An added bonus on the PN-40 is the ability to have multiple types of maps (layers) on the device. With the pathetic performance of the BT-20, I thought about a new GPS, primarily for geocaching, but also for some road navigation, finding points of interest, and “tracking” during a trip, so I could take the “track” file and then geotag the multitude of photos I take during road trips.Ī handheld model could fill all of these needs, and I chose the DeLorme PN-40.

The DeLorme PN-40 is my new handheld GPS. My problems were the result of running the mobile version of Street Atlas. You would have all of the maps, and no processing speed problems.

If combined with a laptop running Street Atlas, I am sure the performance would have been fine. However, this was not the fault of the BT-20 itself. Not only that, but searching for POIs was excruciatingly slow, and if you had the foolishness to even attempt creating a route more than 500 feet long, was impossible for the Palm to calculate. But aligning the squares for each map (you can’t overlap, that’s bad) was so frustrating, I gave up. I was sick for a week and was laid up in bed, so with my mom’s borrowed laptop, I managed to make some progress. It would have taken forever to get the entire US transferred to my Palm. The transfer was painfully slow and I could only cut small maps at a time. The problem is, more area = more grids = more data. Cutting the maps means to view the maps with gridlines on and select grids and form a map package with them. One would have to be in the Street Atlas software on the desktop PC and “cut” maps and transfer them to the device. What was not so good was basically, everything else! Getting maps onto the device was so cumbersome.

It would follow the map and show one’s position with speed and accuracy.

The device worked well in receiving a good GPS signal fast. My Palm TX had Bluetooth and was capable of running the mobile version of DeLorme Street Atlas. The DeLorme Earthmate BT-20 is a Bluetooth GPS unit that works on any device with Bluetooth capability. The first GPS unit I had was actually one I used with my Palm TX (see below). Here’s the lineup of my gadgets, past and present… GPS / Mapping / Travel DeLorme Earthmate BT-20 My addiction is to buying computer stuff, gadgets, electronics, etc. Most ladies’ shopping addiction is to clothes, jewelry, etc.

Delorme street atlas 2018