Sorry...
I just can't help showing a grin when I read about someone wanting to buy a new GPS with all the " 'bells and whistles'.
They want one that has all the maps... One that has the most waypoints... The most features possible!
THEN... they are ready to navigate to and from any point with their "one" brand new tool... WRONG!
Now, I'm not talking about using a GPS to mark a good fishing spot.. or to find a local drug store in an unknown town.
Using a GPS for "light reasons" requires "light navigational training" and can be a real convenience and a fun toy to have and a nice novelty to play with... but how serious are you? It's been said that a new GPS has gotten more people lost than anything in history! Don't let using a new GPS as your only navigational tool give you a false sense of security thinking you can go to very remote areas without worry. We all know the stories where someone was lost, only to be found dead within a short distance of a main road. This happens to often and this is as serious as it gets!
In remote areas, I use the GPS for only one thing... to help give me my "current coordinates". If you don't know your current location you may have a very hard time locating any other point you hope to reach! If I suspect the coordinates maybe wrong, I will turn on my second GPS to double check... I hate a GPS that doesn't tell the truth!
I also carry an accurate compass, I use the Brunton Pocket Transit.. it will point true! But, I also carry two more small ones just for a quick check along the way.
I print out several detailed maps of different scale, covering an area larger than a location that I plan to be in. I use Maptech software and each map has the UTM coordinates grid overlaid. Being UTM gives me a distance reference by being a grid of 1,000 meters square on any scale map printed.
No, you may not be real serious about hitting a 10 foot square section in the middle of a million acres of forest...night or day... in any weather?
I don't call this being "Serious"... I call it "Life Insurance"!!
I just can't help showing a grin when I read about someone wanting to buy a new GPS with all the " 'bells and whistles'.
They want one that has all the maps... One that has the most waypoints... The most features possible!
THEN... they are ready to navigate to and from any point with their "one" brand new tool... WRONG!
Now, I'm not talking about using a GPS to mark a good fishing spot.. or to find a local drug store in an unknown town.
Using a GPS for "light reasons" requires "light navigational training" and can be a real convenience and a fun toy to have and a nice novelty to play with... but how serious are you? It's been said that a new GPS has gotten more people lost than anything in history! Don't let using a new GPS as your only navigational tool give you a false sense of security thinking you can go to very remote areas without worry. We all know the stories where someone was lost, only to be found dead within a short distance of a main road. This happens to often and this is as serious as it gets!
In remote areas, I use the GPS for only one thing... to help give me my "current coordinates". If you don't know your current location you may have a very hard time locating any other point you hope to reach! If I suspect the coordinates maybe wrong, I will turn on my second GPS to double check... I hate a GPS that doesn't tell the truth!
I also carry an accurate compass, I use the Brunton Pocket Transit.. it will point true! But, I also carry two more small ones just for a quick check along the way.
I print out several detailed maps of different scale, covering an area larger than a location that I plan to be in. I use Maptech software and each map has the UTM coordinates grid overlaid. Being UTM gives me a distance reference by being a grid of 1,000 meters square on any scale map printed.
No, you may not be real serious about hitting a 10 foot square section in the middle of a million acres of forest...night or day... in any weather?
I don't call this being "Serious"... I call it "Life Insurance"!!