I purchased the DeLorme Topo USA East Region Version 6.0 the other day, and have been giving a good run through.

So far I have found it to be a pretty good little Topo Program. It has a lot of features that I have been looking for, for a long time.

It has split screen so you can see 2-d and 3-d views at the same time. It has been very handy to use so I can see a flat looking map on one side, and move around on it, while at the same time having a 3-d view on the other side so i can see what kind of terrain I'll be up against.

The version I bought also came with $100 worth of free aerial maps that I could download from their website. So, I went ahead and picked the areas I knew I would want, and downloaded $99.50 worth of aerial maps and never paid a cent for them. They are fairly new aerial photographs, no more than five years old. When you get an aerial map with them, you get the actual black and white aerial photo, a colored in version of that photo, and the USGS Quads with extra detail not found in the original maps, which are great to start with. A very good deal I think.

It also has the capability of building a Route, all you have to do is put in a start location and stop location, and it will do it for you and give directions. A lot like using Yahoo Maps or something similar. Except with this you have the added benefit of uploading that route straight to your Handheld GPS and using it to get turn by turn directions while on the road. You can also leave it hooked to the laptop and get turn by turn directions from it, although I'm not sure how safe that would be. You can also add in stops along the way and recalculate the route any time.

You can printed tiled 2x2 or 3x3 maps, so you can get a larger map than just a single 8.5x11 sheet of paper, which could come in real handy. You can also upload and share maps, directions, etc. with other people so they can see what you see on the map.

It if very GPS friendly, easy to download, edit, and create tracks with. One of the better programs to use for that, and I've used a lot.

The only downside is the program doesn't come with a printed users manual. So, I'm all the time having to go to the Help file to figure out how to do a lot of things. It can be a little complicated to do some things on it. Other than that, I have found it to be a very useful program, does pretty much everything that I was wanting it to do.

Well Archer, You have had a few days to play around with DeLorme Topo USA East Region Version 6.0. Is it getting any easier? What GPS's will it reconize? Is it as good as the others that You are using?
Been gone to Arkansas for a week, nice country down there. Went to Mt. Magazine, Highest point in the State. Looks like good Toy riding country.
Saw a lot of Toys and Haulers.

It supports Garmin, Magellan, Lowrance, and their own GPS. With their brand GPS I think you can upload maps, with aerial photograph overlays. I'm not exactly sure what type of GPS they use as their own though.

The program definitely has a good learning curve with it. I've wore the help file out I think. It's not that it is difficult to use really, just locating were the correct menus are, some of them can be a little hard to find sometimes.

I do reccommend this program over National Geographic Topo!. They seem to have better detail, and you can do more with waypoints and tracks than you can with the Nat. Geo. Program.

It's kind of a toss up between the DeLorme program, and Maptech Terrain Navigator. Terrain Navigator has excellent maps, can do pretty good editing with tracks, and good waypoint usage. It's pretty expensive tho.

The good thing with DeLorme is if you have a good high speed net connection, you can download aerial map views, for about 75 cents for 7.5 minute quadrangle. With each quad you buy, you get a black and white aerial picture, a colored in aerial picture, and a high detail USGS map. A very good deal for the price. The aerial pictures are fairly new too, I'd say less than five years old.

So, I'd definitely recommend the DeLorme program to anyone who isn't afraid to spend a little time learning how to use it. It's worth the money.