so far, I would recommend this product
Rating: 
Summary: This not your co-pilot, but it is a co-pilot's aid.
Review: The Earthmate USB GPS w/Street Atlas USA 2003 by Delorme Mapping is a great tool for the price. The usb GPS device that came with package works like a champ. It was easy to setup and use. It was able to pick up at least 4 satellites, when the view was not obstructed. There was only one place the device could not find the eyes in the sky and that was in a parking garage. It took 30-45 seconds for the GPS device to initiate. For the most part the software that came with this package was superb. Although it was not able to find any Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants in my area. The place where this package fell apart was in the voice navigation. Occasionally the software would direct me the wrong way, and it never automatically recalculated my path. If I passed an exit that I was suppose to take it never automatically suggested an alternate path. I had to pull over and manually make it calculate where I wanted to go. It never repeated the turns until you asked it to, there was no feature to automatically repeat what the system said. I have seen this feature on a car a friend rented once. The manufacturer recommends that there should be a co-pilot using this tool and not the driver. Trying to manipulate a laptop while driving can be hazardous. The speech recognition was good, but not great. It was nowhere close to Star Trek capabilities, but I was able to use it with limited frustration. If your car is noisy, then the voice commands will not be understood by the software. When my car was at a red light, completely stopped only then the system was able to understand my commands. I would recommend this to a friend, but not highly recommend it. This tool is not meant to be a co-pilot but will help your co-pilot navigate. For the price, it is a great tool.
Rating:
Summary: Not very good
Review: The GPS works great. The software is difficult to use, voice commands do not always work and if you make a wrong turn it does not recalculate. I would not recommend buying this product. Software has too many bugs.
Rating:
Summary: Not very good
Review: The GPS works great. The software is difficult to use, voice commands do not always work and if you make a wrong turn it does not recalculate. I would not recommend buying this product. Software has too many bugs.
Rating:
Summary: Buy something else
Review: The product itself is ok but the firm needs to stop treating their customers like garbage. The product says it works with PDAs but they don't include the software, they rob you for another 39.95 for it. You don't learn this till after you have installed the software that comes with the GPS. Additional software titles are available but they charge way too much for them. Their own software is limited in coverage depth and you have to jump through hoops to use another company's software. They also like to advertise components as coming soon of the Earthmate and then never deliver them. Everything is always pushed back to the point you doubt the promised components are every going arrive. Lastly Staples has this product for less money if you really insist on the Delorme GPS unit. But save yourself some trouble and skip this item.
Rating:
Summary: Great little receiver. Decent software. Great support
Review: The receiver unit is very small and great for travellers who may not always be in their own car. The software is basic, but I probably have too high expectations for map software. There is no problem using the product with other software as the unit comes with USB to serial drivers that allow you to output only NMEA data. The product still works just fine with the original software after that. I haven't tried the bluetooth power adapter but hope to get one next year if they are cheaper, then I can use it with my PDA. I think it is quite likely you can use it in Linux, but haven't tried. You'll just need to setup some kind of interface for the USB connectivity. My unit became defective only a few days after purchase, but Scott at DeLorme support was phenomenal and had a replacement shipped out that day.
Rating:
Summary: Great little receiver. Decent software. Great support
Review: The receiver unit is very small and great for travellers who may not always be in their own car. The software is basic, but I probably have too high expectations for map software. There is no problem using the product with other software as the unit comes with USB to serial drivers that allow you to output only NMEA data. The product still works just fine with the original software after that. I haven't tried the bluetooth power adapter but hope to get one next year if they are cheaper, then I can use it with my PDA. I think it is quite likely you can use it in Linux, but haven't tried. You'll just need to setup some kind of interface for the USB connectivity. My unit became defective only a few days after purchase, but Scott at DeLorme support was phenomenal and had a replacement shipped out that day.
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