Delorme EarthMate Roadwarrior for handheld?

[Guest Fooddude]

Does anyone have experience with this unit/company? I am considering the EarthMate Roadwarrior bundle for Sony Clie handheld (palm platform).

 

I recently used the Hertz Neverlost system in a rent car, and was pretty impressed. I am looking for a unit which can help in auto travel across the US, and this Earthmate unit, working with the palm is pretty inexpensive, considering. I don't want to under-buy and be disappointed. I really like the turn by turn feature, voice commands (from the unit), and color maps. Any ideas/input/suggestions?? Thanks in advance! D

[Guest bunkerdave]

This was the first unit I purchased. I hated it. I took it back 3 days later and got my current Map330, which I love.

 

The Earthmate took forever to get a lock, would not keep it, and the cord was always in the way. Also, my PDA (a Palm 3c) was too slow and didn't have enough memory to really run the GPS, along with the other stuff on there.

 

Street Atlas is good software, and Delorme does a good job with maps and software. My recommendation to them is to stick with maps. You should be able to get a decent GPS, and if you want the software, it seems you could plug it in to your Palm, or a laptop (the RoadWarrior is really not all that cool in a PDA, it works much better in a laptop) and the turn-by-turn directions should work just fine.

 

Also, the Earthmate needs its own batteries, besides being a drain on your PDA. I assume your PDA has a lithium, but even so, recharging can be a pain.

 

Just my 25 cents worth. Good luck.

[Guest Fooddude]

Thanks Bunkerdave.

 

With all the ads in today's paper, I am leaning to a GPS 5 for 499 and you get a free Palm M100! I did a price comparison online, and with shipping/tax considerations, this looks like a pretty good deal. Of course, I was first tempted with a discontinued GPS III, for 99$.

Thanks, again.

[Guest Hamster]

If you want to spend it, the GPS V is the way to go. Its a good GPS for Geocaching, but does excellent in the car. You can put in an address and it will guide you there. Also, if you want to use it with a computer you can use the included cable to hook it up.

 

I got mine for $414 from www.onlinemarine.com shipping was free also because I mentioned sci.geo.satellite-navigation newsgroup.

 

I'm very happy with the unit. Although I ended up getting the Mapsource Maps with it.

[Guest bunkerdave]

A PDA is a great tool for caching, and for any other GPS sport. I am also into GeoDashing, and have taken up County Highpointing. The M100 is too small memory-wise for most of my apps, but would be adequate for maintaining a Geocache database. I store all the caches in my state on my memo pad, which is a little bit of work initially, but it is sure nice to know that when a cache pops up on my GPS screen, I also have the details in my PDA.

 

Your Clie probably has loads of memory, though, so I would recommend getting as many caches as you can in there, and see if you aren't just as pleased with it as I am.

 

Happy Caching -