Others say...

"Topo not exactly"
My husband was looking for a topo program for the Adirondacks. Not exactly what he wanted. Ended up returning the product. Topography on this program is very basic.

"don't waste your money"
Don't bother with this - I don't know how they managed to get the National Geographic name on this product. It's almost as if someone said "Let's scan a whole bunch of maps from USGS and put the worst interface in the world on the program."

Google maps and Google Earth have better maps, better road detail, and a better interface. Plus they have satellite photos. And they are free!

Don't waste your money. If i could rate it 0 or negative I would since it uses time and money and gives nothing in return.

"Don't Waste Your Money"
National Geographic Backroads Explorer 3D over-promises and under-delivers. The marketing and packaging are very slick -"Seamless USGS topographic maps of the entire United States". Unfortunately, the topo maps are very limited in their resolution, scale and usefulness. Apparently, you'll need to buy their Topo! State Series product for these features. "Customize and print photo-quality maps" .... I guess it depends on your definition of "photo-quality" .... this is a real stretch in my opinion. The software also has an awkward and clumsy interface. Bottom line = don't waste your money on this software at appx. $50. The USGS has an excellent web site with topo maps - most of them are free. With a little searching on the internet, you'll find excellent maps on various state and federal web sites (departments of transportation, federal highway maps, parks and recreation, etc.) - all for free. Why pay for a lousy regurgitation of maps that your tax dollars have already created ?

"not bad but not good"
kind of a cheesy review, but true. Its not all its written up to be, but it does have a few features that are worthy. The map detail is not very detail, and the 3d feature is not very useful, but if you looking for a simple topo mapping software without investing much cash, this might be for you.

"Not ready for prime time"
As an owner of two different full state versions of Topo programs I have found the only way to really use the software is to do your thing and then save it as a pdf. If you load the whole program (all the CDs) on to a hard drive so it works seamlessly. This you can't do with Back Roads Explorer. If you want do do a search for a place that data is on CD1 along with the maps for California, where there is no way to know which files those are, and if you copy the whole file to a drive into the topo data folder, the program can't find it. Then once you find a place and picking one of several you have to go to the state CD. If that is not the place you are looking for it is back to CD1 and start all over again.

I tried to load the state CD and not all of it would copy to the Hard Drive. Cleaning the new disc didn't seem to have any effect, but it seems to work OK off the CD drive. I've had the same trouble with the state programs, but fooling around with cleaning and different computers it could eventually be accomplished and the moved by a flash disc.

The 18 CDs come with a half sheet instructions. The operating help is a simple 48 page pdf that is only slightly more detailed.

Having said all that, you get most of the full state versions (to level 4 of 5) and it is interesting to be able to follow the roads within a topographic relief and gps data. For the price it is a pretty good deal, but if you are just looking for general topo maps, satellite and aerial photos, and trace your own maps that is available online for free.