January 19, 2010
There have been a lot of great questions posted since our announcement at CES: DeLorme and SPOT—Handheld GPS Meets Satellite Communication. I’ve gone through our blog, our forum, and a few other locations writing answers and providing more detail. Sometimes it can be hard to keep track of all the information, so I thought I’d bring the answers back here to our blog to keep everyone informed.
Differences between the PN-40, PN-60, and PN-60w…
- All the devices in the PN-Series line are built with the same form factor so don’t worry about your existing mounts, batteries, cables, or other accessories—they’ll still work.
- The PN-Series devices all use the same screen and the same GPS chipset so expect the same daylight readability and fast acquisition times.
- The PN-60 and PN-60w have an ambient light sensor to control the screen backlight and help with power management.
- The PN-60 and PN-60w have 3.5 GB of internal memory compared to the 500 MB in the 40.
- A PN-60wse to be sold directly from DeLorme will offer 8.0 16.0 GB of internal memory.
- Improvements have been made increasing processor speed and USB transfer rates.
- The PN-60w is the only device with a wireless antenna and the ability to connect to the SPOT Communicator.
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34 Comments | 
PN-40 News, PN-60 News | Tagged: Earthmate, GPS, PN-60, PN-60w, Technology | 
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Posted by Chip Noble - Design
January 6, 2010
Since word of our upcoming announcement is already trickling out, I thought I’d share a few details along with the press release that will be available at the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
SPOT Communicator
As you may have heard, DeLorme has partnered with SPOT to release a new PN-Series GPS device that will use the SPOT satellite system to communicate text messages from remote locations where cell phones don’t have coverage. The PN-60w will connect wirelessly to the SPOT Communicator and be able to send free form text messages to friends and family as well as to websites like Twitter and Facebook. We’re also working closely with the folks at Groundspeak to deliver some very exciting geocaching features, including the ability to log finds directly from the field!
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80 Comments | PN-60 News | Tagged: DeLorme, Earthmate, GPS, PN-60, PN-60w, SPOT, Technology | Permalink
Posted by Chip Noble - Design
December 6, 2009
There have been a few questions about our recent PN Pro firmware update, version 2.7. This update is intended for our professional XMap GIS users. It offers support for custom forms created in XMap that can be used to gather data in the field. Along with custom forms, the 2.7 firmware delivers the ability to save and open waypoints stored as GPX files on the SD card. The PN Pro user will also be able to save tracks to the SD card.
Storing waypoints and tracks on the SD card has caught the attention of many PN-40 owners who use Topo USA. I am writing this post to let all of you know that we are going to release a version 2.8 firmware update that delivers this same waypoint and track support on the SD card, as well as support for geocaches. You will be able to copy GPX files containing waypoints or tracks from Topo USA to your SD card and open them while you are out on the trail. You will also be able to save newly created waypoints and tracks while you’re out, for use later with the device or with your desktop software.
There is still a 1,000 waypoint or geocache limit for each GPX file and a track is still limited to 10,000 points with one active and one viewed; however, the size of the SD card you’re using is the only restriction for the number of files you can take with you! I’ve loaded every important waypoint and track file I’ve created over the years and have been thrilled with the ability to switch between Trek Across Maine cycling locations and Moosehead Lake upland spots. I’ve added waypoints to several different files during the same outing and have really enjoyed the added organization provided by separate files.
So for those of you looking at the 2.7 firmware update, keep in mind that we did not deliver support for the geocaching.com GPX attributes or the ability to open a track file that has been saved to the SD card. These features will be made available with the 2.8 firmware update that is expected to release in the Spring. If you are interested in seeing waypoint support on the SD card before then, the 2.7 firmware can be used with Topo USA, even with geocaching pocket queries, so long as you import them into Topo USA then export the GPX file from the Draw tab and transfer it to the PN. This puts the geocache point in the correct format for the pre-2.8 firmware to recognize.
I hope this helps clarify the firmware schedule for PN owners with Topo USA now that the PN-Pro firmware update has been released. Please let us know if you have any questions.
Thanks,
Chip Noble
Team DeLorme
6 Comments | PN-40 News | Tagged: DeLorme, Earthmate, firmware update, PN Pro, PN-40 | Permalink
Posted by Chip Noble - Design
July 23, 2009
Last night Team DeLorme met up with a group of geocachers for a cache run in Salt Lake City.
We started out at the Salt Lake City Travel Bug where we met the cache owner, Lefty624. He was very helpful and allowed us to hold a little meet and greet at his location. We were joined by cachers from the Utah Association of Geocachers as well as some cachers who were attending the Outdoor Retailer Show. We found five caches in all with most of them being pretty challenging micro and nano caches. Geooogle, a local cacher, showed of some exceptional geosense and helped with several of the difficult micros. Thanks to Firennice for sharing his local knowledge of Utah geocaching as well as helping to keep us out of the hot sun! Thanks also goes to Cache Advance for sharing more about using Textmarks for geocaching, check out her post for a cool way to share that you’ve found the cache. Congratulations to Cach-U-Nuts for winning the Eartha 3D geocoin!
Here are some photos from the event. Thank you to all that attended, it was a lot of fun to get out and geocache while visiting Utah!
Chip Noble
Team DeLorme
3 Comments | Fun Stuff, GPS In Use | Tagged: DeLorme, Earthmate, Geocaching, Outdoor Retailer, PN-40 | Permalink
Posted by Chip Noble - Design
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