Customer Reviews

DeLorme Street Atlas USA 2010 Plus [OLD VERSION]

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Having used Microsoft Streets since its first release, I was reluctant to even try another product. I was grossly mistaken. The learning curve (for me) was a slight bit slower than the old familiar "Streets", but now that I have been using DeLorme Street Atlas for a couple of months, I have deleted "Streets" and use DeLorme exclusively. There are many extremely valuable tools (including a street level phone directory) and the routing options are far more comprehensive than those found in Streets. I recommend this product to all those (myself included) who are directionally challenged!

Overall a good program, but has one serious flaw (for an RV driver) in that it does not distinguish dirt roads from paved roads. While driving a 38' motorhome towing a car, I got 20 miles out on a 2 lane paved road that suddenly turned into a small dirt road without any warning. Since I didn't want to continue on a dirt road and there was no place large enough for a u-turn, I had to unhook the car and jockey the motorhome to get it turned around. This wasted an hour of our time as well as fuel which resulted in a lot of unnecessary frustration.


Pros: Good features and fairly user friendly. In spite of the cons listed below, I would recommend the program.

Cons: Not distinguishing between the types of roads; some maps are not up to date (as well as mis-labeled.) Also, the POI's for non-urban areas are lacking (known restaurants, gas stations, campgrounds are not listed). (My Garmin GPS shares the same downfalls.)

Bottomline: Great for mapping out a route; just be sure of the drive-ability of the roads it may take you on.

the software loaded fine and it detected my internal gps ( viliv x70 ) without a problem just made sure the baud rates matched . it is a little more complicated than other software or gps units i have tried but i think once you get used to it it will be fine , the voice commands work as they should , the one problem i have and i think its big is that at least one of the towns near me is incorrect being that i know the town near me is not correct can i really trust that there are not other problems like this ( poi's are also effected by this problem)away from my area .according to what i have read you can send this info to delorme . they did respond quickly to a e-mail about a general question.

I enjoyed using prior versions of this software, but the 2010 update falls short. In this "new and improved version" you are forced to use Advanced File Management, which means you must create draw layer files for each use which is fine if you need to do that. Older versions (as well as the non-Plus version) permit you to use both Advanced and Simplified File Management; this one only lets you use Advanced which is absurd. Customer service was not helpful in rectifying my issue, I will be using another company's products from now on.

Well, I did it again. In a moment of weakness, I bought DeLorme Street Atlas USA 2010 Plus, having sworn never to buy a version of this product again.

It is just as bad as ever.

The GUI is strictly stone age, feeling like something out of the DOS era. The first time you use the Help file - which you will definitely need - you must be connected to the internet. (As an aside, you cannot install the program without first filling in a rather detailed registration form.) Then you have to download a PDF file. Why not just install it to begin with?

Nothing is intuitive with DeLorme Street Atlas USA 2010 Plus. I've used earlier versions, so I am familiar with the interface, but I doubt that a new user would feel comfortable, especially if they are accustomed to using a program like Microsoft Streets & Trips or a standalone GPS or online maps.

The cartography - that is the appearance of the maps - is also antiquated. Route presentation is painful to view in that the color of the route does not have high contrast with the background. Planning a route is cumbersome. Reviewing the turn by turn directions is difficult.

To their credit, the DeLorme Points Of Interests seem to be reasonably up to date. I was also able to find addresses in Street Atlas that I could not locate in the newest Streets & Trips, so points for that as well.

The phone data is handy. But it doesn't work all that well. For example, I looked up a fast food restaurant. I first had to click on the restaurant location I wanted tomove it to another window where I could then double-click it to find it on the map. Well, in this particular case, the restaurant is not included in the DeLorme Points Of Interest file.

I bought this as part of a package with a DeLorme Bluetooth GPS. The GPS doesn't work so I am not able to review it at this time.

Overall, I am not pleased. I have not been pleased with DeLorme Street Atlas USA for a long time. I gave into an impulse and regret it. I will be calling for an RMA in the morning.

Jerry

I purchased Delorme's Street Atlas Plus belieiving it had many more useful features than Streets & Trips. While that may be true, the layout and interface are so difficult to use, I think I'm going to ditch the program and go back. My suggestion..try it before you buy, or sign up for a free demo!

DeLorme makes good mapping software. It works well for me as I need to map several addresses and see them in a 2-d display, like looking at a map on a table, and then I can route myself effectively. I can then start my bluetooth GPS, still compatible (money saver) from an older version of DeLorme (2007) mapping software, see myself in relation to the locations I am mapping and then drive the most effective route saving time and money. A normal in car GPS like a Garmin doesn't give me the flexability to see all of the locations at once because of the small screen size. With Delorme I have not only a full function GPS, but map software and all of this is just one part of my full function laptop. It is not the same as a regular GPS but DeLorme has gotten closer with the newer 3-d option that gives you a typical GPS view and a lot of that functionality. I personally prefer the flexibility of the DeLorme product to a dedicated GPS, and if you need to map multiple locations to plan your day (like a sales or delivery route) you will too!

I've used Delorme products for years and consider it the best map software there is. Have drawn my whole farm and Platte maps on it.

This is a very useful mapping program. The software uses layers to draw on. There are tools to add streets to the existing template as well as colored lines . You can also create or use existing images to "drop" on the map and label these. I found the "Print" process is difficult to adjust to the size map you want.
The template for my area is outdated and when I checked with the company I was told that, "because of the remote location" (Hawaii) there were no plans to update.
Be prepared to spend some time discovering the features as the program is not very intuitive. The "Help" in the program is useful and you can print out the instructions.
All in all, I'm satisfied with my purchase and look forward to learning more of it's features.

Amazon was very efficient in filling my order and delivering this product. Well pleased!

I upgraded my copy of Street Atlas because DeLorme told me my old version was incompatible with Windows 7. I uninstalled my old version and installed the 2010 version. It turned out that I had to give this software administrative privileges to even load, and it does so quite slowly. I followed DeLorme's advice to do a complete uninstall, then turned off all processes via MSCONFIG, including anti-virus and disabling the UAC, and did a clean installation.

The software still requires administrator privileges to even finish loading and does so very slowly*. Further, if you move the Start Menu icons to where you want them, Street Atlas will rebuild them in a prominent area of the Start Menu.

While the program itself is very nice, I may abandon the software after this version due to the start up issues. Too bad as I have been a loyal DeLorme customer for well over a decade.

*Win7 Pro 64bit with a dual-core processor, 4GB of RAM and a big, fast hard drive. No excuse for this.