Home > Consumer Reviews > DeLorme Earthmate GPS Receiver

I purchased this for $199 at on of the large computer stores. I was not listed on here at the time. The thing works great but eats batteries. Go to the manufactures site after you buy it and order the power adapter for the thing for $29.00 or get both adapters for $39.00 that's what I did. I travel alot and use it everyday. Takes me to the middle of nowhere turn by turn and does not miss.

I was very interested when I learned that there were products that allowed the integration of a street map atlas with a GPS and laptop computer. Sounded like an excellent tool for travelling. After exploring a number of options on the Web, it appeared that the Delorme Earthmate with Street Atlas USA was the way to go, although I read as many bad reviews as good. The price was certainly reasonable and I decided, why not? I must say that after two days of seeing what this thing can do, I am truly impressed. The Street Atlas was a breeze to set up and I love the feature that allows you to copy regions to the hard drive, so this thing will run sans CD. The included Earthmate GPS amazed me for its diminutive size and good construction, as I appreciated the inclusion of the rubber feet and rubber stripping around the unit. Within 5 minutes the GPS had initialized and I became a green dot on the map showing my neighborhood. I immediately jumped into the car and wathched my progress on the screen as a friend drove me around town. The accuracy amazed me. Then I got serious to see what this unit could do. If I had to make a negative comment, it would have to be the lack of instructional material. Two (tiny) booklets come in the package that do little more than explain the setup. There is a tutorial built into the program, but it did not have the same functionality as a reference manual. However, if the lack of documentation is helping to keep this package at this steal of a price, then I'm all for it. After three-and-a-half hours of playing, I had a good handle on all of the features of the software and was ready to plan my first trip. There is a great deal of information available on these maps, including restaurants and lodging and services available off the various exits on the highways. You can enter the name of a restaurant, and Street Atlas will locate it for you on the map. You can then take the laptop/GPS combo in the car, and it will give you real time verbal instuctions as you are driving. Pretty cool! Some of the "points of interest" were not in the right spot on the map, and some were long gone, but I can't fault the software for not knowing that the pizza place at the shore went out of business six months ago. All in all, it is a package that appears to do what it is designed to do. Whether or not it is practical in the long run to have all this equipment running in the car (you can swap the laptop for a smaller device) has yet to be determined, but my first impression is actually beyond my expectations.

Delorme Mapping Software Customer Support is EXTREMELYpoor

Ireally looked forward to using this product, but my experiencetrying to get support indicates not to ever buy their products because you can never get any technical support if a glitch does occur.

I purchased a Delorme software mapping package titled Street Atlas USA ver 7.0 bundled with a GPS Earthmate device. Also purchased a Map N Go software from Delorme that added AAA points of interest information to the map database.

After installing the second package, you could not see the maps, only the points and any trip lines, but no streets or names or city names, etc. I was never able to get it to work for my trip to test how it worked for a business application.

Here are all the efforts I had to go thru to try and get the software and hardware to work on my NEW Compaq laptop - which never did result in fixing the software, so I returned it because I could never get any one from Tech support to even answer my memo, etc.:

I read their really THIN manuals which were little booklets inserted in the CD-Rom jewel cases, and they were no help.

I visited their website and could not find any tech item related to the problems I had. They seem to rely on simple lists of most frequent questions, and do not have decent way of researching problems.

I tried calling their tech support number which is NOT an 800 number, and they are located in Maine (and I am on the West Coast). Their hours are normal "business day hours" on the East coast and no evening or weekend hours. I waited on hold for 10 minutes, but the generic hold message said that wait time averaged 20 minutes, which is TOO long for a new customer, especially when the average may not be met when you call.

Thus, I sent them an email.

I did NOT receive an answer, but received an 'Automated" standard troubleshooting 15+ page document for me to wade through. When I sent the question to one of three addresses they said you could use for "follow up" it was RETURNED by the web, no addressee known.

Delorme tech support is non-existent, and since their software does not work, I have returned it and the GPS unit and will never buy any product from Delorme in the future - this is NOT an easy company to get customer support from. Do NOT buy their products because you can't ever get any help within a reasonable time. If your time and phone call expense is zero, then maybe you can wait them out, but I cannot.

Vance Jochim Certified Lotus Notes Developer - was looking at this product to bundle it with a corporate Lotus Notes application, but will never consider Delorme again.

With a pretty clear shot at the sky, Earthmate initializes quickly and has more detailed maps than some CDs. Its biggest drawback is the government's (intentional) distortion, which drags it off an ideal read by a block or two. But it keeps you close (on the map) to where you are. I've also found it suggesting a freeway exit that was never built, and turns onto 'another' highway that are really a merge; but it does give exits by number, and finds places pretty quickly by ZIP, area code, town or many specific sites.

[12.18.2001] This Covers Earthmate, and Delorme Deluxe Atlas. I purchased this unit from CompUSA. Installed with no problems. just make sure you close all programs before installing. ( the usuall statement with most software). After running the software, aquiring the GPS signals was a little slow. Sometimes it would not get a signal from anywhere! the problem was in the config of the earthlink unit in Street Atlas. it would reset to 4800 bps. the earthmate runs at 9600. A patch from Delorme quickly fixed this and a few other problems that I did not experiance. now my systems locks to gps a lot faster than before, and more reliably. I mount the Earthmate on my dash of my 98 F-150 with one velcro strip, I use a laptop on the center floorboard with power coming from a DC/AC inverter with no problems for the long drive. I rarley lost complete signal,as I have read from some reviews here ( try the patch! ). tracking seems very acurate. I do loose 3-D signal due to blocking objects from above, but not 2-d. In downtown areas I have lost 2-D. but I lost tracking on all units I had with me ( all of them on the dash, not in a different location than the Earthlink). this unit seems comparable, and acts normally as a GPS should. I tried a extensive road trip with multiple stops over a 8 hour trip, and around town locally with great success. not one problem. I would suggest the DC power adapter (USB!)for the Earthmate. The Street Atlas (SA) did miss a little on vectoring your location in relation to the map. (mostly in rural area's). I have become confident in the overall results of finding my destination without any trouble. As with my other units, looking around after arriving is required,(duh). just for fun, I called Tech support, I got right in, the tech was freindly, helpfull, covered the basics with me on the call. advised me of the location for program updates and i was fixed up. then a problem actually occoured. when removing the earthmate from my laptop using the 9 pin serial connector. the cover came loose from the connector. this is a weak point. Delorme should use a better molded connector housing ( I'd pay 5 more bucks for it!) I advise getting the USB power adapter and reframe from pulling on the 9 pin connector! I replaced my unit at compusa... the Earthmate has a 60 day warranty, buy the product protection from where ever you can get it ( CompUSA has it ). this will extend your options for replacing the unit "just in case" for up to a year! Would I buy it again?... with PDA cable and USB power adapter ( USB bought from mobileplanet.com or delorme.com)You bet, ... and up for anything that comes close or exceeds the Delorme package. and even if the Earthlink does quit, Street Altas will still give you a map to drive by. and the biggest thing I liked, Color, with a laptop, or a palm IIIc ( what I use) I get color. not found on other hand held GPS's until you get to the $500+ units. bang for the buck, this is it. if your pockets are deeper, get a Gamrin Streetpilot III if you dont have a laptop/pda Color does make a big differance while
driving. much easier to referance. I have not tried the addon plugin GPS's for PDA's from other companys, those will have color ir your PDA supports color, only actual garmin GPS handheld units. and my Delorme Earthmate with the palm IIIc.
PS, I have stated COMPUSA and other Vendors, I do not promote them. just happened to be where I purchased this unit. and is part of the senario of this experiance.