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Discussion: GPS a good thing or not?
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thomas13mike |
20. RE: GPS a good thing or not?
May 21 2012, 2:05 AM EDT
GPS is a love/hate technology. It strengths are it's weaknesses. Having to rely on satellites or cell towers and batteries. It will take you closer to your objective then a compass could but a compass won't run out of batteries or quit working when everything goes down. Having been thru Ranger school two of things they hammer into is land navigation and night navigation. Even without a map if you know the general direction you need to go you can dead reckon and get in the vicinity. Saying all of that I would still have one. While it was working it would make life easier and get to where you're going quicker. But people that rely on it exclusively are going to be in big trouble when it dies in the middle of nowhere and there's no map or compass. Do you find this valuable? |
White76Knight |
21. RE: GPS a good thing or not?
May 21 2012, 10:33 AM EDT
"...Saying all of that I would still have one. While it was working it would make life easier and get to where you're going quicker. "This is my thought as well. While it wouldn't be wise to rely on it exclusively, for as long as it worked it might be beneficial enough to be worth its weight in gold, especially if you end up with anyone in your group who doesn't have the navigation skills that you have. Giving them a crash course in the use of a handheld GPS would be easier than giving them a crash course in navigating without one. @ Zombiestomper - I've always loved the Garmin Rhino series. What is their radio transmission range like as compared to other radios of comparable size? Do you find this valuable? |
WaterBoy75 |
22. RE: GPS a good thing or not?
May 21 2012, 10:59 AM EDT
I like the Tom Tom's I have in my work truck, except when I have to go off road then it just turns in to a compass, of course it could be the cheap basic model the EPA issued. I have thought about a GPS for my bug out bag, but since I don't get a chance to do a lot of hiking or much long term camping, they seem like an unneeded expense. I would probably just use my old boyscout compass I have in my BOB now. Do you find this valuable? |
Zee-Man |
23. RE: GPS a good thing or not?
May 21 2012, 2:02 PM EDT
I've already talked about actually going through the places you intend to go, so I won't repeat that.I like the idea of using a GPS as a back up. It has definite uses in taking points from field excursions and transferring them to your map. I can only wish google maps would make it easier to enter DMS instead of having to comvert to decimal. So far I have not found a hand held GPS device that is inexpensive enough. The GPS function in my phone suffices for getting nav points to take home for now. With US$150 as the low cost device, I am putting it low on my list of priorities. I would be interested in hearing from owners which devices they have, how much they cost, and why they like their device. Do you find this valuable? |
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White76Knight |
24. RE: GPS a good thing or not?
May 21 2012, 5:04 PM EDT
"So far I have not found a hand held GPS device that is inexpensive enough. The GPS function in my phone suffices for getting nav points to take home for now. "Not a bad compromise. Now I gotta check to see whether my phone can do that. Do you find this valuable? |
badwolfe |
25. RE: GPS a good thing or not?
May 21 2012, 6:44 PM EDT
You are so right. A GPS devise can be helpfull BUT you must first know how to navigate useing a map and compass. If you do not know what your looking at then how will you know where you are going. Any ex milatary will agree that in basic training land navigation was as important as firing you rifel. I would recomend both but always have a map and compass handy.
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cas13f |
26. RE: GPS a good thing or not?
May 21 2012, 7:36 PM EDT
"I've already talked about actually going through the places you intend to go, so I won't repeat that.Magellan and Garmin make fairly low-budget "hiking" GPSs that lack certain features ("active" navigation, sattelite downloaded map updates, etc), but have other pros to them. (ALL maps locally stored, no need for cell connection and no having to wait for map update downloads in the middle of a track) I have a Magellen eXplorist 310. I got it on sale for something like $110 (good luck finding THAT now). It's small, waterproof/resistant to .mil standards, is powered by readily-available batteries, and has a very nice color screen. While it has navigation features, you'll have to pre-build the route via google earth or one of Magellan's programs, it can't do it on the fly. It supports Geocaching natively. There are two models, North America and Europe. Basemaps stock, which is flat color with roads. TOPO maps are available and supported. The 310 does NOT have expandable memory, although they have models that do. I like it so far, I've only used it to keep track of my running and look at a handful of geocaches as of yet though. I haven't even downloaded any TOPO maps yet. It supports all kinds of units, map datums, and coordinate systems. I stuck with MGRS. Do you find this valuable? |
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White76Knight |
27. RE: GPS a good thing or not?
May 22 2012, 1:59 AM EDT
"You are so right. A GPS devise can be helpfull BUT you must first know how to navigate useing a map and compass. If you do not know what your looking at then how will you know where you are going. Any ex milatary will agree that in basic training land navigation was as important as firing you rifel. I would recomend both but always have a map and compass handy."I can see where you're coming from, but I do have one question for you and for all those who have had actual map and compass training. As I mentioned in Post 21, "Giving them a crash course in the use of a handheld GPS would be easier than giving them a crash course in navigating without one." If you ended up with someone in your group who had NO navigation skills at all, and you found yourself out in the field, maybe with zombies on your trail, and without having had time to train them. Given such a scenario you must either teach them how to properly use a compass and a topographical map, which to those unfamiliar looks very convoluted and indecipherable, or teach them how to click through the various menus on on a handheld GPS. Bearing in mind that what with tablets and smart phones and iPods and whatnot, most people are already at least passing familiar with the operation of portable electronic devices, which would be easier? Now I'm not trying to be a smart ass or anything, I really want to know. And aside from the fact that the electronic device or the system that supports it could fail, if you feel that teaching map and compass to an utter novice would still be easier than teaching the use of an electronic device that does most of the work for them, please explain why. Do you find this valuable? |
