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This DeLorme atlas is not user friendly - my wife held it on her knees while I was driving, and the binding made it close itself as soon as she took her hands off the book. Inaccurate or misleading information was found in many places, for instance a place called Bagdad (page 132 D4). The only acceptable binding for a road atlas is a spiral spine that allows it to open fully and even be turned "inside out" so you can view one page only. How can anybody give this product a 5-star rating. On the other hand DeLorme has found it necessary to mark no less than 8 boat ramps around the tiny Big Bear Lake - what is so important with that. How can DeLorme call this dirt track a major connector.
One example - the "major connector" leading from Rimrock (page 143 B8) up to State Route 18 near Big Bear City should not be attempted by anything else than a high clearance 4wd with an experienced driver at the wheel.
Moreover the binding soon proved to be of very poor quality as the pages started to fall out after only 4 days, and that was not due to any abuse from us.
And that was not the only non-existing "town" in that area.
Being a European I ordered this atlas before I went to California, and it looked great at first sight - the only obvious fault was the binding that did not allow it to be put flat on the table when opened.
This place is marked as "City or Town" according to the legend, but not a single house was to be seen there.
As tourists we wanted to use minor roads as well as freeways, and we soon got into trouble.
The roads listed as Major Connectors or Major Streets in the legend can be anything from paved 4-lane roads in suburbs to the worst gravel roads only accessible by 4-WDs.
Many places of great interest for the tourist were not specially marked, for instance Calico, one of the best preserved ghost towns in California, is only marked as a town and not as a place of interest.
My conclusion is that this DeLorme atlas is fine if you want to find the best way from one city to another, but if you are a tourist and want to explore the deserts of California, you may miss many interesting spots and even get into hazardous situations if you try to go by their "major connectors".
Let's face it: GPS doesn't always work, and you won't always have the coverage to access google maps on your phone. These atlases have accurate and comprehensive maps of almost every back road and trail in the state. They also include reasonable approximations of public lands boundaries, though land ownership is not always as clear as it is on the USGS quads. If you're going to leave the highway, make sure you have a map that doesn't need batteries- get one of these and you'll be able to find your own way around anywhere in the Golden State.
Although this one was purchased as a gift, I have one just like it and am completely satisfied with it (as is the gift recipient). DeLorme has the market cornered on making a product that is both user friendly and detailed enough that one could go hiking with this Atlas and Gazetteer. Two thumbs up.
The California Gazetteer always goes with me on a road trip - or if I'm planning one. I'm a new transplant to California, and the maps in the Gazetteer are colorful, easy to read, and as complete as I need. I very rarely can't find where I'm heading on these maps, and they are easy enough for my navigator to keep up where we are and where we need to go on. I am very satisfied.
Not good when driving in a convertible with the top down. I ordered the Delorme Atlas to serve as a back-up to my Nuvi GPS. I was recently the navigator on a 10 day California coast road trip. So I stopped at a Kinko's Copy Center and they replaced the binding with a spiral binding. The map is certainly is the better way for looking ahead for rest areas. Half way through the trip, the binding cracked and pages began to fall out. Now it went from a good atlas to a great atlas. I'm certainly going to do this to any other Delorme atlas I use in the future.
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