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Thread: A new player in town

  1. #11
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Location
    Central, Maine
    Posts
    604

    Exclamation Update....

    I seemed to have resolved the waypoint issue and acquiring satellites. I intend to give it a little workout this weekend so I'll know more about performance later. Thanks to the Delorme forums, the Delorme moderators and the users there, many issues are readily solved. The Delorme maps are what drew me to this gpsr and if the unit works effectively then it's well worth the investment.

  2. #12
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Location
    Carrabassett Valley, Maine
    Posts
    12

    Default

    Overall I've continued to be really happy with my PN-20. The aerial photos are great and they've saved my butt a few times. I've gotten used to a few of the functions I originally thought were not very intuitive. Someone mentioned hearing it was slow. That could have come from my PN20 review. It continues to be slow when you ask it to do a ton of things at once. For example today I had the tracklog set to record a position once every second, I was also asking it to navigate to a geocache and follow a route, and was panning the aerial photo of the area... doing all of that at once made the button response time a little slow.

    The Topo USA software takes some getting used to, but now that I know where things are and the power of the function I'm really happy with what I can do. I've got one file saved called "geocaching". In one layer are all the caches that I've ever found. In another layer I have caches that I soon plan to work on. I also have all of the tracklogs from each geocaching trip saved into that file that I can turn on or off, etc.

    At first I thought the Topo USA software was too complicated and overkill... but now I've come to appreciate it more and more.

    It sounds like there should be another firmware update coming out soon which will address a few more issues discovered.

    The reception is generally very, very good. Not as fast as my 60CSx, but quite fast including getting reception in my house. However once in awhile I can be standing out in the open and it will just randomly drop all satellites. I've only seen it happen a couple of times... and each time I was asking it to do tons at once (like following a route while recording a track every second). Overall I'm pretty pleased with it.

  3. #13
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Location
    Gainesville, Georgia
    Posts
    3,893

    Default

    It's good to hear about some of the new GPS's out there especially from someone who does exactly that and that is reviews. Hope we can get more of this type of input from you more often. Thanks Haffy
    Just smile it won't crack your face

    The statistics on sanity are that one out of every four persons is
    suffering from some sort of mental illness. Think of your three best
    friends -- if they're okay, then it's you.

  4. #14
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Location
    Central, Maine
    Posts
    604

    Default Delorme PN-20

    The new firmware update is out for the PN-20 and initially it appears to have addressed many issues and suggestions users of the gpsr have confided to Delorme. Following is a list of issues addressed according to a post in the Delorme forum.

    Map Updates:
    • Draw objects created in Topo 6 through the Draw tab will appear correctly on the PN-20 when cut into a detailed Topo 6 map and transferred to the PN-20. This includes point, line, and polygon objects. Text and Mapnote objects will be addressed in future updates.
    • When imagery is available on the device, the Map Page menu provides a top level option to toggle imagery on and off. This option will use the current layering settings and will display or not display imagery.
    • The Map Setup… option in the Map Page menu is more accessible. It can be selected with two or three total button clicks.
    • There are now three options for viewing the scale bar in the Map Page:
    o Scale Bar as previously defined showing a bar with a distance
    o The standard DeLorme Data Zoom as used in Topo 6
    o Scale ratio, i.e. 1:48000
    • When manually panning the map, the Sun/Moon Page and the Tides Page will us the current location of the map cursor.

    Compass Updates
    • In the Compass Page, when navigating against a Direct Route, the compass arrow will default to point directly to the next waypoint in the route.
    o An option is available to allow the compass arrow to point back on course (previous default behavior).

    Info Field Updates:
    • Improvements have been made to “odometer drift” problems. False readings for speed and distance increases while stationary have been greatly reduced.
    • The info field "Vertical Speed" now reports ft/sec, or m/sec
    • All speeds in info fields will report tenths for MPH, KPH or knots.
    • Added an arrow to the “Bearing” and “Back on Course” info fields. This arrow will show the direction that needs to be traveled to achieve the bearing listed.
    • Velocity Made Good (VMG) has been fixed to follow the standard nautical definition
    • In the Map Page, the menu options for managing info fields have been consolidated and placed under an "Info Fields…" option.


    Route Updates:
    • When adding a point to a route, the Route Page has been improved to make the choice between using Find or the Map clearer.
    • The Route Simulation option has been temporarily removed.

    Waypoints Updates
    • In the Waypoints Page, there is now the option to delete waypoints by symbol.
    • In the Map Setup Page, there is a "Waypoint Detail" option which allows waypoints to either be shown or hidden.
    • Added a progress dialog on the PN-20 when transferring waypoints

    Find Updates
    • In the Find Page, there is now the option to "Clear All Fields" to clear search parameters.

    Other:
    • Hawaiian tide information is now available
    • Sounds will play when browsing through the sound menus in the Device Setup/Sound Page.

    The PN-20 is still somewhat sluggish when asked to perform too many tasks at once but seems to be much more reliable. I have not had the problem of losing satellites...as a matter of fact...it is much better than my 60cs in heavy canopy in retaining satellites and accuracy. After a brief 45 mile test, I found no problems with the redraw of maps, including the satellite maps, which has been a major complaint of users of the gpsr. I haven't had the chance to actually search for a geocache with the new update but I was pleased with it before so am only looking forward to the new feature of pointing to the final waypoint instead of the track to the waypoint. Delorme isn't resting on this update and is continuing their goal of improving the PN-20 to the satisfaction of their many customers. It's worth a look for sure and is becoming competitive with the established companies.

  5. #15
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Location
    Litchfield, Maine
    Posts
    3,592

    Default

    I think that this will be my next GPS. You can't beet Delorme mapping software.
    Blazing Troll

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