Gps

[Kiwi]

Howdy

Been thinking about investing in a GPS for hill walking for sometime now. I heard that they are not all that accurate. Anyone got any experience of these gadgets or am I best sticking with my trusty map and compass!

Any information would be appreciated as I don't want to blow £££s on something that isnt very good!

"Kiwi kids are weetbix kids"

 

[Martyn]

Howdy

Been thinking about investing in a GPS for hill walking for sometime now. I heard that they are not all that accurate. Anyone got any experience of these gadgets or am I best sticking with my trusty map and compass!

Any information would be appreciated as I don't want to blow £££s on something that isnt very good!

"Kiwi kids are weetbix kids"

Two issues here.

1. GPS are very accurate.
2. Whether or not you should stick to your map & compass is another issue.

Many people believe that you should not learn to depend on something that runs on batteries, for something as fundamental as navigation. People also believe they de-skill you. They are superb emergency/backup devices though. I think many would recommend a cheap one, that just gives your location, nothing more. It will be perfectly accurate enough. Then use your map & compass as normal and just pull out the GPS now and again as a cross reference, or to bail you out if you get hopelessly lost. I think the technology is pretty reliable, whether you should rely on it is a different matter.

I was out in the Maldives earlier this year and took a few short trips in one of these...

The Maldives is made up of hundreds (possibly thousands) of tiny islands, covering hundreds of square miles, which all look very samey from the air.

All the dehavalands had Garmin GPSmap 3000 series units in the cockpit...

The pilots relied on em pretty heavily.

 

[seamonkey]

A GPS should be used in conjuntion with a map and well you'll have a compass with you as well. i don't think many people would argue against that.

They are good fun however and potentially a life saver if the clag comes down in the middle of the the cairncorms.

I was on the end of some rather good advice from here recently regarding gps - and plumped for a garmin legend - Its very good not used it in anger yet but its handy to have, i've found it to be plenty accurate enough it also supports WAAS but not in oz unforunately, 20 hour odd battery life and it just works, this has a basic mapping function but unless you get the maps you may as well get the basic proven yellow extrax for under 100ukps


btw are you in NZ if so there is a great deal of work being done on nz topo maps for free.

here are some links i found handy while seaching

GPS NZ

groundspeak
cheers

Graham

 

[fred gordon]

I have used GPS quite a lot in my job. They are better than they have ever been, are quite accurate, but have to be used with caution. Their accuracy depends on where you are and how many satilites your unit can 'see' at any one time. For this reason they are less accurate in deep valleys and amongst trees. I think you should always use a GPS as an aid to navigation, not a substitute for knowing how to use a map and compass properly. For example what happens if your GPS goes down, or the batteries pack up, especially in cold weather, Basically you are stuffed! My advice would be use a GPS, they are great, but understand what it's telling you by having a sound grasp of map and compass work first. Hope this helps.

 

[Oakleaf]

Hello,

All points made very valid - at least take some spare AAs and as the Garmin manual itself reiterates, do not be wholly reliant on one source of navigation.

Nothing yet made is goof proof. I lost valuable water reserves - tears of laughter - when a very serious type lectured on the use of a sextant for desert navigation. 'No battery or circuits to bugger in these' he proclaimed loudly. Then dropped the rather delicate instrument off the roof of the Landy he was stood on - bouncing off the roof rack, bonnet, camp dog etc on way down!

I got a Garmin GPS12 about 6 years ago - was doing a lot of stalking in a Forest Enterprise block in Dumfries - the ground was very hard to follow and the unit saved hours of getting 'unlost'.

It was a worthwhile purchase even employed as back up/ double check to map and common sense. Reception in trees is iffy however - they do need a good patch of clear sky.

Just acquired a Garmin Extrex Summit - exact same principle, but lot more user friendly and lots of features. It is best to KISS on many occassions and the etrex unit seems to be layered - ie you can use it simply or delve deeper as you choose/ feel more confident.

The Summit - and possibly other units - has a location sunset/ sunrise read out which can be useful for stalking. It also has a barometer giving crude weather outlook data and more importantly tells you how many feet you've climbed - strangely always seems to read about a third of the height your legs/ lungs tell you!

With the US turning off SA, I found both units quite accurate. Just nipped outside and checked GPS grid reference against the OS map - using the scale on the edge of my Silva to accurately break up the grid squares. For a Morayshire Sunday evening my unit was accurate to within about 2/3 metres.

Know your basics, never lose the practise of fundamental woodsense/ map/ compass navigation; but by all means get a GPS and enjoy it.

Hope that helps.

 

[Kiwi]

Howdy

Cheers for the info. Very interesting indeed. I have always relied upon my map and compass but in the mist/fog/dark wished I had a GPS. Direction/navigation is not a problem but I use mountain huts and they are so easily missed in the dark/mist with a compass. Just thought it would put me exactly where I wanted to be! Last year I missed a hut in Scotland due to the mist and rain etc. Miserable day on the hill!
Totally agree with the back up argument for map & compass. I would be a fool to rely upon an electronic gadget.