Customer Reviews

Topo USA 8.0 West Region

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

 

 

I have been a user of DeLorme's Topo series software for several years. I use them for GPS-guided back country Jeep travel in the deserts of California, Nevada, and Arizona.

This Topo 8 "upgrade" is useless for my needs. While adding "150,000 new streets and roads" to their database, Delorme has removed literally thousands of miles of the back country desert roads I use from their maps. I contacted DeLorme Tech Support and the gentleman explained that compromises have to be made to keep the database manageable. If that's the case, I feel DeLorme should be informing their buyers that Topo 8 has removed as much data from their maps as they claim they have added.

The Topo 8 product may work well for you, but as for me, I'm returning the software to Amazon (thank you) and re-installing the older version Topo 6 until I can see what Garmin and some of the other map software vendors have to offer.

Thanks!

I am quite disappointed in this Delorme map product. I have used their printed atlases and gazeteers for many years and have always found them to be excellent products. Generally speaking, if they showed a road or trail, you could bet it would be there when you went looking for it.
I was expecting their computerized maps to be equally reliable, but this is far from the case. Three quick examples: 1) The map shows an indian trail passing through my house that never existed. No person in his right mind would use a trail that rises 600 feet in elevation at an almost 30 degree angle when he could just ride along the bottom of the adjacent level river valley. 2) The map shows a small road leading from the main road to my house from the east, whereas my little road really comes from in the north. Were one to unquestioningly follow the map instructions, he would immediately drop over the edge of a 200 foot cliff into the middle of a forest of full-grown pine trees. 3) I do a lot of 4-wheeler riding around here (Idaho) and am quite conversent with the local trails and back roads. Quite a few of these trails, etc are either missing from the map, misplaced, or mislabelled (trails shown as roads or vice versa, etc). One of the more egregious errors is that one main trail that leads to an Idaho State Park and that is used by dozens of riders during a typical weekend is not shown on this map at all.
I purchased this map hoping to replace an Idaho National Geographic Topo map that I bought in 2001. I really expected to get a map that covered the entire Western US in as good a detail as the NG map covered Idaho. The reality is that the old map is much better.
As pointed out earlier, my previous experience with Delorme maps had been very good, but this product is very poor. Maybe it would be okay for those wanting to stay on the main roads, but if you want to travel trails and back roads, it is not reliable enough to use. Trying to use these maps could at best lead to considerable lost time and frustration and could, at worst, lead into dangerous and even life-threatining situations. Buy their printed state atlases instead.

My sole purpose for purchasing Topo 8.0 was to locate BLM land for camping. I had been told by DeLorme sales that BLM land boundaries would be visible. I spent many hours Googling, forum chatting, and attempting to make BLM land visible. Eventually, I got a response from a helpful person at DeLoreme support. Turns out, you have to download some extra data. And, the BLM info is very low resolution.

The product is loaded with features, but the interface requires a learning curve. No manual is included, but you can download a fairly complete one from the web. This product might deserve more stars, but I gave it 3 due to all the time I had to invest to get close to what I wanted and expected.

I am running Topo 8.0 on a Mac with Windows XP on a VMware Fusion virtual machine. It works fine, without installation difficulties. The GPS receiver is a [very nice] GlobalSat BU-353. All the software and the GPS are available from Amazon.

Well the Topo maps are good but I baught it to use with my Garmin Legend HCx, when I read about it, it was to be compatible with my garmin the only thing that is compatible is the transfering of the way points....The maps are a .tpx file and the garmin can use .gdb,.mps,.gpx and .loc files. I did contact Delorme Customer support they were no help.
With this I hope it helps in choosing a GPS software.

Hey,

sorry that it needs a lot of time to post my review.You now I am from Germany and my English is not that good.
Both parts were absolutly OK, also the time it needed to Germany by post was about three weeks. I hope in summer we fly to the northwest of the USA to have a nice time in this landskape.

Best greetings from

Helga Otto-Huter