centme37

Mine must be broken. It recharges while On or Off. My statement is a holdover from the PN-20 introduction era. It may not be true for the PN-40 due to firmware, internal hardware design or updated one piece cables that function as the two piece in that regard. I'm not sure, guess I'll check with my -40 also. OK, I check that out last night and this morning. 1. I ran my PN-40 down to an indicated 10% remaining. 2. Turned it OFF and left it connected to an always ON 12VDC source with a one piece, standard cable. 3. During the overnight charge attempt, the faint charging indication was not displayed. 4. Upon rebooting the remaining charge was still indicated as 10%. 5. Repeated 2. and 3. (but for a 3 hour recharge period) with a 2nd one piece cable. 6. Same result as noted in 4. Neither of the one piece cables in my possession support charging of the Li-Ion battery pack with the PN-40 in the OFF state. TL, how can I break my cables so they work like yours? I turn it on after I hook it up to the system, then I turn it off. I get the faint display of an active recharge ocurring. Thought that was normal status quo. I was under the impression that to start the charging with the unit off that one needs to press the ON button quickly. You then see faintly the wording Charging Complete then a few seconds later, the flashing Charging message occurs.

I got a PN-20 when they first came out. I also had a 60CX at that time. I have since upgraded the PN-20 to the 40 but I still keep the 60Cx. The main reason I got a DeLORME was for the maps. There is nothing like a high res aerial to navigate in a vehicle or on foot. If my Garmin had been able to use USGS 7.5 quads for my part of the country, I probably would never had bought the PN.

I have the PN 20 and 40 as well as the 60cx. I would agree that my 60cx is a better road router but regarding the toy like impression of the PN's, I too had that inclination but after using the PN 20 for over a year, that thought has completely disappeared. In fact I have more problems with the 60cx; first with the on/off button not always working and the scroll wheel sometimes doesn't respond to the left or right when inputting letters and numbers. The PN buttons have remained crisp and solid as well as the scrolling wheel. One thing about road routing; a mistake that people make, afaik, is they select a route of a known set of roads and if the GPS routes them some other way then the assumption is made that somehow the device doesn't route well. However, if you route to an uknown location and you get there successfully, then the device is a great router. My two cents worth.

Looking through my old stuff and I pulled out a Magellan GPS Trailblazer circa 8/4/1994. Put batterys in and it fired up and located just fine. I have case, manual, electrical connector, field guide and bracket. Currently have BT for my tablet pc, DeLorme PN-20, Garmin 60Cx, Magellan 315, plus a couple of DeLorme GPS loggers. Edit: Also use Nuvi 350 for road routing.

I own a 60Cx and a PN-20 so I can give you some insight. I owned the 60Cx before I bought the PN-20. I purchased the PN-20 for the maps. It's all about the maps. As I said a year ago when I first got the PN-20, if I want road routing I'll take the Garmin. If I'm off road, there's no question I'll have the PN-20. One poster said stay with Mapsource because it's better than Delorme's Topo 6 or 7. He apparantely hasn't taken the time to learn how to use Topo. It is a far more capable product. The PN-20 will hold lock equally as well as the Garmin. Delorme has excellent support and are working very hard to respond to all the suggestions from customers. As Embra said, you can get the PN-20 with Topo 7, 1GB SD card and reader, plus $100 certificate for map downloads which includes color and B&W aerials, ocean charts, 7.5 min quads for $299 plus if you are really into maps you can get Xmap to register any map such as tiff's jpg's, etc. As a PN-20 user I also believe you can purchase your state's entire set of USGS quads for $49.

You can load PN-20 tracks into Google Earth. I own both PN-20 and 60CX and this weekend I took both along on a snowmobile trip. The PN-20 was located in my Jacket breast pocket and the Garmin was hooked to an external antenna. The two tracks were very similar but the 60CX had (3) wayward points that distorted the track whereas the PN-20 did not have any stray or lost track points. I realize this is a small sample but I'm convinced the PN-20 will hold lock better in varying condition.

Proprietary. (Comes with unit)

Here is an email response to my question about Topo maps. I since have purchased a PN-20 just to have topo quads. From: centme37 Sent: Tuesday, May 09, 2006 9:56 AM To: cartography@garmin.com Subject: Maps I think an extremely good selling map would be 1:24000 topo (USGS Style) maps for your popular GPSr’s. I’m surprised that you haven’t produced such a product. If you aren’t interested in expending resources to develop such a product, maybe you could contract with a 3rd party. I think a mapping product such as this would sell like crazy. What say you? -

I have a Delorme PN-20 that goes in the woods and on the waters with me because it has topoquads showing and I love that. I also have a Garmin 60Cx that I use for auto-navigating and for finding needed POI's. In my emergency kit is a Magellan 315 to use should there be a need to find or report a location. It is with all my other survival gear. I also have an older Magellan and a Pharos CF gps for my Axim 5. I'm sure many will report multiple GPS'rs and use for a variety of reasons.

My Li-Ion was a dud, too (and I agree about the tight fit). Several other people reported the same thing, so there must have been problems in the first batch. Interesting to hear that email is [thus-far] non-responsive, but I found that a 10 minute phone call had a good battery on the way to me pronto. The replacement has worked fine for me. I'm uncertain about the SD reader. It may be non-functional, but it could be Windows or your system. I would try plugging the cable into a different USB port (and avoiding the use of hubs for this one). Perhaps deleting the driver in Device Manager to force a re-installation would help. Have you tried installing anything to internal memory on the GPS? Reportedly internal memory runs a little faster than SD memory, so I decided to put my regional maps in there, while putting the large detail topo maps and ADP maps on SD memory. I'm quite surprised to hear that you see less detail in T6 than in the Mapsource topos. There is an option in T6 to go from the default "medium" to high or low settings. At high, you should have contour lines every 10'. I'm only slightly surprised about the trails, as T6 tends to have the most complete trail data available (I think...it's much, much better than Magellan Topo3D. But even T6 is incomplete in that regard. Are you seeing the same deficiencies you described on the PC as well as the map on the GPS? I can't help but wonder if you have some missing data (although it seems unlikely). The Delorme software interface is notoriously controversial. Adherents swear up and down that it allows for more power and flexibility than the standard Windows interface, once you get used to it. I'm not sold on that yet, although I'm getting to feel more comfortable with it. Along with centme 37, I recommend the Delorme forum for skilled user assistance and advice. Delorme staff check in there frequently, too, although it's not an official customer support venue.

I can recall that when the X series came out that there were similar kinds of problems. At that time I owned an Explorist 500 and it was nice to see the Garmin's taking bashing for a change. Since then I gave my Explorist to my son and purchased a 60Cx. It's a great GPS'r that has had numerous firmware updates to deal with issues. I have also purchased the PN-20 from Delorme for the purpose of being able to have access to aerial and topoquad data. That's the biggest failing of the 60Cx is the lack of good topo maps, unless you want to role your own. As far as issues with the PN-20 are concerned, the reps are very responsive and early on issued an update and will soon be forthcoming with a major firmware update. I'm very impressed with their quick responses and customer service. The PN-20 is a very robust and capable GPS'r that I use for all my 'off road' stuff, however I still use my 60Cx for auto navigation. The PN-20 will navigate but the 60Cx has more options.

You'll have more luck in getting help and responses from Delorme reps if you post on the Delorme Forums. The reps respond very quickly to those that have issues.

I prefer the 60Cx. It is the same except for compass and altimeter. I've read about the difficulty with calibrating the compass so am happy with the 60Cx. It must be less expensive as well.

You'll find lots of help regarding PN-20 on the DeLorme Forums. People are helpful and knowledgeable. http://forum.delorme.com/. Note: The battery will go in with the two metal disks towards the top and the hollow portion facing down. I place the top in at an angle then force the back into place. Be sure to have the pull ribbon under the battery or you'll have a hard time removing it. Also: there was a batch of bad batterys. Contact Delorme Support and they'll send you a new one, if you can't get yours to power up..

I'm surprised you didn't post this on the DeLorme PN-20 forum There are several DeLorme employees as well as many PN-20 owners who can provide lots of help. I've had my PN-20 since Jan. 12 and I love it and the maps.

Aren't you comparing Apples and Bananas? Don't all the "x" Garmins allow you to save unlimited tracks to the SD card, just like the PN-20? To be fair one should compare the PN-20 to the Venture/Legend Cx, same display, same receiver type but DeLorme has superior map technology at almost double the price for the bundled unit. Hermit Your statement is a little misleading in that the price of the PN-20 includes better topo software than you can buy for the Garmin and you can do door to door routing out of the box. No extra CN or Topo software to buy.

When I first replied at the beginning of this thread I listed the following: Explorist 500 Magellan 315 Pharos GPS CF Delorme LT-20 Magellan XL (Original or early productions) Now have replaced the Explorist 500 with Delorme PN-20 and continue with the others. They all continue to function. Edit: Also have Garmin 60Cx (How could I forget?)

Venture's don't come with Mapsource, how about EasyGPS? Thanks Hermit How do you load maps on your GPSr, if you don't use Mapsource?

Will the PN-20 street route from waypoint to waypoint like DirectRoute will? Yes! Routes are better created ib the included software Topo USA6 then sent to GPSr.

Best way to get such info is to go to their website. You can dl the PN-20 manual and get about all the info you'd ever need. http://www.Delorme.com

NO! Only Magellan maps can be loaded.

Try this link. http://forum.delorme.com/viewtopic.php?t=8919

Immensely!!! So much so I'm going to bug you with some specific questions, if I might. If I were to purchase Topo USA West would I be able to run my 3DTQ's in the virtual mode from my HDD? Or better yet, burn them to a DVD and run from there? I've already made backup CD's so that I'll have copies in my field case and not take my originals on the road. BTW, are these Topo USA products vector or bitmap and what contour line interval? I'm pretty sure the answer is yes. Maybe some Delorme Topo owners can verify this. I would also suggest you visit Delorme's web site to view details of vector/raster question. They have a good forum for all their products and that is a good place to get info. Certainly Garmin is aware of this and there is so much more money to be made from software than hardware, just ask Bill. DeLorme has a mapping lead, just as Garmin has a hardware lead, both are zeroing in on each others turf. A $125 DVD cost ~$1 to manufacture, whereas that 60Cx of yours cost upwards of $100 to manufacture. Doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure which has the better margin. So its just a matter of time before Garmin has the Topo maps like Delorme. Many thanks Hermit I emailed Garmin several months ago re: updating their topo software. They didn't sound encouraging but who knows what a kittle competition will do. Edit: TRry this non-Delorme site RE Topo USA 6.0 http://www.digital-topo-maps.com/delorme-demo.shtml

Just so we're on the same page, I dug out my 3DTQ disc. They're for Win 95/98 and are ©1999. I'm not sure what USA Topo is, prior to getting the Colorado 3DTQ's I purchased a vector Colorado map product from DeLorme, while much faster and the whole state on one CD, the maps were a POS. I do like the maps from 3DTQ, it just the dreadful GUI. Any pearls of wisdom would be most appreciated. Thanks Hermit My 3DTQ are same vintage as yours only for the State of ME. Topo USA 6.0 is the software that comes with the PN-20. It is DeLorme's latest updated combination of natural features found on usual topo's as well as an updated streets software for the entire USA. This is similar to nav software for the Garmin (CN7) w/o the POI's. DeLormes has POI's but only geographic features. What's nice is the USA Topo is fully routable. If you wanted all the usual POI's I guess you'd have to buy the Street Atlas 2007. I don't see a need for that but others would. RE: 3DTQ: I made copies of the data disks 3DTQ using Virtual CD and keep them loaded in virtual drives. One should be able to copy the data to your hard drive if space allows. You don't install the 3DTQ software, you use Topo USA to read the data, manipulate it, load it on the PN-20, etc. Another useful feature of the Topo USA software is the ability to convert tracks into routable routes and powerful draw capabilities such as filling in unreported roads, etc. I'm not a Delorme salesman and I do own a Garmin 60Cx which I love but the software that the PN-20 can display goes far beyond what the Garmin can do. Topo USA is also the bridge to the GPSr like Mapsouce, but much more capable and powerful Hope this helps.