DeLorme Earthmate PN-20 Waterproof Hiking GPS
by admin on Monday, October 4th, 2010 | 5 Comments
- An All-in-One Handheld GPS Solution from DeLorme
- High-resolution 2.2 TFT color screen for total clarity under a variety of lighting conditions
- Fast acquisition times, outstanding signal retention
- Holds up to 10 tracks (10,000 points per track), 1,000 user-defined waypoints, and 50 routes
- Pre-loaded worldwide highway/major road base map
Includes Topo USA 8.0 DVD mapping software with full U.S. topographic and street maps, plus aerial imageryAmazon.com DeLorme, famous for its topographic and street map detail, has created a GPS receiver to enable anyone to use a wide variety of detailed maps and aerial imagery for all outdoors activities. The Earthmate GPS PN-20 is a low-cost, high-sensitivity, fully integrated handheld GPS that delivers capabilities previously unavailable at any price.
DeLorme maps and imager
Rating: 
(out of 50 reviews)
List Price: $ 199.95
Price:
Garmin Forerunner 110 Handheld GPS GPS| US $157.99 End Date: Thursday Feb-23-2012 10:05:52 PST Buy It Now for only: US $157.99 | |
| US $119.99 End Date: Thursday Feb-23-2012 10:06:51 PST Buy It Now for only: US $119.99 | |
Review by R. World for
Rating:
The Topo 6.0 maps that come with this unit contain surprisingly detailed topographic information. Most popular hiking trails are included. You can preview them at (you need to create a free account)…
data.delorme.com
The PN-20′s main rivals are the Garmin units. The Garmin mapping software can be previewed by following the appropriate links here…
www8.garmin.com/cartography
These topographic maps are generally inferior to those of the Delorme unit (you can discover this for yourself by accessing the websites above). The PN-20 nicely superimposes street and topographic/hiking info into the one map which I don’t believe the Garmin units do. The mapping software is included free with the purchase of the PN-20. You have to pay an additional amount of more than $200 for both topo and street maps with the Garmin units. One drawback of the PN-20 mapping software is that is highly user UNfriendly. Also, if you want to cut a large map section (say of the entire state of California, with all contour information included), it will take your computer many, many hours. It is possible however to download all street information, from interstate freeways down to tiny alleys, for an entire state, without contour information, in an hour or so. On the plus side, once you master it, the mapping software can be very powerful.
The screen is full-color as opposed to the Garmin models which only display 256 colors. The PN-20 can display aerial, satellite and usgs topo quad images that you download for $0.25 per square kilometer. The unit comes with a free voucher for $100 of image downloads (400 sq. kilometers). This can be a very useful feature for hiking, as many unnamed trails and paths are visible from the air, and hence appear in the aerial photographs. One warning, if you have poor eyesight you might have difficulty reading the small type on the screen.
The signal reception is good. It works inside a car and under moderately dense canopy. Under very dense canopy it will loose the signal. The initial lock can take a few minutes, depending on how far you have moved since the device last registered a location. I haven’t used the Garmin units but my guess is that the PN-20′s signal reception is significantly better than the Etrex’s but not quite up there with the 60cx’s, which apparently acquires an initial lock within a few seconds. I’ve found the typical accuracy the device settles down to is roughly +/-50ft under some canopy, +/-30ft if you’re driving down a suburban street, and +/- 10ft if you’re on a freeway.
The battery life is good, ~8 hours with moderate use and medium backlight.
Auto-routing functionality is built in, but limited. If you want the unit to direct you from address A to address B you have to use the Topo 6.0 software on your computer, to create the route and then upload it onto the device. The procedure is fast and straightforward once you learn how to do it. The software enables you to create via and stop points for your route, which can be useful. You can also calculate road-routes by clicking on start and end points on the map (ie without entering addresses). Once you enable auto-navigation, below the map will be displayed the distance and expected time to next turn, the name of the street or exit, and an arrow indicating the direction to turn. It will beep twice for each turn, once to alert you in advance, and a second time to indicate when the actual turn should take place. All in all I found the auto-navigation feature was quite effective, though not as user-friendly as a purpose built auto-GPS such as the Garmin Street-Pilot. Perhaps the biggest downside to using this device for auto-navigation is that you have to wait a minute or two after switching it on for an initial-lock.
One general drawback is the slow processor. Map redraws can take up to 30 seconds depending on what information is being loaded, though typically they take 5-10 seconds. At times it can be frustrating, though for conventional use the delay is tolerable.
Another drawback is the street maps are a tad crude. For example, a curved street will appear as a couple of straight lines joined together. Also, some sections of the street maps are misaligned by more than 100ft. These are typically streets in suburban (non-metropolitan) areas but it can occasionally be frustrating, particularly when driving, as the unit can display your position as in between two roads. I believe the Delorme Street-Atlas maps don’t have this problem, but they are not compatible with the PN-20 yet (apparently Delorme is working on a patch to make them compatible).
All in all, the ability to display aerial photography and accurate hiking information makes this a break-through device, though the slow processor detracts a little from the novelty.
Review by S. CLOWN for
Rating:
Well…I rated it down due to the very powerful but extremely cumbersome software.I have 17 hours invested and a long ways to go.It will DO what Delorme says as far as functions of the PN-20. Do not buy if you want to take it straight from the box and travel!. The world base map is absolutely
useless. There is more information on a globe. The 16 section USA regional maps that you must load are not much better. For the PN-20 to shine you must
use the software and select the high detail maps to send to the PN-20 via SD card!!. If you dont do this you will not get street level detail. You can still set up a route without the download but why? Isnt that why I bought this unit in the first place.
I did get the PN-20 to lock on 7 satellites inside a commercial industrial building.
If you like to fool with stuff more so than use it for its intended purpose than the PN-20 is for you. It will keep you off the street for a LONG time.
Be very careful about “Whats in the Box” on Amazons site versus what the vendor says is in the box!!! I was very disappointed as I did not get the travel package mentioned here. Live and learn!!
Review by M. Bramel for
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I find the Delorme PN-20 to be one of the most exciting GPS models on the market–although, as a new model, it has a few rough edges to be smoothed out. Those who use it primarily for outdoor activities like hiking or biking should be pleased; those who want something mostly for automobile use will probably be happier with something else.
On the plus side, the maps are the best I know of that can be transferred to a GPS. I particularly like that trails are routable (although at the current time these routes must be created in the included Topo 6 USA on the PC and transferred to the GPS). Also, user-created tracks can be saved to Topo6 as routable trails. Personally I have not found the aerial or satellite imagery that useful–but the USGS 7.5 topo maps on a GPS are pretty cool. The display is somewhat on the small side, but of great visual quality.
Secondly, the support available from Delorme by phone (email support seems to lag) and in the Delorme user forum is top-notch. When the PN-20 was first released, a serious bug soon emerged. Delorme had a firmware fix available 4 days after the bug was identified. Delorme appears to be solicitous of customer input for improvement, and seems committed to regular firmware updates (the first major update came about 3 months after the initial release). PN-20 packages purchased directly from Delorme allow for a 30-day no-questions-asked return. It’s less clear to me how generous Amazon is on GPS returns.
Third, I think the PN-20 gets power options right: one can use a variety of AA battery types or an optional Li-Ion that can be internally recharged. That battery is a standard CRV3 rather than some proprietary design–although not all CRV3 brands seem to work properly (checking in the forum advised).
The last thing I would note on the plus side is that reception and accuracy seems quite good. Compared to my Magellan Explorist 500, the PN-20 seems to do slightly better. While accuracy is diminished under dense foliage–as with any unit–I have always been able to maintain a signal lock while geocaching or hiking.
Shortcomings include the fact that PN-20 does feel soggy in executing tasks. Redraws usually only take 3-4 seconds, but scrolling the screen takes patience. Although the PN-20 handles a file of up to 1000 waypoints, I find the unit works much more efficiently if I hold the file down to a couple hundred. Creating a street route on the PN-20 can take several minutes, and I find address searches intolerably long. It *does* all these things, but users will be happier if they can plan routes and searches ahead of time on the PC for transfer to the GPS. The PN-20 does allow for the insertion of via points to shape a route in the GPS, so it has a leg up on Magellan’s MapSend DirectRoute. Improving the efficiency of firmware algorithms may help, but it might be until we see a PN-30 with a beefier processor that autorouting becomes a satisfying experience.
Another minus is that the PN-20 does not currently allow for more than a single waypoint file, and neither waypoints, tracks, nor routes can be saved to the SD card. I fully expect that a future firmware upgrade will change this, so a large number of such files can be available for field use.
The PN-20 is not for everyone. It’s a new, cutting-edge model–Delorme’s first integral handheld GPS–and I think it will be a little while until the firmware is tweaked and smoothed to allow for the full potential of the hardware. For those who place a high priority on map quality and plan to use their GPS primarily for outdoor activity, I think it’s a good choice that shows favorable signs of becoming even better.
Review by B. Brinton for
Rating:
The DeLorme PN-20 has the best mapping hands down. With the included $100 worth of free imagery (which include DOQQs, Sat-10 colorized satellite imagery, and scanned USGS 7.5-minute quads) make this a very useful GPSr to use. I use my PN-20 mostly for mountain biking, hiking and geocaching and being able to have the aerial imagery on there is very very cool. Some places have changed and some places have not, I am usually in places that have not changed too much in the recent years and have been able to find trails that I had not known about.
One of the things that blows me away with this unit is the many ways to utilize the features in Topo USA and have that same data appear on the PN-20. I have a separate map cut with all of the fire districts on it for my county and then a another map with all of the EMS districts on it. These are all done using polygons. There is just so much that can be done, it is truly amazing.
If you are worried about how long it takes to load maps, I strongly suggest getting and using an SD card and card reader reader to load larger maps. Loading smaller maps to the PN-20′s internal memory is not that big of an issue.
On the lines of customer service, it is very hard to beat DeLorme’s, they have been very responsive to customer needs and quick turn around time for a replacement unit if needed (When I had gotten my first unit, there was an issue with the reception and DeLorme promptly replaced it and have be been happy with it since then). As with any mass produced item, there are bound to be some that have their problems (the same thing happened to me way back when I got my brand new Garmin 60CS, the mini USB plug on the back of the GPSr became loose).
There is a lot of good help for new users on the DeLorme forum by knowledgeable users and staff! Yes, there are still a couple of minor buggies but DeLorme is working on another release to address these issues and to add more user requests. This is another reason why I like DeLorme so much, they actually listen to their users.
Review by Stuart W. Nicol for
Rating:
I just got back from the better part of a week out in the back country of southern Nevada and northwestern Arizona. The PN-20 is an amazing device and did everything that I wanted for off-highway, 4WD touring, sightseeing and geocaching in those remote areas.
The DeLorme Topo maps have long been recognized by back country hikers, campers and 4WD folks as having the best features and capabilities for their activities. And now the PN-20 handheld GPS unit is available to make those maps even more useable.
Do not confuse this device with those stick on the windshield devices or GPS NAV units that come as options on new cars nowadays. I have that also on my new Jeep and it is useless off-highway. That thing will not show any road or trail that is not paved. I don’t even run that thing when I’m in the back country.
So if you want a handheld GPS unit that is as good, if not better, than all the others and the best in maps, the Earthmate GPS PN-20 is the ticket. I don’t leave home without it, not even in town!