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Originally Posted by ploddinTod
My hiking partner has one but I have no intention of getting one. Compass works just fine for me. When I'm out on the trail hiking, I take it seriously. Don't want to be fumbling with a gadget that may not get a signal or run low on battery power. Just my preference.  |
I started out with a car-based GPS, because just like
TurnKey mentioned, I spend a lot of my time
lost, too!
I got hooked with knowing exactly where I was while driving -- since I get turned around even in the city I've lived in for decades :rolleyes:. Pretty soon, I'd purchased a handheld GPS for hiking, as well.
I always have a compass in my pack, too, (though as of yet I'm rarely that far out to even need that) but the handheld GPS is a treat for me. Mine even has an electronic compass with calibration built-in.
Why am I sold on GPS technology? Just a couple reasons are:
- I can mark waypoints for personal favorite photo or wildlife viewing spots I intend to return to in the future;
- I have a more accurate log of how long a given hike actually took (since the GPS tracks how much time I spent actually moving, eg. hiking, rather than just how much time has elapsed since I started a hike... important if you stop frequently to watch wildlife, take photographs or just take a break.
- I can more accurately share information about a given trail or route I've hiked, thanks to GPS coordinates, topographic data on my GPS and of course paper topo and park maps, as available.
The primary downsides of GPS have already been mentioned --
- Potential loss of signal (I haven't used mine in dense tree cover yet, since most of my hiking's in Texas scrub country);
- Running low/out of batteries...
- And folks can still get lost when they have a GPS because they assume they don't need to have a map of the area they're visiting and a way to get their bearings (compass, instinct, etc.
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Even GPS-based maps can be wrong, and depending on what type of maps you've got on your GPS they may only augment paper-based topo and park-provided maps, rather than replace them. I use a detailed GPS-based topographic map collection that covers all of North America, coupled with a park's (paper) maps. If I were hiking/backpacking in a National Park or backcountry, I'd couple the GPS with the proper USGS quad topos and/or the NPS park map(s).
A nice "feature" of owning a hiking GPS is since it's lightweight and requires long battery life to be useful, it a perfect "cheap" alternative to the more expensive GPS units sold for use in cars. Load it up with the right maps, and you've got a cheaper GPS to use in a pinch when driving in unfamiliar cities (though you'll miss out on features like "Find Nearest > Restaurant" or things like that.
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Justin has a really slick portable GPS unit he mounts in the rental aircraft he flies, as a backup to the onboard GPS and navigation equipment in the aircraft. It's awesome returning from a flight and having the exact ground track we flew mapped out on our computer screen, thanks to the GPS.