DeLorme Introduces Earthmate LT-20 Laptop GPS for $99
DeLorme, the company that pioneered GPS for laptop PCs in the 1990s, now introduces Earthmate GPS LT-20 at the breakthrough price of just $99.95.
This newest device, along with the included Street Atlas USA 2005 software, delivers a broad range of location, mapping, and routing features not found in other higher-priced systems. Powerful DeLorme features include voice navigation, automatic back-on-track routing, a high-contrast screen setting to overcome in-vehicle glare, and large arrows and directions type that alert users to upcoming turns based on their GPS position.
The DeLorme concept turns laptop PCs into powerful GPS navigation systems, allowing the increasing numbers of laptop owners to realize the many benefits of GPS navigation. A laptop’s large screen size is ideal for in-vehicle viewing by a passenger/navigator. Because the laptop is now the GPS display, you can bring it with you in any vehicle (unlike expensive built-in systems).
DeLorme has been serving the laptop GPS market since the mid-1990s. With a decade’s worth of research, innovation, and customer feedback behind its development, the new Earthmate GPS LT-20 is well ahead of its competitors and provides an ideal way for active travelers to stay on track when visiting unknown places.
It also compares favorably with many much more expensive in-car GPS systems. Earthmate GPS LT-20 offers exceptionally fast satellite acquisition times and is WAAS-enabled for accuracy within three meters. In addition to the exclusive features previously described, users can also count on up-to-date street and road coverage, effortless routing, and over 4 million points of interest. The included Street Atlas USA 2005 software is updated annually.
Earthmate GPS LT-20 does not require batteries. It is powered by the user’s laptop PC via the USB port. The receiver’s base-band GPS chipset is from ST Microelectronics, the worldwide leader in chip technologies. This chipset is very power efficient, requiring minimal battery power from the laptop.
Also on board is the SiGE Semiconductor low-power RF chip front-end, integrated with DeLorme software and firmware to provide extremely fast satellite acquisition times, noise reduction, and premium performance.
Having just received the Earthmate GPS LT-20 & Street Atlas USA 2008, I installed the software, waited 5 minutes for a sat link and then found that streets in the area that had been in existence for greater than 7 years were not included in the “updated maps”. POI information was consistently incorrect in location and in actual businesses no longer in business. Although it was inexpensive and should have warned me, the name DeLorme clouded my better judgement. Never again!
Does DeLorme (or a third-party vendor) have European (specifically Italian) software/maps available for the LT-20?
The LT-20 just connects to your computer and tells your computer where it is. DeLorme doesn’t have European maps that I know of, but other software programs that do could connect to the LT-20 to receive the GPS information.
I really must agree to comment #1. De Lorme sent me up a dirt road and at the end, the road was blocked by a locked gate. I also had to remove fallen trees on that road. Locations were no longer where the POIs told me (hotels that were in the list) and the voice commands sometimes told me to take other directions than indicated on the screen (like “turn left” and the route on the screen indicated right). I wonder why that thing was called 2008.
If one selects shortest route, the software should still keep you on a driveable road (not everyone has 4WD).
I just returned it at my local store.