Customer Reviews

New Mexico Road and Recreation Atlas (Benchmark Maps: New Mexico)

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

 

 

The Benchmark atlases pioneered the combination of beautiful landscape maps with detailed road maps. I own the whole series, covering the mountain states of the US, and have watched them improve over multiple editions. In my opinion, the previous reviewer is unduly negative.

Larger scale doesn't necessarily mean greater utility. If the scale of a road atlas is too large, you have to turn the page too many times to get from one place to another, and it's difficult to visualize your route. Clear representation of the various classes of roads, at the RIGHT scale, makes an atlas most useful.

As a California resident and frequent visitor to New Mexico I've used both Benchmark books many times and recommend them highly.

I used this atlas in conjunction with my Garmin GPS on a trip to New Mexico this summer. I never had any trouble finding an "out of the way" destination. The GPS was handy but this atlas gave me the big picture - in great detail. When I returned home, my son-in-law, who lives in New Mexico, talked me out of the atlas. I was impressed that he wanted to keep it, because he is a Tech Head and this atlas is pretty low tech, - BUT very detailed and he saw that advantage.

Main complaint:
The scale on the pages is 400,000 to 1. This means you lose A LOT of detail.
I have the Nevada (280,000 to 1) & Utah (250,000 to 1) map books by Benchmark and the difference in usefulness is striking.

If you have the chance, take a look at the Utah vs New Mexico or Arizona books to see for yourself.

Rather than have the large scale "landscape" maps and then fine scale detail maps (as they do with the Nevada and Utah books) Benchmark just uses the same scale, same maps and just changes the background information.
All four of the "four corner" map books should be at the same scale, all under 300,000 to one.

I wrote directly to Benchmark with feedback concerning this and other issues and they could not bother with a reply. I will think twice before buying their products again.