GPS

[Great Republic]

Does anyone use a GPS receiver and if so what is the best type to buy? The car road map type or the hand held field type? I'm thinking that I gould use Google Earth to search for ball fields and then use the GPS to get to them. I'm also thinking about open areas in the woods.

 

[dewcon4414]

I have a garmin that i use ... but only when im in AZ out in no where land. I have one on my computer i carry when we travel... but i dont care much for it its too big. Id like to get a car type... maybe a tom tom. I hear they not only talk now but understand simple language. You know several of the CELL phones now have GPS and you can do your google earth on them. Ive thought of that as an option just because it has so many uses that away. Getting to be too many costly choices so i know how you are thinking. Ive hunted with people who use their cell phones and have googled our local as we were hunting it was great. But majellian makes a good GPS. If you have what some of my friends have.... a 4 wheeler they just plug it in.

Dew

 

[Eddie(AL)]

I use a Garmin H20 handheld model. It is waterproof and it has helped a lot. I've done a lot of detecting in wooded areas and "mountains" where it is very easy to get yourself lost. Had a buddy got so lost he had to call 911. They sent out a firetruck and he followed the sound of the siren to get himself out. On feature I have used a few times is to plot a trail on the screen map showing where I've been. Since the area we were hunting was so hilly, it was difficult to walk in anything like a straight line. Wanting to really cover they area completely I used the GPS to show me where I had not been (i.e. no trail on the map).

One problem with these devices is in the wooded areas you often get poor satellite reception, especially if you put it in a pocket or pack. To help with this I put the hook side of a piece of Velcro on the back of the unit and it would stick to the front shoulder of a vest I was wearing. Worked out pretty well.

 

[silversniper]

I would recommend a Garmin Etrex. I have used one for 8 years and it still works like new. I've dropped it, submerged it, froze it, and ran over it with my atv. It's still going strong.

 

[kered]

I use the garmin colorado, handy to mark your track on the beach so you don't cover the same ground on future visits, also to mark hot spots and gold finds, its also handy for gridding large plots or beaches as it traces a track of where youve been. When in the water you can come back over your track only a bit to one side, its the only way you can tell. When i get home i download the track and can also upload to google earth from the mapsource software that comes with it.
Once youve used it a while patterns start to form.

 

[dewcon4414]

I normally just set my start point then shut it off. When i get ready to go back to the truck... i turn it on and just walk right back to the truck. You can use bread crumbs that let you know if you wish, but ive never really needed them since most come with a compus on them.

Dew

 

[Great Republic]

Thanks kered. I just picked up a used Garmin Legend Cx on Ebay. Looks like a nice unit.

 

[Hotcz70]

I've been thinking of getting one for my 4 wheeler like Dew mentioned, Just might come in handy in the woods if I stumbled on a new site

 

[grumpyolman]

Gotta remember all those GPSs calculate EPE (Estimated Positional Error) or DOP (Dissolution of Position). That can be a 'field' one can exchange for something not as useful on a page that has several pieces of information. It's reported in feet. Some manufacturers will tell you how that's determined and others will not claiming proprietary. It done mathematically (algorithm) and is only as good as the mathematician who created it and as good as the signals being received. However, GPSs, hand held only, that I owned 5 years ago never got an EPE better than 10-15'. The ones that are new often get the EPE within 7'. So that means, even though you have a track on the beach or in the woods and you want to avoid that identical track to cover new area, the device you are using is only accurate within 5-20' depending on a lot of variables. The variables are how many satellites is your unit using for its calculations and how clear is the signal coming to it. Are you in heavy brush low in a valley? That deludes the accuracy. Some units are significantly more sensitive than others and acquire and lock on to satellites faster than some units costing much more.
If you are in the woods and don't want to hunt an area in a particular area, use flagging tape and tie it onto something to visually mark where you have been. On a beach that wouldn't works so good. I am told the tape is bio-degradable but I know I've seen it in spots I left it 4 years ago. It's really better to remove it as you leave.
Purchasing a quality GPS with the features that are important to you is as complicated as choosing the detector you want for where and how you hunt. I work with a SAR unit and the EPE is critical to us as is the sensitivity and the degree of waterproofing. Might want to Google 'SAR GPS' and read the reviews by some of the SAR units, especially the ones that are in the areas you hunt. Jim