PN-60w and SPOT Communicator: Question and Answer…

January 19, 2010

Update: 2010/07/16 at 7:14 am

Good news… SPOT received their FCC certification paperwork last night so we are good to go with offering the PN-60 w SE for sale now with the SPOT unit to follow later in August when available.

As communicated in my blog posts, DeLorme customers who have signed up will be notified via email today with a link that will lead them to a total of $150 in savings for this combination product. We are doing this in part to thank many of you for your patience while we have been waiting for the SPOT cert to come through.

This way you can step up to the SE model with 16-GB of internal memory now and then later when available receive a SPOT unit shipped at our expense with a total savings amount that equals the cost of the SPOT unit when sold alone. It’s a great offer and only available for existing DeLorme customers as part of our loyalty program, especially given that supplies are genuinely limited (I know everyone always says this but it is true).

You can also call us at 800-561-5105 if you prefer over email and our East Coast call center opens at 9 AM this morning to help you.

Our supply of SE units is smaller than I had hoped but we do have more being produced now. Anyone who signed up to be notified will be eligible for this introductory offer through this summer and then we will need to see how inventories are looking and plan from there out.

We have recently received some very exciting news about this product combination, some involving a major tech celebrity who will be using it soon and others involving prestigious advance award notifications, which we hope will come to fruition. (Amazon has already named it one of the Top Tech Products of the Year.)

This is truly a fun and fascinating new product pairing based on my own experiences and we are all excited and feel like we are on the cusp of seeing the rewards of our labors. This has been one of those rare stretch projects where two teams (DeLorme plus SPOT) had to work together with a great deal of complex technologies and boil them all down into a product that many people will be able to enjoy.

So thanks again for your patience and I will continue to provide updates here so you know how supplies and timings are looking as we continue down the road.

p.s. I imagine Chip will make a post or two but he is getting ready to go on a private climb with the top editors of Backpacker who are eager to see it all work and report back from remote locations. We also are a sponsor of the Boy Scouts’ 100-year Jamboree and will have many people there running GPS and geocaching sessions. We also will be attending the Midwest Geobash this summer.

CMason
DeLorme Staff

PN-60w and SPOT Communicator: Question and Answer…
Published: Jan 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.

Read the rest of this entry »


Firmware Updates…

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


PN-40 is top selling GPS in November on GPSTracklog.com

December 3, 2009

The Earthmate PN-40 finished in the top spot for sales in the Sport/Fitness category!

http://gpstracklog.com/2009/12/top-ten-gp-november-2009.html


DeLorme GPS Black Friday Deals

November 23, 2009

Visit this Web site to see all the latest Black Friday deals on DeLorme as well as other brands. As you’ll see, there are some smoking hot deals out there now for the upcoming weekend.

http://bestgpsdeals.net/delorme-gps-deals/591/