User Review: DeLorme Earthmate GPS PN-20

DeLorme Earthmate GPS PN-20
Above: The current Earthmate GPS PN-20, which may differ slightly from the version reviewed.

Reviewed January 31, 2008 by Mark Goresky

Rating:
Price Paid: $369

The display is spectacular. The Delorme unit has all the standard features of a handheld GPS. You can download TOPO-USA maps to this GPS unit, and get high resolution maps for any place in the country. This is great!

However:
-- the unit is very slow to acquire satellites, compared to either my handheld Garmin or Magellan. From a window seat of almost any airplane I can get a fix with my Garmin and read the names of the cities that we are passing over. Even after many repeated attempts, I have never succeeded in getting a fix on my PN20 from a window seat.

-- the software is awkward and clumsy. With my Garmin,
you set a waypoint, say at the beginning of the hike, and then when you want to turn around you select "go to waypoint" and it automatically updates the direction to
the waypoint and the distance.

As far as I can tell, with the PN20 you need to first create a "route", then follow this route back to your waypoint. If your path is not straight, and you veer off the route, you will need to re-create the route. Ridiculous.

So now I carry my PN20 *and* my Garmin with me! The PN20 provides wonderful maps, if I have enough time to sit and fiddle with it. The Garmin gives me an instant update on my position and orientation.