3 of 3 customers found the following review helpful:
 A bargin, 2006-01-19
I have used Topo USA 4 for two years now and have found it to be a very good product for my needs. At first I found it frustrating to use but as I used my head and figured out how it works I really like it. Contrary to what some say, DeLorme always promptly responding to my inquiries on line.
I think you have to be realistic about learning to use a product that is this complicated. It is amazing that you get maps covering the etire U.S. and the ability to download to a GPS for under a $100. Just using the maps for information would be worth that much.
I have used TOPO USA to plan and map hikes in Co(on at least six fourteeners and dozens of other hikes ),UT,CA,TX,OR,NV,AZ,MN,ME,VT,MT,FL, and have never found any significant errors. As a matter of fact I have been amazed how often the trails on the maps are extremely accurate.
I have used TOPO 4 to find parts of the Oregon trail, roads in Nevada and Utah and found it very accurate. Of course it can't be up to date in all respects at this price.
I would suggest that users realize that a product with this much information is a godsend and try their best to figure it out and they will be glad that they did. I was one of those who at first was planning to send it back and am glad that I didn't.
2 of 4 customers found the following review helpful:
powerful program for the money, 2004-03-22
I found this software to be a great buy. I had no problems with the 3D features. I was worried because I installed it on a computer that was about 2yrs old but it worked fine. I did have to read the manual that comes on the disc to get to know all the features and how to use them to full advantage. (it would have been nice if it came with a hard copy but you can print it out). This program is very powerful for the money. For a quick example, by just clicking on the screen you can get distances or even acreage computed. Considering the cost and features of this program I would give it 5 stars. To get better software you would have to spend many times the cost of this program.
8 of 9 customers found the following review helpful:
 Not as up-to-date as one would hope, 2004-01-10
Just purchased Topo USA 4.0 Mountain States Region for $39.98. This is a good product, but the maps are way out of date. For example, I live in an area that is over 6 years old and still does not show up in the maps -- period. In fact, I'm amazed how out of date these maps appear. My little old Microsoft Streets & Trips 2004 is much more up to date. That's a shame because Topo USA 4.0 gives me the layout of the land, elevation, etc. It believe it also will update it's screen about once a second from my Garmin GPS while Streets and Trips updates about once every 15-30 seconds.If Topo USA 4.0 had maps as up to date as Streets and Trips, It would be 100% better IMHO. As it is now, I have to continue using Streets and Trips because I do need to locate streets that have been built within the last 6 years. I am quite disappointed actually. I have already spend more than $300 on DeLORME mapping products over the last 3 years and each time I find some problem that makes the product half as useful as it should be. They should tell me on the cover of the CD how old the maps are because this is silly to have such old maps.
7 of 10 customers found the following review helpful:
 Far from what it is billed to be, 2003-10-01
If you are interested in seeing 3D renditions of terrain then this has something to offer. The problem comes when you want to try and navigate the wilderness in any way. The trails, while routable, are extremely far from comlpete, and Mapquest is much better at creating street routes. Also, the interface gives you the option to make certain points of interest visible, but the program will NOT show them no matter what. You can search for specific campgrounds, and most can be found, but none are visible. This is true of many POIs. They are there in the database but can not be seen. I talked to Delorme about this, they said "TopoUSA is for terrain and not POIs, that is what Street Atlas USA is for." If a program is billed as "Great for Camping...", and it has the campground information then it should display it!Because of the lack of secondary trials and useful POIs this program is hard to bill as more than an expensive toy to look at terrain in 3D. While it rounds many formations that are rather sharp, it is pretty decent at 3D. Otherwise it is fairly useless.
7 of 9 customers found the following review helpful:
 Doesn't Work on New Systems, 2003-09-05
I bought an earlier version of Topo on DVD. I was satisfied with it but then I upgraded to Windows XP and my DVD will no longer work. Delorme doesn't support the older version and suggests I buy a new one at full price. They didn't offer a lower cost upgrade. So beware if you buy this software. It may not work with Microsoft's next OS upgrade!
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