|
|
|
|
May 9, 2007 New Handheld GPS rugged yellow and black unit is designed for outdoor use . . . although it will sit comfortably on a dashboard or in an optional car mount
Earthmate GPS PN-20 (DeLorme, www.delorme.com, $369.95, $299.95 for registered DeLorme customers) is a new handheld GPS (global positioning system) unit featuring DeLorme road maps, U.S. Geological Survey topographic maps, satellite and aerial photos, in-device road routing, navigation and more. The rugged yellow and black unit is designed for outdoor use, swinging from its handy lanyard, although it will sit comfortably on a dashboard or in an optional car mount. The unit is waterproof to one foot of water for 30 minutes, measures 5.25 x 2.5 x 1.5 inches and weighs in at 7 ounces with batteries installed. The 2.2 inch 220 x 176 pixel back-lighted color display is transflective, so it’s visible in almost any light, including bright sunlight. There’s 75MB of fixed internal memory and an SD memory card slot for additional external memory, all used for holding map, route, track and other data. The 12-channel NMEA-compliant GPS receiver is WAAS enabled, so the GPS unit can be accurate to within meters where WAAS is available. A specially designed filter helps eliminate the effect of reflected GPS signals, further improving positional accuracy. Control of Earthmate GPS PN-20 is via seven buttons, a four-way cursor control and an in/out zoom rocker button. Displayed on-screen are a series of 11 pages, each of which shows various maps and information with access to associated menus used for setting page-specific options. The sequence and number of pages through which you cycle is customizable, so you can choose to use as many or as few page as needed. Pages include: * Satellite - for viewing satellite constellation, signal strengths, GPS accuracy and battery life * Map - for viewing the various types of map data such as road, trail routes, topographic, aerial images, North arrow and direction of travel * Compass - heading/bearing info * Trip Info - speeds, distance and times * Find - locating points of interest, natural features, addresses and much more * Waypoints - mark, view or navigate to waypoints * Routing - create, edit and view routes, view route directions * Tracks - turn tracking on/off, save tracks of your journeys * Sun/Moon - sun/moon rise/set times, current time and date * Tides - tide information for a specific time/date/station * Device Setup - to control a wealth of features on the unit
Earthmate powers up, by default, with the Satellite page displayed. Using this display, you can watch as the unit acquires signals, receives tracking data and WAAS data if available. The satellite ID numbers are shown both on a constellation sky map and bar graph, using colors to indicate signal strength and status. In addition, the type of fix (2D, 3D or WAAS) is shown, along with positional accuracy in feet or meters. This GPS device operates in one of two basic modes: tracking or navigating. In tracking mode the display shows current position on a map, along with latitude/longitude coordinates. A color line shows where you’ve been and keeps "track" of it. This track can be saved for later reference or converted into a route. The Navigating mode is used when you are following a predetermined route. Route directions can be displayed while navigating, and you can even take a virtual trip using your route.
Creating routes or finding addressees or waypoints directly on Earthmate can be done, but it is a bit tedious dealing with the on-screen cursor controlled menus and keyboard for text/number entry. It’s much quicker to use the included Topo USA 6.0 DVD software. This program is an exceptional pre-travel planner that allows you to create your routes or trails quickly and easily on your computer using many automatic features. These saved routes can then be downloaded into the handheld device via USB connection for navigation or other reference use. Or you can save/copy the route(s) directly to an SD memory card via a memory card reader/writer then later insert the card into the Earthmate. Whether you’re using the handheld unit or the Topo USA program for route creation you will have to download the road, trail and topographical maps into the unit. Waypoints, Points of Interest such as forests, monuments and national trails can also be included in these downloads. A special value for those purchasing the Earthmate GPS PN-20 is $100 worth of downloadable aerial and satellite images that can be displayed as an overlay for tracks or routes on the device. The aerial and satellite images, though limited by screen resolution, provide a great overview of your journeys. Earthmate is powered by AA NiCAD, NiMH, alkaline, lithium batteries or a rechargeable Lithium-ion battery pack. The Lithium-ion battery pack can be recharged in the GPS unit while the unit is connected to a USB port. A convenient optional accessory is the Travel PowerKit (www.delorme.com, $49.95), which includes a rechargeable Lithium-ion battery and charger and a variety of cables and adapters for charging it in or out of the GPS unit via home AC current or car 12-volt power. Overall the unit seems to be battery hungry so keep spares handy and it is slow on map redraws and on some menu items. In addition to its GPS tracking and navigating capabilities and the wide variety of configuration and display options, the ability to view satellite and aerial images, topographical and street maps and the inclusion of the full-featured Topo USA 6.0 software (including the $100 worth of downloaded images) makes the Earthmate GPS PN-20 a special value. |
