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PN-40 Road Show NW

coreynjoey

By coreynjoey
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coreynjoey

+coreynjoey

Posted
Posted

If you want to check out the new Earthmate PN-40, here's your chance.

 

 

*copied from the Delorme Forums* http://forum.delorme.com/viewtopic.php?t=15910

 

 

Hey all, I will be starting my leg of the PN-40 road show next week. I will be covering the states of Washington and Oregon.

 

Naturally, all of this is subject to scheduling changes, but I figured I would let folks know of my current store visit plan in case someone wants to stop by a store while I'm there.

 

11/3- 10am @ REI Spokane, WA / "midday" @ Cabela's Post Falls, ID

11/4- am @ REI Bellingham, WA / ?pm @ REI Alderwood, WA

11/5- am somewhere (not firmed up yet)/ 2pm @ REI Issaquah, WA

11/6- 11am @ REI Seattle, WA / ?pm @ REI Redmond, WA

11/7- 10am @ REI Tacoma, WA / 2pm @ Cabela's Lacey, WA

At some point in there I'm headed for Groundspeak HQ as well... icon_wink.gif

 

The dates and times for the Oregon leg of the trip are just starting to come together... I'll post them later on. I will be visiting the REI's in Portland, Tualatin, Hillsboro, Clackamas, and Bend.

 

Stop by and introduce yourself if any of you make it to a store while I'm there! It would be great to meet any of you. icon_smile.gif

 

(I am hoping that I have not just "released the hounds" onto myself...)

 

-Brian

_________________

Brian Danz

Team DeLorme

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intolerable

+intolerable

Posted
Posted

The scheduled roadshow makes it so I have to miss it. However, I have the PN-40SE on pre-order and can't wait to see my new toy get delivered.

 

I'm pretty excited to check this out, but maybe you know the answer to my biggest question regarding this unit. Will it do custom maps and is it possible to convert Moun10Bike's Northwest Trails maps to a usable format? That's a must for me.

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TotemLake

+TotemLake

Posted
Posted (edited)

The scheduled roadshow makes it so I have to miss it. However, I have the PN-40SE on pre-order and can't wait to see my new toy get delivered.

 

I'm pretty excited to check this out, but maybe you know the answer to my biggest question regarding this unit. Will it do custom maps and is it possible to convert Moun10Bike's Northwest Trails maps to a usable format? That's a must for me.

I'll answer the last first. M10B's NW Trails can be converted to GPX format which can be converted by GPSBabel. My understanding is Topo 7.0 will be able to import GPX files from PQs, but I'm not sure how this will translate with GPX trail data. However, I have a plan in place to convert M10B's data to Delorme format style layers. The current download I have available was a proof of viability that M10B and I worked out. The GPX format however doesn't separate out the trails from the roads. I'm working towards a solution so there will be an equally high quality format for Delorme map software users.

 

If you don't want to use the Topo 7 or Topo Quads 2.0, then you can import other map data compatible to XMap and then cut it to your GPS. So if you're going outside the USA, you can still use other map data to create your maps and take advantage of the dual processor PN-40.

 

However, IMO, the coolest feature of this GPS is its ability to handle imagery from satellite and aerial photos of the same quality as Google Earth. It comes from the same database. For a $30 annual subscription, you will have an unlimited download buffet of these to add to your GPS through Topo 7. If you need to use XMap, it will be, for the foreseeable interim, sold at 1/2 price to PN-20 and PN-40 owners. There are also PN-40/XMap bundles if that's the direction you want to go in.

Edited by TotemLake
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Team DeLorme

+Team DeLorme

Posted
Posted

Let me know if you'd like any help creating trail maps with Moun10Bike's Northwest Trails maps. I'm not familiar with that data but can certainly help you work with .gpx or .shp files to create map layers to share with other PN users. It sounds like a pretty popular dataset. Of course, it sounds like you've already got a pretty good handle on our software and the layering process... Let me know when you post your maps, I'd love to see how people are using our software to share data.

 

Chip Noble

Team DeLorme

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coreynjoey

+coreynjoey

Posted
  • Author
Posted
The scheduled roadshow makes it so I have to miss it. However, I have the PN-40SE on pre-order and can't wait to see my new toy get delivered.

 

 

I doubt I'll be able to make it either as it's during work hours, but I'm gonna try and hightail it to the Lacey one. Hope you post a review once you get your new toy!

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TotemLake

+TotemLake

Posted
Posted (edited)

Thanks Chip! I'm really looking forward to playing with this particular GPS. I'm lurking in the Delorme Forums eeking out any hints and tips I may have missed through the manipulations I've learned how to do. Any chance I can get a priority shipment the week before the 22nd? :) I'd love to have it in my hands for the next HOTM.

 

CnJ, I will definitely post a review.

Edited by TotemLake
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intolerable

+intolerable

Posted
Posted

I went to check out the demo in Redmond tonight. I have to say, I'm pretty darn jealous of TotemLake's pre-order. I was really impressed... below are some not very well thought out first impressions of it.

 

The unit I played with displayed different maps at different levels of zoom... aerial, topo, hybrid... It sounded like this was how it was set up and you could set it up differently if you wanted. Very cool, and even though you can see it on their website, so much cooler in person!

 

While I didn't think aerial images would be all that exciting in town, more a novelty, and wanted it for hiking, after looking up some local caches, it seems like this would be great for urban caching.

 

Being unfamiliar with the software, after just briefly checking that out, it seemed light years ahead of Mapsource. Maybe its not, but I really liked what I saw quite a bit. It was nice to find out it could also be used with other receivers (like Garmin).

 

Map subscription sounds like a steal. For some reason I assumed that if the subscription lapsed, you'd not have maps (DRM or something like that). Not the case. I'd likely spend the first week planted in front of the computer downloading all the available maps B)

 

The only thing that I wasn't over enthusiastic about was that if I had one tonight I wouldn't be running Northwest Trails. But after doing some reading and talking to Team DeLorme, I didn't feel to distressed about that :huh:

 

I asked a bunch of questions, all which Team DeLorme seemed more than happy to answer. My only regret is now I have to wait until probably after Christmas to buy one :D

 

Can't recommend enough popping over to Tacoma if your even remotely interested in this unit and checking it out for yourself. And if you do, maybe you can ask about maps for outside the US, as I forgot :lol:

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coreynjoey

+coreynjoey

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Posted
And if you do, maybe you can ask about maps for outside the US, as I forgot :D

 

 

From their site: The DeLorme World Base Reference Map

  • Preloaded on the Earthmate GPS PN series
  • High-level map includes country borders, highways & major roads
  • Displays interstates and major highways at scales of 500 miles to 8 miles

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Moun10Bike

Moun10Bike

Posted
Posted
I went to check out the demo in The only thing that I wasn't over enthusiastic about was that if I had one tonight I wouldn't be running Northwest Trails. But after doing some reading and talking to Team DeLorme, I didn't feel to distressed about that :)

 

Could you expound a bit on what Team DeLorme had to say about this?

 

I wrote a script last night that explodes the data of Northwest Trail and converts the various line and point types to files with separate symbology, then puts them all back together into a single an1 file that I am loading up in Street Atlas USA 2009 Plus. However, there are a couple of issues and I was wondering if any of the DeLorme experts out there would know what to do:

  • I am converting data from shapefile to GPX to an1. In the conversion from GPX to an1 (using GPSBabel), I can specify making various lines roads, trails, or drawings (and a couple of other types that don't really apply for this purpose). If I make the trails roads, then they are labeled with their name, but they appear as, well, roads, and there are a limited number of possible symbology categories. If I make the trails trails, they all display with the same symbology (a dark gray dashed line) and are lacking names. If I select drawing, I can break trail types out by color, but I have no control over line thickness or pattern, and once again all trail names are gone. Is there a way to control all of this in my conversion?
  • In the conversion of waypoints from GPX to an1, the contents of the "description" tag for each waypoint (which in this case is layer information, such as "trailhead" or "parking area") is being used for the name rather than the contents of the "name" tag. Thus, there are scores of trailheads all labeled as "Trailhead" rather than with the trailhead name, etc. Any idea why this might be?

Thanks!

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TotemLake

+TotemLake

Posted
Posted
I went to check out the demo in The only thing that I wasn't over enthusiastic about was that if I had one tonight I wouldn't be running Northwest Trails. But after doing some reading and talking to Team DeLorme, I didn't feel to distressed about that :)

 

Could you expound a bit on what Team DeLorme had to say about this?

 

I wrote a script last night that explodes the data of Northwest Trail and converts the various line and point types to files with separate symbology, then puts them all back together into a single an1 file that I am loading up in Street Atlas USA 2009 Plus. However, there are a couple of issues and I was wondering if any of the DeLorme experts out there would know what to do:

  • I am converting data from shapefile to GPX to an1. In the conversion from GPX to an1 (using GPSBabel), I can specify making various lines roads, trails, or drawings (and a couple of other types that don't really apply for this purpose). If I make the trails roads, then they are labeled with their name, but they appear as, well, roads, and there are a limited number of possible symbology categories. If I make the trails trails, they all display with the same symbology (a dark gray dashed line) and are lacking names. If I select drawing, I can break trail types out by color, but I have no control over line thickness or pattern, and once again all trail names are gone. Is there a way to control all of this in my conversion?
  • In the conversion of waypoints from GPX to an1, the contents of the "description" tag for each waypoint (which in this case is layer information, such as "trailhead" or "parking area") is being used for the name rather than the contents of the "name" tag. Thus, there are scores of trailheads all labeled as "Trailhead" rather than with the trailhead name, etc. Any idea why this might be?

Thanks!

Yah you ran into the same issues I did and I was waiting for my cash flow to pick up a little bit to buy my own copy of Mapsource. If these can be out put as different GPX files so that the symbology maps correctly for each segment, I don't have a problem with hosting the layers on my website.... and I don't mind doing the legwork for conversion. You've done quite a bit already with the project.

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TotemLake

+TotemLake

Posted
Posted

"Can't recommend enough popping over to Tacoma if your even remotely interested in this unit and checking it out for yourself. And if you do, maybe you can ask about maps for outside the US, as I forgot "

 

The answer is :

 

NO - not yet

True, but the more it is asked, the more bubble up to the top it gets. So keep on asking. Make it known it is strongly desired.

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TotemLake

+TotemLake

Posted
Posted

I went to check out the demo in Redmond tonight. I have to say, I'm pretty darn jealous of TotemLake's pre-order.

:):grin: When I'm given the green light, I don't give my wife a second chance to changer her mind. She was also happy to hear me say I finally chose the gps to replace my relic. For her, it was worth the pre-order to get me to shut up. :grin::)

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coreynjoey

+coreynjoey

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Posted

We were able to make it to Cabelas and check it out. I've always been a Garmin guy, but I think this will be our next unit. It doesn't look as classy as other units, but it fits nice in the hand and has larger buttons. The loading and sorting of waypoints was pretty darn fast too. The software looks much more intense than Mapsource...kinda intimidating, but once you learn it, I think there's a lot you can do with it. The 3-d looked pretty darn cool!

 

Geocaching looked good on it too. The waypoints had all the required info you you'd need, including hints and logs. Brian said they're working to implement the Send to GPS function on the geocaching.com site and to get all the different cache icons onto the unit. It doesn't have the 'mark as found' feature that Garmin has, but you can easily change the waypoint icon to an open treasure chest after you find the cache.

 

It's waterproof up to 3 feet for 30 minutes...and if you use lithium batteries, the unit will float....briefly...hopefully long enough to make a quick grab.

 

Brian is heading down to the Portland area next. If anyone down there is even slightly interested in the PN-40, I'd highly recommend going and talking to him. He's a really nice guy and full of info. He'll even show you his kayaking tracklogs!

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Moun10Bike

Moun10Bike

Posted
Posted (edited)

Yah you ran into the same issues I did and I was waiting for my cash flow to pick up a little bit to buy my own copy of Mapsource. If these can be out put as different GPX files so that the symbology maps correctly for each segment, I don't have a problem with hosting the layers on my website.... and I don't mind doing the legwork for conversion. You've done quite a bit already with the project.

 

Thanks! I've actually got it all scripted out now so that it automatically breaks out the layers by type and generates the DeLorme .an1 files. If people want to take a look, I've posted the results at http://cid-46fe9a111e6619cb.skydrive.live....%7C_DeLorme.zip. Take a look and let me know your feedback; if all seems okay, I'll make this a regular part of Northwest Trails releases.

Edited by Moun10Bike
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intolerable

+intolerable

Posted
Posted

Yah you ran into the same issues I did and I was waiting for my cash flow to pick up a little bit to buy my own copy of Mapsource. If these can be out put as different GPX files so that the symbology maps correctly for each segment, I don't have a problem with hosting the layers on my website.... and I don't mind doing the legwork for conversion. You've done quite a bit already with the project.

 

Thanks! I've actually got it all scripted out now so that it automatically breaks out the layers by type and generates the DeLorme .an1 files. If people want to take a look, I've posted the results at http://cid-46fe9a111e6619cb.skydrive.live....%7C_DeLorme.zip. Take a look and let me know your feedback; if all seems okay, I'll make this a regular part of Northwest Trails releases.

 

You just made my day (again!)

 

While I'll have to wait to try this out, I really can't wait. Thanks so much!

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markandsandy

+markandsandy

Posted
Posted

Yah you ran into the same issues I did and I was waiting for my cash flow to pick up a little bit to buy my own copy of Mapsource. If these can be out put as different GPX files so that the symbology maps correctly for each segment, I don't have a problem with hosting the layers on my website.... and I don't mind doing the legwork for conversion. You've done quite a bit already with the project.

 

Thanks! I've actually got it all scripted out now so that it automatically breaks out the layers by type and generates the DeLorme .an1 files. If people want to take a look, I've posted the results at http://cid-46fe9a111e6619cb.skydrive.live....%7C_DeLorme.zip. Take a look and let me know your feedback; if all seems okay, I'll make this a regular part of Northwest Trails releases.

 

You just made my day (again!)

 

While I'll have to wait to try this out, I really can't wait. Thanks so much!

 

Ditto.

 

I'll try to look tonight. Thanks very much!

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TotemLake

+TotemLake

Posted
Posted (edited)

I loaded the layer for WA. I noticed at least 4 colors, red, light brown, dark brown, purple, light green and dark green with symbols for scenic, parking, trailheads and landing zones. The additional use of the symbols is great!

 

At first I thought the color coding would refer to types of roads and trails, but it looks like it's actually referencing where the data may have come from?

 

I'll go ahead and upload these tonight and try to get the page updated with the links.

Edited by TotemLake
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Moun10Bike

Moun10Bike

Posted
Posted

At first I thought the color coding would refer to types of roads and trails, but it looks like it's actually referencing where the data may have come from?

 

I have roads (paved and unpaved) in as road layers, which will blend in with the default roads (and overlap in some cases). The various types of trails are all in as drawing layers and appear as colored lines (with no labels, unfortunately, as that seems to be a limitation with drawing lines).

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TotemLake

+TotemLake

Posted
Posted

At first I thought the color coding would refer to types of roads and trails, but it looks like it's actually referencing where the data may have come from?

 

I have roads (paved and unpaved) in as road layers, which will blend in with the default roads (and overlap in some cases). The various types of trails are all in as drawing layers and appear as colored lines (with no labels, unfortunately, as that seems to be a limitation with drawing lines).

Ok that makes sense. The method for line size that is supposed to work is to have the line size, type and color selected in the Delorme software before importing the data. I'm unable to make that happen when converting from GPX to ANL. That's with my current version Delorme software. When I get the V7 with the PN-40se, I'll try it again.

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burgessfour

+burgessfour

Posted
Posted

Hi All!

I just saw Brian from Delorme at the REI in Tualatin! What a great machine this PN-40 seems to be, wow! I was there with a biker/pilot asking questions and when it came to the trails I mentioned that Mount10Bike was working on the NW trails and TotemLake was doing some testing. He was very familiar with you and very happy that you were doing this. I just wanted to let you know that :unsure:

Also, Brian said these are going to start hitting the shelves in the next week or two, so well before Christmas :D

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coreynjoey

+coreynjoey

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Posted

Delorme is adding more geocaching functionality to the PN series! Better sorting of caches and the ability to mark them as found/not found. When routing you can choose to 'hike' there or 'drive' there. They're working on the 'send to gps' function from the geocaching.com website, and what I think looks really cool, is a desktop widget that will allow a geocacher to use advanced search features to create queries and synchronize them with their Earthmate PN-Series device..and it'll remove the 800 character limit so you can see everything that you want to see, and it what order you want to see it. Very cool stuff!! It's great to see Delorme embracing geocaching!

 

More info here http://blog.delorme.com/2008/11/11/geocach...the-mac-and-pc/

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intolerable

+intolerable

Posted
Posted

Delorme is adding more geocaching functionality to the PN series! Better sorting of caches and the ability to mark them as found/not found. When routing you can choose to 'hike' there or 'drive' there. They're working on the 'send to gps' function from the geocaching.com website, and what I think looks really cool, is a desktop widget that will allow a geocacher to use advanced search features to create queries and synchronize them with their Earthmate PN-Series device..and it'll remove the 800 character limit so you can see everything that you want to see, and it what order you want to see it. Very cool stuff!! It's great to see Delorme embracing geocaching!

 

More info here http://blog.delorme.com/2008/11/11/geocach...the-mac-and-pc/

 

Sweet, thanks for posting that. I hadn't read any blogs the past few days and hadn't seen that :-) Awesome! After Christmas (when I can get my PN-40) seems sooooo far away ;-)

 

Lack of GSAK support is a drag though :P

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TotemLake

+TotemLake

Posted
Posted

Delorme is adding more geocaching functionality to the PN series! Better sorting of caches and the ability to mark them as found/not found. When routing you can choose to 'hike' there or 'drive' there. They're working on the 'send to gps' function from the geocaching.com website, and what I think looks really cool, is a desktop widget that will allow a geocacher to use advanced search features to create queries and synchronize them with their Earthmate PN-Series device..and it'll remove the 800 character limit so you can see everything that you want to see, and it what order you want to see it. Very cool stuff!! It's great to see Delorme embracing geocaching!

 

More info here http://blog.delorme.com/2008/11/11/geocach...the-mac-and-pc/

 

Sweet, thanks for posting that. I hadn't read any blogs the past few days and hadn't seen that :-) Awesome! After Christmas (when I can get my PN-40) seems sooooo far away ;-)

 

Lack of GSAK support is a drag though ;)

 

I wouldn't say lack of GSAK support is correct. True, you can't upload direct to the GPS, but you can export GPX, import to the map software (and soon to be released widget) then upload to the GPS.

 

I just posted a review of what I could evaluate while healing here.

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intolerable

+intolerable

Posted
Posted

Amazon has the PN-40 for $289 with free shipping! That's over $100 off! I wanted the SE, but man , that price is hard to pass up. Is there any difference with the SE besides the extra internal memory?

 

It's just the extra internal memory, although through Christmas DeLorme is shipping them with a belt case/clip and Maine calendar :laughing:

 

I've seen a few accounts of people mentioning they were quickly filling up the internal memory and it sounded like it was the SE version that were being used. But as the unit will take SDHC cards up to 32 gb, you could probably add on more than the 8 gb internal of the SE for much cheaper.

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TotemLake

+TotemLake

Posted
Posted (edited)

Amazon has the PN-40 for $289 with free shipping! That's over $100 off! I wanted the SE, but man , that price is hard to pass up. Is there any difference with the SE besides the extra internal memory?

 

It's just the extra internal memory, although through Christmas DeLorme is shipping them with a belt case/clip and Maine calendar :laughing:

 

I've seen a few accounts of people mentioning they were quickly filling up the internal memory and it sounded like it was the SE version that were being used. But as the unit will take SDHC cards up to 32 gb, you could probably add on more than the 8 gb internal of the SE for much cheaper.

That's all it is. For me, I go with the maxim, by the most you can afford now so you don't have regrets later. I made a promise to my wife 6 years ago the MeriPlat would last me at least 4 years and I went above and beyond that level so she was OK with me to do this upgrade. The proviso is, this will have to last me at least 4 years again. :D By that time, I should be ready for another quantum leap in an upgrade.

 

Oh and the belt clip and calendar are being sent to the pre-order customers also

Edited by TotemLake
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