TOPO! Explorer Deluxe

September 8, 2010 | By In Software |

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5 Comments so far

  1. jrlieber on September 8th, 2010

    Don’t waste your money. You can download the software for free, but must purchase with “map credits” their “super quads.” We are going on a trip in Grand Teton National Park, and i’ve used 6 “map credits” (25 credits = $25). Seemed like a good idea. There are lots of “trips” out there and really interesting maps on the topos, but the software by National Geographic is truly abysmal. Agree with all the other reviews. There’s no reason to go this far in reverse. As an example, in the challenging task of creating a route (and the pen tool would not grab onto the obvious trail), there is no “undo” function. Oh – it’s there in the menu, but I can’t figure out why. It’s unaccessible.

    In short, don’t waste your time learning this product. I’m headed back to paper maps. Or perhaps GoogleEarth has a method of making backpacking maps.
    Rating: 1 / 5

  2. Kevin H. Martin on September 8th, 2010

    I purchased this program today alongside a set of state disks and have been playing with it for over four hours. I still have no idea what’s supposed to happen. I’ve been downloading “superquads” and have no idea where they go or how to open them. I feel as though I’ve wasted $50 entirely, especially since it seems the Topo Explorer doesn’t jive at all with the TOPO! state disks. I’ve heard people say that this program is a poor implementation of a great idea, but I can’t even decipher the great idea.

    Before purchasing, I would recommend talking with someone that knows how to use this program well and what it supposedly does well, and move forward from there. It seems that TOPO! Explorer is an entirely mutually exclusive program from the TOPO! state disks that you might have so don’t get caught thinking you need to have both to run either effectively.

    TOPO! Explorer links to a website and I’m unsure which is the primary navigation tool, the disks I spent all this money on, or the free website. I haven’t yet accomplished any viewing of any maps from the program that I installed from these $50 disks.

    I recommend returning to free Google Earth that is easy to use effectively, efficiently, intuitively, and cheaply. If NatGeo gets their ducks in a row and comes up with a good alternative to Google Earth then maybe I’ll open TOPO! Explorer again and at least try to access (once again!) the help menu that tells me “Help is not available for TOPO! Explorer.” Until then, I hope NatGeo can at least get that part of the program running effectively.
    Rating: 1 / 5

  3. J. Niver on September 8th, 2010

    This is by far one of the worst designed programs I have ever used. It crashes on a regular basis and is close to unusable. If I could give it zero stars I would. Look at the other reviews and stay as far away as possible from this program.
    Rating: 1 / 5

  4. Jame Kirkpatrick on September 8th, 2010

    Don’t buy it. horrible quality topo maps at maximum zoom. has no utility what so ever if you are trying to find forest roads or trails. google earth in terrain mode provides just as much useful information and it is free.

    The program interface is horrible also. Links to download update would not work. No support at all from literature or web sites. A waste of 50 dollars
    Rating: 1 / 5

  5. Kenneth C. Jones on September 8th, 2010

    It’s been a long time since I’ve bought any software this bad! I can at least buy the maps I want, download them, and see them on my monitor, but I can’t print them (all I get is a “Coming Soon” message). The maps look good, but without being able to print them, they’re not much use! However when I perform a screen capture (iMac) I get an image that I can adjust in Photoshop to make something usable. The real salt in the wound is that I can load the same maps directly from the USGS site for free, and do the same thing in Photoshop. The $39.95 I spent is money down a hole. I expected much more from National Geographic!!! What a disappointment…….

    I’m writing this a day later, after taking the DVD to work and installing the program on a PC. At least now it works and I’ve been able to print from the program. BTW, I’m using 8 1/2 x 14″ Adventure paper, which is working out well. I haven’t tested it’s waterproofness yet, but so far, so good. Back to the program, my antivirus program considers it “suspicious” and I’ve had to override (where I could) the antivirus block to the installation. It’s not an easy program to learn except for the basic essentials in selecting and printing maps, but that’s good enough for me for now. Based on it’s performance on a PC, I would change the rating to three stars. Anything from National Geographic should be FIVE stars!
    Rating: 1 / 5

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