Customer Reviews

Earthmate GPS BT-20 2010

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The reception with this GPS was extremely poor. I tested it in an area where I get great reception with my TomTom and the reception kept fading out. I would recommend spending a little more on a TomTom GPS. I have tried Garmin GPS's also and found the TomTom far superior. I returned this item to DeLorme.

I've had it with DeLorme. I'll continue buying the occasional update to their topographic maps because they are the only reasonably priced solution out there and my needs are not critical.

But their Street Atlas has an antiquated, clumsy, difficult to use interface; the navigational and points of interest data is often erroneous or out of date.

And the BT-20 Bluetooth GPS supplied in this package is absolutely useless.

It is sitting right now, connected via Bluetooth to my computer, with a clear view of the southern, eastern and western sky. After more than an hour, the utterly worthless DeLorme BT-20 finally recognized 2 satellites. I put my smartphone right next to it, turned on GPS and within a minute locked on to 10 of 11 satellites.

A several years old unit that came with Microsoft Streets & Trips had no problems either.

Maybe, some day, I will update my Topo maps and if DeLorme is still the only player in the low priced space, I might buy an upgrade.

Otherwise I don' plan on ever buying a DeLorme product again and strongly recommend that you don't either. DeLorme products simply aren't worth the money.

Jerry

I purchased the product specifically for the bundled Palm OS support. Pairing the BT-40 to a Palm Centro is spotty at best. Add to that the lost pairing during an incoming call, and the product is virtually worthless for mobile Palm use.

I haven't spent much time with the PC-based software. I'm sure (or I hope) it's much better.

I have many GPS units. This is not the best nor the worst. I wanted to connect it via bluetooth to my netbook to have a large screen GPS in my motorhome. It works for that. Some of my GPS units will lock onto satellites while inside my house; this one won't. But, when it is sitting on the dash of the motorhome with a clear view, it had no problem locking up on nine or ten satellites. I liked it well enough that I bought a second one so that I don't have to move it to another vehicle.

Bluetooth setup could have been better documented, but I got it to work. It is compatible with 5VDC and mini-USB, so any new cell phone charger will work with it and its included charger and DC plug will charge a cell phone as well. So for the price, I got map software for my netbook, an OK GPS, and a cell/GPS charger. I am satisfied.

This is a full featured mapping program. Good detail and a valuable resource plus with the GPS unit it has full capability. A bit complex with no good set of instructions.....a good manual or tutorial would be of value.

I love the Delorme Earthmate mapping software! I find it easy to use - like it a lot! Run - don't walk from the BT-20 bluetooth gps! It is TRASH! I spent huge amounts of time trying to make it work! I am pretty computer savvy and could not make it happen. I spent a lot of time on the phone/email with tech support. I finally sent the gps unit in, only to have them return it and tell me nothing is wrong. To this day I can't make it work via bluetooth. I does work if I connect it with the usb cord. The point is I paid to have the convenience of bluetooth!

After using the BT-20 on a train trip to Florida I have changed my opinion of it. It did a poor job of maintaining a lock on the satellites when large trees were close to the track. During the same trip I used a QSTARZ BT-Q1000X that never lost the satellite lock for the entire trip. I won't be using the BT-20 anymore.


The QSTARZ BT-Q1000X is compatible with Street Atlas on my Samsung Netbook (Windows XP, SP3). See my review of the QSTARZ.

USB interface works on all of my devices.
Bluetooth works on Win-7 and ViewSonic G-tablet.
Bluetooth does not work on my dual-boot MSI Wind netbook when on WinXP; but works great when booted on Win-7 on same netbook.
Our configuration lets us see our remote IP cameras on split screen with Streets & Trips doing the GPS. OR the bundled DeLorme mapping stuff too.