The giveaway is now over, and the winners are ...




Win free DeLorme Street Atlas 2009 with USB GPS receiver LT-40. DeLorme has been kind to donate to Laptop GPS World two copies of its newest trip planning and GPS navigation software program, Street Atlas 2009, along with two high-sensitivity USB GPS receivers, LT-40.

Just post a reply here between now and the end of the month (August 2008), and you may be one of the two lucky winners. The winners will be chosen randomly, but I'd like the recipients & Street Atlas w/GPS to be a good match, so you may increase the chance of winning by saying a word or two about how you would use the winning. For example, if you say you would love to use it for your upcoming cycling vacation in Australia, then I think many people familiar with Street Atlas would agree someone else could be a better match for this software/hardware bundle . You may find details about the product's features, geographic coverage, sample maps, specifications of the included USB GPS receiver, and more, when you visit DeLorme website. You may also read and ask for user feedback right here at Laptop GPS World.

Anyone is welcome to participate.

Two winners will be announced here on or before September 3, 2008.

Thanks in advance for participating!

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Marvin Hlavac

Wow, another great benefit of membership to Laptop GPS World. Thank you Marvin for making it possible. S/A 2009 would be a nice addition to our coming travels this winter, as the wife and I go in search of warm.

WOW

This would be great to use when we plan and go on trips to different lighthouses with our grandchildren.

Well, you convinced me to post for the first time here on Laptop GPS World. I was a beta testor for the original Street Atlas so I'd say I am a little familiar with the software.

I have since retired and now travel the country in leisure, but I've never seen another nav program with the POI database and engine the likes of Street Atlas. Unfortunately, because I use a CarPC vice laptop, when they went DVD for distribution and split out several parts to other applications I stopped using it.

With a free copy, I could force myself to try it again.

I just finished downloading SA 2009 and NOW you offer it in a contest!!

Terry

You make me come out from my cave :-)
It would be nice to try new software for my next fall peak colour trip...
thanks.

I love this place:clap: another great contest

Bugsy

The new version of DeLorme Street Atlas 2009 with the LT-40 GPS unit would be a great addition to my "mobile office." (photos below) I spend the majority of my time in my little towing vehicle. Some would call it a "tow truck" but I only tow motorcycles, trikes, 'mules' and golf carts, etc., so I really don't consider it to be a full fledged "tow truck." Anyway, since I spend all of that time in the cab, I have made it as user-friendly as possible. I have installed a few "toys" to keep me entertained while I am parked under a shady tree or eating a quick #2 combo meal, or even while driving down the road.

I installed a full-blown PC with the Windows XP Pro operating system. I use it mainly for GPS navigation. Those "Squint-Squint" units are nice, but MY GPS is displayed on a 17" LCD flat panel monitor that I hope to replace one day with an ELO touchscreen version!

I currently use DeLorme Road Atlas (Update: 2009!) and M-S Streets & Trips 2008 as my navigation software workhorses, along with Windows Live! and even Google Earth, Virtual Earth and Map Quest. They have FAR more capability for navigation than any of the small, dedicated and expensive GPS units by Magellan, Garmin, Tom-Tom and so on. Instead of poking at a small screen, I use a full-sized keyboard and my trackball mounted to the driver's door. (I am left-handed, which is a definite advantage.)

With my AT&T broadband wireless internet connection, I can open up Windows LIVE! and get an aerial view of where I am, so I can find my way around and through those maze-crazy apartment complexes. I can also bring up www.beta.SigAlert.com, which displays live traffic pattern overlays onto the freeway maps. Green is fast, yellow is moderate and red is slow! This REALLY helps me avoid traffic snarls.

The computer also serves as a message center for my DEAF customers who send me text messages on my Blackberry or through a chat window when they need assistance. I use the computer to respond because it is faster to type a response on a full-sized (illuminated) keyboard and send it as an email, and if their phones have video capability, I can sign to them via the Logitech Pro 5000 web cam.

I also print invoices, send and receiving faxes, and I usually have a chat room open (PalTalk) where people can watch my live web cam as I drive around southern California. (NO, I don't "chat" while I am driving!) I never tell people where I am. I let them guess, based on what they can see. People all around the world watch my cam, and they seem to enjoy it, especially when I drive past the mega-million dollar homes or along the beach!

I never allow my company name or phone number to be seen on cam. I don't want people to call me just because they think it would be "cool" to talk to me while they watch my cam over the Internet. The California mountains (?) play havoc with cellular signals, so occasionally the connection is a bit slow, or it drops out altogether.

The most recent "toy" I added was a surprise birthday gift. It is called the "Magic Jack." It is a little USB device that is slightly larger than a thumb drive. It has a regular old home telephone jack in the other end. I plug it into one of the computer's USB ports, it installs it's own software, and a minute later, I can pick up any ordinary telephone that is plugged into the RJ-11 jack, and make unlimited phone calls to anywhere in America for as long as I want using voice-over-Internet. My customers are shocked when, upon asking if they can use my phone, I hand them my AT&T white PRINCESS touch-tone phone! They think it is a joke at first, until they pick it up and hear the dial tone. The Magic Jack costs $40 for the initial purchase which includes a phone number you choose from a list, and a year of unlimited calling. It is $20 per year after that. The clarity is often FAR better than my cellular phone, and I like having a second line for whatever needs may arise. It can also serve as my "land line" for my credit card processing machine. Of course, if I am driving and my Internet connection starts to lose "bars," the conversation becomes choppy. Nothing is perfect.

What else? Oh, I LOVE my XM radio! It is worth every penny! no matter where I drive, the station will not fade out, and it is CD quality sound! Recent California law has required me to purchase a bluetooth hands-free unit, so my Motorola Bluetooth unit is now clipped to the visor. it is a bit of a pain though, because I have to pair up to it and drop the signal every time I wander more than about 30 feet from the truck.

With all of the electronics, my AM radio reception is predictably lousy! To solve this problem, I use the Internet, and listen to AM radio stations over the net feed, sent to my FM radio via a wireless FM transmitter fed to an unused FM station, usually 88.1 . This is another shocker for my customers, when they climb into my truck and hear their hometown radio station from another STATE playing on my radio. They are usually quite entertained by their ability to listen to their local news while riding along California highways. I like to keep my customers happy :rofl"

I added a color printer for office duties on the road. Once, while stopped at a burger joint, someone asked me for directions to an address, figuring that I was a tow truck driver so I should be able to give accurate directions. I printed them full color maps with turn-by-turn directions using DeLorme. I wish I had taken out that digital SONY CyberShot camera from the dash compartment so I could've caught the look on their faces.

All of the "Stuff" is all powered by dual AUX batteries feeding a 1750 watt power inverter. Of course, the rechargeable MAG-lite is there at the ready. The second 1,000 watt inverter is ready for use, but only there for backup.

I have a JVC Camcorder mounted to the dash to capture everything that happens in front of the vehicle. If nothing happens, I format the drive and record again, but here in California, insurance fraud is rampant, and TWICE people have tried to "Swoop and Squat" me, trying to force me to rear-end them. I have avoided both collisions, and captured the second one on cam.

I also captured an escaping vehicle on cam while filling up at a gas station. It was a hit-and-run at the intersection, but sadly, the camera resolution was set too low to identify the vehicle.

Soon I will add a Honda EU2000 generator to the truck, so I can run it while I am away from the vehicle. The batteries and inverter work for a while, but for extended 'away time,' I need a method for feeding my power-hungry cab! The generator will be fired up and will run while I am in a restaurant, or visiting friends, or poking around Fry's for more absolutely essential electronics. This will be a real time saver, as I will not have to "boot up" my truck when I am away from it for long periods of time. At night, I can just plug the truck into house current to keep everything humming along nicely while the engine rests.

I update my DeLorme and S&T software every year, so it would be a pleasant surprise to WIN the newest version of DeLorme, and it would be in service nearly 24 hours per day! (Update: 2009 SA already installed!)

Now if I could just add a megaphone behind the grill, so I can shout at the lousy drivers who talk on their cellular phones while driving. Don't you hate people who allow distractions to affect their driving?

Wow! Thanks Marvin and Delorme for this contest! I'd like to to try it out and see how it compares to S&T.

One of the NICEST features DeLorme has, is the ability to DRAW IN streets that the mapping program can then navigate across!

Wow, this is just the package I am looking for! A friend uses it, and likes to ridicule me for using my outdated MS streets and trips 2007 (maps are actually from around 2004) I hope I win. with all the gas I burn recovering from streets and trips' outdated directions, it's tough to afford the upgrade!

I'm glad that I found this forum! We have spent the last 8 years sailing halfway around the world and using electronic charts on our computer. We are now RV'ers (6 months now) and have been looking for navigation software that works as well as the nautical counterparts.

The information here has been very valuable. Thank you very much! We are leaving mid September from NJ and are looking forward to traveling around the US.

Hopefully, the software will help guide us, keep us safe, stay out of trouble, and make our trip driving around the country exciting.

Again, thank you for the loads of info.
Mike Baldacchino

Has Street Atlas 2009 improved over SA 2008?. I have SA 2008 and it is worse than SA 2007. I can't plot even a simple trip without something going wrong. Either it initiates "Off Route- recalculating" for no apparent reason or indicates an error and shuts down, necessitating a program restart ofter at the most inconvenient time.

I would like a chance at this.

I would use mine along side S&T. I, like bikerjoe, am in my truck most of the time. I have a 2500 watt inverter under the back seat to power everything I need to. From my laptop to an air compressor. I bought my truck a year ago this month with 169,000 miles on it. Today it just turned 235,000 miles. I use it for work and personal use. As you can tell I have no problems putting out the miles, and putting the navigation system to work. Although, I am new to using my laptop as a nav system. But already I can tell it's going to be better than my Kenwood/Garmin system.

Thank You for putting on this great contest.
John