TurboCAD Deluxe 18

I read all the reviews for several cad products, and I went with this one because most posts said it was very easy to use. I have been trying to figure this thing out for a couple weeks now and even my husband is having trouble. I know it's not the company's fault and they delivered on their part but this is more difficult than I anticipated.

I've used Turbo Cad for years...this is an older version that is no longer supported. With that comes a few technical difficulties, ie. the help files are hard to get working. Otherwise the software is a good product.

First let me say this is not the current version (v. 18) -- that was not known when I bought this product and after registering the product I got emails telling me to upgrade to version 20 for $80 (Which I did). this is full featured CAD that has many Auto CAD features. For the average person the deluxe versions is more than enough -- but there is a Turbo CAD Pro version for those who need all the bells and whistles of Auto CAD -- just check to make sure you get current version on the Turbo CAD website. This version had problems with Windows 7 and the training DVD did not work right. But with the version 20 upgrade I bought it worked OK. The training videos on DVD are not the greatest, but they will take you though the basics. There is a training DVD bundle you can purchase from Turbo CAD website that is about 3 times the price of the product. -- but I suppose it you need to know everything thing about the CAD software that would be good information tool. Compared to the price of Auto CAD this is a very good deal.

software did not work at first, had to call manufacture and release control of my computer to them in order to fix the problem but in the process and a virus was loaded on my computer, than i had to take it to a company to remove the virus. it seem that the software would not run with my explorer in the process they had to load firefox in order to run. was going to return the software at first and was first asked some question why it did not work so that was why i contacted the manufacture. the next day i was told i could return the software by that time i got the virus. It was a big mess

This software is a good one for 2D cad users and for a fair amount of 3D work as well. If one takes the time to become thoroughly familiar with the tools and various options and what they can and can't do, they'll find alot to like. For 3D,however, there are a good number of edit options that are only available in the more expensive TurboCad versions which is just a way to encourage those who want more in-depth 3D tools to purchase these instead. I'm exploring and testing this program's 3D capabilities and hopefully it will do most of what I want. The object lighting properties take a bit of practice to get the visual output you need as the lighting is cumulative meaning you can completely wash out the object with too much light intensity or too many lighting modifications (or sources) that add too much light. With most issues, you can always go back to wireframe view and pick up your drawing and reset the default lighting values in the options menu. A good product so far as I discover what this program's capabilities are.

I find TurboCAD very difficult to understand. The worst is that the tutorial videos have no way to pause so that I can play a little bit then open the TurboCAD window and perform those few mouse clicks or steps before moving to the next part of the lesson. And if you stop in a lesson video you must go back to the beginning when you restart. I even have some ready made files to open and edit but I haven't figured out how to edit them.After spending many hours and not getting anywhere I give it 1 star since there are no negative stars to give it. My actual rating is negative 3 stars, the reason it's not negative 5 stars is that it did open the files I had.If the tutorial videos were user friendly I would have given TurboCAD a much higher rating. I did several queries online to learn how to pause the videos and found that one one else knows how it do it either.

I'm not sure what the other reviewer is complaining about...I am an experienced PV Engineer / Materials Scientist who has worked with many CAD packages and posses formal drafting experience, amongst many other technical discplines...Anyway having used numerous Autodesk and AutoCAD packages over time, I now prefer to use Google Sketchup for my PV Architecture / PV Power Plant GIS-located designs, I then for the Electrical design overlays I need a true BIM / BoM CAD system (TurboCAD fits the bill perfectly). In fact, PV symbols are inlcuded in the Symbols 5.0 software if buy the bundle directly off the website... Attribute list exportable software with excellent file conversion capabilities (can natively read/write all the newest Sketchup / AutoCAD / SolidWorks formats and many more).Also, There are plenty of easy to use tools / palletes / easy to use inputs for 2D/3D. Again I think the other user was an old Autodesk head who didn't like the slightly different take on GUI The navigation of the drawing page is different than Autodesk (but I like it more, once I retrained I'm faster in TurboCAD + Skletchup for 1/10 the cost of Autodesk Revit + Electrical packages. If he took the time to learn, and perhaps upgrade to the $1200 Platinum Edition for super advanced tools - I bet he'd been more pleased.But for 99% of people using CAD this is a fantastic value.So again, for Architecture & Energy Design Houses IMSI TurboCAD + Google Sketchup PRO is a god-send.

Used auto cad for a lot of years and got a lot of production out of it and my draftsman using it. I'm now retired and need a simple easy to use drawing program. Turbocad is cheap but not easy at all. Very messy and badly designed. Save up another 50 bucks and buy autocad MUCH! easier to navigate.