Earthmate GPS with Delorme Software, anybody have an opinion?? (1 Viewer)

[Gregg Loewen]

Here is the link:
http://www.delorme.com/earthmate/emate-sadeluxeusb.asp
Ive been doing a lot of traveling and decided to give this unit a try. Was $179 a good price??
Id appreciate your thoughts.
Gregg

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Gregg,
If you didn't buy it yet then I would recommend that you don't.
I have a copy of it and the GPS receiver which I never use.
The software is nice (I have the RoadAtlas USA plus the AAA Travelers guide which shows you where all the resturants, stores, hotels etc are located), and will genuinely get you where you want to go or close to it. I have found some bugs in its mapping however sometimes the route it tells you to go is impossible to get to as some of the streets are one way and it tells you to go the wrong way on a one way street.
I used the software and GPS reciever a lot when I went to Florida. I was able to find where I wanted to go with it. Although sometimes the voice would tell me to turn left or right after I already passed the turn.
It was really cool when my wife drove and I was able to look at the screen on the laptop to see how accurate it was at times. (Sometimes it was a little off, fo example it would show my car being past where I actually was when I was stopped at a light. But again it will get you very close to where you are going to.
I could see one of these units causing an accident, as I found my self trying to sneek a peek at the screen while I Was driving.
The reason I tell you not to get one (if you havent already) is because I never use mine anymore. When you come down to work on my TV I would happly give it to ya.
Scott

 

[Bill Slack]

I've almost killed myself while trying to use it while driving.
That said, I've used it on many trips where I didn't know where I was going and found it incredibly useful. I also found it a bit fun and entertaining too (maybe I'm a nerd??) !
$179 seems a bit pricey though (I assume it's just a little GPS only unit; no screen or anything built in.)
It works quite well. It tends to be a bit off on local streets at time, but it worked well enough for me to find a random street in middle of DC w/o ever having been there and without having any directions so I much appereciated it.
I bet you can find a seperate GPS unit for ~$50 and the softare for ~$50 as well. At that price it's defiantley worth it. So long as you can deal with using the laptop instead of a built in unit, it's a lot cheaper than buying a dedicated unit for the car which is absurdly over priced!