More DeLorme Comparisons

[Lemonhead]

Was thinking of getting a friend a PN-20 for x-mas. I have a PN-30. What will i be able to do that the PN-20 won't? Will it be able to do the Cache register app? Guess that is the main question.

I know that it will have to have a premium membership.

 

Thanks.

lemn

Edited December 15, 2009 by Lemonhead

[+snow_rules]

The PN20 will work with CR just slower. I have a PN40 and a PN20 and both can be used with CR or GSAK. The PN20 does have a lower limit of characters then the 30/40 and if loaded with a lot of caches it can be very slow. I would recommend getting a 30 instead of the 20 if you can afford it. Don't knnow what the 20s are going for now but you can find some good deals on the 30.

[+Packanack]

Delorme has deals now the PN 30 is sub 200

[+Minimike2]

The PN-40 is hitting $200 on occasion.

[Lemonhead]

Thanks guys. So would you all say that the 20 and the 30 do the same things just that the 20 is slower?

[+TotemLake]

Thanks guys. So would you all say that the 20 and the 30 do the same things just that the 20 is slower?

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I recall the PN-20 holds fewer characters on the geocache descriptions. the PN-30/40 holds up to 15K, but I believe the PN-20 was 800 or 2K. I forget as I didn't follow the upgrade too closely.

Edited December 16, 2009 by TotemLake

[NordicMan]

The last time I looked, websites like tigergps.com and rei.com no longer list the PN-20 for sale.. which makes me think Delorme is going to discontinue that model pretty soon if not already..

 

That shouldn't be a huge concern though, they will still honor the warranty & support of the unit for some time to come.

[+coggins]

I have a PN-30. What will i be able to do that the PN-20 won't?

I would think get a fix in more trying conditions from what I understand the PN-30 has a high sensitivity receiver and the PN-20 does not. This shouldn't be an issue most of the time.

[+embra]

Speed, the 2K limit (I think that's what I recall, too), and the inability to use the Navionics lakes & marine charts.

 

I note that the Delorme site says the PN-20 is out of stock, too. Somehow I think they'd pull it down if they weren't going to continue to sell it.

[Lemonhead]

I think it was a list of sellers that i was going through on Amazon, and one of them said "Discontinued". Just figured it was a typo.

[+synthacide]

Ehhh... we're gettin away from the point... I have a 40, it rocks.. but none the less get your friend a 30, if thats in your budget (20 is a bit of a relic)... you'll be rewarded with a cachin buddy (priceless) and the 30 will become a backup for you both one day... ask for an umbrella from him and get those shoes muddy, who says you cant cache in the rain...

Edited December 16, 2009 by synthacide

[+Woodstramp]

As the owner of a PN-20 who once got to try out a PN-40 (a PN-30 is a PN-40 minus the E-compass and altimeter)......I highly recommend that you get your friend a PN-30.

 

The PN-20 is Wiley Coyote. The -30/40 is the Road Runner.

[Lemonhead]

Thanks guys. So would you all say that the 20 and the 30 do the same things just that the 20 is slower?

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I recall the PN-20 holds fewer characters on the geocache descriptions. the PN-30/40 holds up to 15K, but I believe the PN-20 was 800 or 2K. I forget as I didn't follow the upgrade too closely.

 

So what does that equate to in performance? Slower redraws? Or so much info it gags and locks up?

[+twolpert]

Don't own a -20 myself. However, the concensus in forum posts seems to be that the -20 redraw speed is considerably slower than the -30/-40, particularly with downloaded imagery (as opposed to the vector maps from Topo USA). I have seen it desribed as adequate for hiking speeds, but not so much for driving speeds.

[+TotemLake]

Thanks guys. So would you all say that the 20 and the 30 do the same things just that the 20 is slower?

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I recall the PN-20 holds fewer characters on the geocache descriptions. the PN-30/40 holds up to 15K, but I believe the PN-20 was 800 or 2K. I forget as I didn't follow the upgrade too closely.

 

So what does that equate to in performance? Slower redraws? Or so much info it gags and locks up?

Performance wise? Probably negligible. However, some cache pages are long-winded and 2000 characters may not be enough to get to the logs. so even though it is paperless, it is limited by characters length.

[+embra]

Well..."negligible" is in the eye of the beholder. I was happy enough with my PN-20, but there were others who tried it and seemed to regard it as death by slow molasses. Since moving to the PN-40, I would have a hard time going back.

 

It rarely freezes up, but you'll have slower redraws, slower sort times on large waypoint files, and longer routing calculations. If you are using any map imagery beyond the included vector topos, my memory seems to recall redraws that could take 10 or 20 seconds. There are workarounds for some of these, but the PN-20 is underpowered for the processing demands being placed on it.

 

I've long been an advocate for the PN-20 as a great value for what it delivers. But with the PN30 and PN40 dipping below $200, I advise going up the next notch unless you are both patient of temper and modest in your GPS needs...partly because of performance but also because of the firmware limitation that TL pointed out.

 

There's this, too: as long as you buy from an authorized vendor, DeLorme will accept returns up to 30 days. So you can try it out and if you decide it's too slow, you can bail on it.

[+Team CowboyPapa]

Don't own a -20 myself. However, the concensus in forum posts seems to be that the -20 redraw speed is considerably slower than the -30/-40, particularly with downloaded imagery (as opposed to the vector maps from Topo USA). I have seen it desribed as adequate for hiking speeds, but not so much for driving speeds.

I have used the PN-20 for geocaching and I agree with tp's note:

While slower on redraw than the -30 and -40,

I did not outwalk it going to a cache.

Until the PN-40 became available,

I did not consider replacing it for lack of redraw speed, or other.

 

I expect to be out caching in a few hours.

If something unexpected happens to my -40 shortly,

I would not hestitate putting my old -20 back in the game.