Help:DeLorme or TOPO!

“1st. post. I'm from Ca. These boards are great! Question for the group: I got Delormes TOPO USA thinking it was a great deal. I short it sucks,tons of missing detail. (If you want to know more just ask) To make me happy cust. service offered me their "Topo3-D" quads (exact scans of USGS 7.5' maps)for half price;$99. I took the deal. Now I find out that National Geographic/ Wildflower TOPO! just dropped their price from $199 to $99. Do I keep the DeLorme or return it and get the N.G. TOPO? Thanks”

“I download all my USGS DRG maps for free. If someone has a more detailed map I have not seen it. There are more current maps, but if you are navigating through hollers and cricks and over ridges it don't matter.”

“Yep, Delorme pretty much sucks. I do like TOPO!, inspite of it print problems.”

“I love my TOPO's, a friend has the DeLorme, they shouldn't even be called maps. Bacpac is correct, you can download whatever you want free, but there are advantages to the Wildflower/TOPO's if you need/use them...first, you can select & print the area you want... you won't have to download multiple maps & tape them together... second, I really like to do the fun stuff... build elevation profiles, insert labels, take bearings on major landmarks & paste the data into my map, etc. They can be great teaching tools for those just getting into map reading.”

“BTW Roadwilly, I'm also CA...where ya' from?”

“Ditto on the TOPO!

Naviguesser, I initially had print problems when I first got TOPO!, but I've solved them, after much frustration, and disappointment with TOPO! support people. I basically learned on my own, can I help ya?

I like the TOPO! a lot, like Wanderer, it's "fun" to take advantage of its features. The "State" series, now at $99, seems to me to lack some of the detail available with the individual CD's, but, I don't have the state, so can't truly speak from experience, other than what I've had playing with it at REI.

Roadwilly, Go for the TOPO!”

“Thanks, maybe we can talk on the Llama trip.”

“wanderer,

The USGS provides a free viewer that allows two or more adjacent maps to print seamlessly. Look on their site for the DLGV32 download.

It takes a little editing, but not much.”

“Cartographers rule.”

“Where is your free map stuff kleety? Oops sorry. I guess you would actually have to work to produce a map.”

“You! Off my planet!”

“thanks for the tip bacpac, I'll check it out. There are times I need maps for areas my CD's don't cover, that will help!”

“Try topozone.com for free maps.”