Manitoba Geocaching Association

MissionMode · Joined: 27 Nov 2009 Posts: 104

I am planning on buying a GPS unit and I definitely want to go paperless. The research I've done has led me to believe that the Delorme PN-40 is the best unit for my needs.

The problem is that I would really prefer to try one first and make sure. Most of the online retailers who sell it don't have very good return policies, or the don't ship to Canada. I've seen a few on eBay for around $300 but the same issue.

Amazon has them but they won't ship them to Canada for some reason.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

ertyu · Joined: 25 Apr 2005 Posts: 546 Location: Winnipeg

I don't think that you can get maps for Canada for Delorme units. Scratch that, they have scanned raster topo maps of Canada now. Thats still pretty limited mapping, no routing and would significantly hamper its usefulness.

lizardo · Joined: 02 Sep 2005 Posts: 497 Location: Winnipeg

I had a chance to use one of these last summer. It belonged to a fellow from Wisconsin. I worked great for him..till he crossed the border. There is no comparison between the maps for Canada and the ones for US.
As an example, he was able to zoom in to show me his tree stand and parking spot for where he hunts in Wisconsin, and for where we were in Canada, there were only the most significant roads. And satellite view maps were not great.
The menu system was pretty good, and the unit was fast to draw the screens.

MissionMode · Joined: 27 Nov 2009 Posts: 104

Thanks for the feedback. Clearly its not the right time for that unit. I'll have to give some thought to whether I look at the Oregon or Dakota, go with a more basic unit, or just stick with my Blackberry 9000. It's worked quite well so far and it does keep it all together, but I don't like using all of its battery while geocaching and of course its not very rugged.

MissionMode · Joined: 27 Nov 2009 Posts: 104

For some reason I am still kinda stuck on this model, so I did more looking on their forums. Doesn't this post describe the maps that were said to be missing?

http://forum.delorme.com/viewtopic.php?p=136484#p136484

I could really care less about the Topo contours but the regional streets would be really good to have. I have read that the topos can be downloaded too for free and converted using the included software. It appears that this support was added in the newest (8.0) version of the DVD package that comes with the unit.

Now, if only I can find someplace I could actually return it to if I do end up being unhappy, that won't charge me an arm and a leg. Would you believe the Americans can buy this for $199 right now from Amazon.com? That's amazing... but they won't ship it here.

ertyu · Joined: 25 Apr 2005 Posts: 546 Location: Winnipeg

As described the base map only contains major highways, much as Lizardo described above. In the past this often meant Manitoba was represented by Hwy 1, a chunk of the perimeter and Hwy 75. It might be more or less, but this really isn't a sufficient map if you want to use mapping at all.

MissionMode · Joined: 27 Nov 2009 Posts: 104

Absolutely. It's actually somewhat worse than that for the Delorme units. Their base map, even for the USA, only contains major routes like that. What they do is include 4 DVDs of detailed and topo maps in the package. Apparently the latest version (8.0) includes detailed maps of Canada, at the street level.

This morning I gave my location to a Delorme enthusiast who had the Canadian maps on his PN-40, and he was able to give me back the street, which block of numbers I am in, and the first part of the Postal Code. I think he tried to attach an image of it, but I am not seeing that.

So, the bad news is that its not so great out of the box, but with a little work loading some maps, it sounds like I am fully covered. If I can find an affordable unit then I'd like to try. I will let people know my experiences if I can find one.

dani_carriere · Joined: 04 Feb 2005 Posts: 478 Location: Winnipeg

I know someone who lives in New York state and uses a Delorme. He caches in Canada every once in a while. Did you want me to probe him for any information?

MissionMode · Joined: 27 Nov 2009 Posts: 104

I think I'm satisfied enough to try it if I can find one at a more reasonable price. I'm just not going to pay $400 if I know the Americans are buying them for $200 at Amazon.com.

ertyu · Joined: 25 Apr 2005 Posts: 546 Location: Winnipeg

I'm curious as to what features make this the best gpsr for you?

MissionMode · Joined: 27 Nov 2009 Posts: 104

Fully Paperless, card support, decent in daylight, quick redraw, decent buttons, and price. 3-axis compass is sorta nice-to-have.

To be honest, there is a great deal of "I can tell that the controls would be comfortable for the way I would use it" affecting my decision. I was just saying to a friend last night that if Garmin would make an eTrex style unit that had decent paperless support I would probably have gone for that just as well. That jog-switch is really easy to use. This isn't the sort of device that I would personally like to have a touch-screen for, especially in Winter and I know I will be caching in the winter (I just researched and found that it has a temperature range of -20 to 75 degrees Celsius.)

I'm a little concerned about the battery life but I am more of a day trekker so I am not concerned about using it for long enough periods that a spare set of batteries won't cover.

EDIT: I also wasn't interested in paying extra for a 3.2MP camera or built in LED flashlight when I already own better versions of both.

I tried the Triton 500 last night and its pretty close feature wise, but slow on the redraw and those teeny buttons were driving me crazy immediately.

I just bought the PN-40 off Amazon for $229 USD and they are shipping to a parcel service in North Dakota.