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DELORME MAPPING Topo USA 5.0 ( Windows ) Get an entirely new perspective on terrain with this incredible travel & trailmarking tool! / DVD |  |
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| Product Reviews from Amazon.com (Rating System 1 to 5) |
| Review | Rating | Last Updated | Lost?
This is by far the best GPS mapping system I've used. Great detail, and Great features. | 5 | Today | not quite up to my expectations
Although pretty good for automobile use, I find it's not quite accurate to trust for backcountry hiking. almost identical to their "gazeteer" books. | 3 | Today | I like it very much indeed.
I love maps and this program is great fun and keeps me amused for hours - better than any computer game! It is very intuitive to use and the screen tips obviate the need for reading lengthy manuals.
It also is very functional and I use it for detailed holiday planning to the US from interstate routes right down to hiking trails. I like that you can actually determine the road speed when calculating what distances you can manage in a day, allowing you to take into consideration individual state speed limits, and, with hiking, trail conditions when determining who many miles you'll do per hour. I am also impressed that you can choose to use metric units, which I prefer.
Particularly the 3-d feature is useful when planning hiking trails, both to get an intuitive idea of elevation changes as well as whether the trail is going to be interesting. The maps print beautifully, both to image file as well as to paper, which enables me to make up my own little personalised holiday "road and trail atlas" and annotated hiking maps.
And whilst it is true that roads are sometimes wrong, I can only say that I have found a road on every single paper map and internet map of South Dakota (Mapquest, Live Local etc etc) which I know does not exist - hardly DeLorme's fault. If people bother to report these little local changes, instead of just complaining, then they can be corrected on published maps.
I can't comment on GPS compatibility as I don't use GPS.
All in all, this is a very affordable and functional option that, through the purchase of ADPs, also allows you to build up a quad library as you go along. | 5 | Today | lost w/delorme
Absolutely kaka for support unless you want to upgrade!!!!!!!
They have convinced me to upgrade a couple of times with different programs, but not this time. My $100 topo usa dvd is now a Frisbee.... Where's my dog.... Here fido .... catch.
| 1 | Today | Works for Me
I bought this software to plan bicycle routes and produce grade profiles. It does this well and was easy to learn. I run it on a year old laptop computer and the performance is satisfactory. | 5 | Today | Hikers - Look Elsewhere
I bought this software for producing detail maps and profiles for hiking. In short, I'm very dissapointed and have uninstalled the app. Why?
- the maps are outdated and inaccurate, many (well established) trails are missing or miss-routed.
- the software is unstable resulting in multiple crashes requiring TaskMan kills (try exporting a profile as a jpeg).
- the UI is awful. Simple tasks require you to hunt through multiple screens with poor (if any) results.
- the search functionality is next to useless. Try finding a lake by name in your local area...
- the on screen nav is cumbersome at best, resulting in magnification or pans that confound and frustrate. Where's the undo?
I've written Windows apps since the early 80's (Win v1.03). This one's what we call a dog.
| 1 | Today | For only the most advanced and patient users....
I bought this product to use with my Garmin etrex GPS unit. The website claims it is compatable, but it turns out it is not. I was unable to successfully navigate or use more than about 10% of the features, and I consider myself a moderate to advanced user. Another negitive thing about this program is the fact it comes with NO instruction manual! Tech support is a long distance call, available only during very limited hours. Finally, navigating around any map requires constant reloading which takes forever. I have a $3500 computer,as fast as they currently make them and I found myself waiting for images to load constantly. Do yourself a favor and try another program. | 1 | Today | Do Not Buy!
I would say I have average computer skills. I cannot make this program work as advertised. It is extreemly hard to find, view or print what you want. It is a waste of my time and my money. Save your self the trouble, do not buy this program. | 1 | Today | Hikers: read this review, ignore the others
Most of the people that have reviewed this software on Amazon simply bought the program for the wrong purpose or they simply don't know what they're talking about.
Topo USA is designed for hikers, plain and simple. Sure, there are other uses, and I'm not suggesting that fisherman, for example, or hunters wouldn't likewise find it useful. After all, those activities involve hiking, too.
Topo USA is certainly not designed to replace car navigation systems--don't even think that you can hook up your laptop and use this thing in busy traffic, it's not the right product. Get an in-dash system for that.
Topo USA is not for professional engineers designing new roads and bridges.
Topo USA is designed to show you trails that are out there, or to make your own, and it does that very well.
If you want something to map your trip to Washington, you would be better off with something else. If, on the other hand, you want to make maps from your hikes, or even to make maps *before* your hikes, this is a great product.
What Topo USA does better than anything else is to map data from your handheld GPS. The EarthMate isn't the best option for this. I use a Garmin eTrex Summit, myself, and the data I get is good enough to make online maps for my hiking web site, HikePA.com.
If you want something to help you map out your recreational hiking, this is it.
Read the other reviews here, and you'll find that the ones who give this negative remarks all want it to do something it's not designed to do. These are the same people who want to go off-roading with their yuppie SUV when they really need a Jeep :-)
Feel free to drop me a line if you have questions . . . | 5 | Today | Its Not That Bad
I bought this product after looking at Topo! and Microsoft Streets which I think it is signifcantly better than. I use it specifically for creating route maps with directions for long distance road cycling as I train people for charity rides. There are some limitations in the data sets, I found a few missing bike paths and such like, but the fact that you can draw these on as routable paths is great. You can't do this with Microsoft. I also love the fact that you get profiles and elevations etc.
Better printing options would be nice, but for road cycling - this is a great product. | 4 | Today |
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