Advice needed: GPS for hiking/camping

I use my "Smartphone" with google Map for work and never for outdoors play. An entry-level GPS can be had for ~$100, but if it's not in the budget it's not in the budget. Besides, a map and compass are more than capable equipment and pretty fun to use.

Getting back to the OP, I use a Garmin 60CSx and it's been great the 4 years I've had it (up-to-date model is the 62__). The smaller GPS units are also good quality and to be honest, there's a lot of capability in even these "entry-level" GPS models. I'm personally not a fan of touch-screen GPS's because the potential for damaging the usually larger screen seems higher. What level of functionality remains with a damaged/broken touch screen?
 
All good points. The other big factor with relying on a smartphone GPS is battery life, as you mention ThriftyJoe. Many smartphones have no more than 6 hours on a charge at best, depending on usage (and if you are using the GPS continually, it will probably be a fair bit less). Personally, if I'm somewhere remote enough that a GPS would be useful, then I want to know I have a lot more battery life than that (or spare batteries).
 
I've used my iphone w/Gaia GPS installed. It worked just fine in Red River Gorge in several areas where there was absolutely no cell phone signal. The newer Iphones (4 and up) have a dedicated GPS chip and do not require cellular triangulation. Gaia allows you to download relevant topo maps of wherever you are going hiking so there is no need to have a signal for that purpose either. The only factor is battery life. My phone lasted 3 days with careful use though I took a new torch external battery to recharge it just in case. My buddy was using a magellan and it did no better than the iphone in terms of location speed or accuracy. If you are already taking a phone anyway it makes perfect sense to use what you already have. If you want more redundancy then consider investing in a waterproof map and compass; it is lighter and more bombproof than the extra GPS device.
 
ThriftyJoe said:
I stayed away from the touch screen models mostly for cost reasons, but don't they also have shorter battery life?
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Battery life is one of the categories listed when doing side-by-side model comparisons at the Garmin website. Comparing three models all with similar features and color screens, here are the battery life:
Oregon 450, 3" touchscreen, 16 hours.
Dakota 20, 2.6" touchscreen, 20 hours.
eTrex 20, 2.2" not touchscreen, 25 hours.

Could simply be a result of the screen size too.

I expected the color screens to have a shorter battery life than the color screens, but that doesn't seem to be the case. The eTrex Legend and eTrex Legend C (both on the discontinued list) have the same battery life. In fact the color GPSMAP 76 has a longer battery life than the black and white version. :confused:
 
I've been using my Android phone, a San Francisco II because it was about the cheapest I could get, for mapping for a while. I use Memory Map Tracker app with all of the UK 1:50,000 and 1:25,000 maps preloaded onto an SD card, plus a few maritime and airspace maps. No cell reception needed and it has been absolutely great for actually reading a map, rather than simply following a route or position finding. It can do those too, of course. The display is much better than anything on a proper GPS hand-held unit, provided it is not too sunny!

The phone is great... apart from when the Sun shines, it rains, I drop it on a rock or the battery runs out.

I finally bought myself a Garmin Montana, choosing that unit again because I want to actually view the maps decently. I saved money by buying just the bare unit, without maps, and I've just spent a few days making my own 1:50000 and 1:25000 scale maps of the whole UK. It's actually quite easy to make your own Garmin-compatible 2D maps with a few programs that can be acquired and using internet-available map sources like Google, Bing, etc. There are lots more, especially for you in the USA.
 
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Good tips on the GPS. I've been reaching them for a while as my fiance wants one, but they all seem to get huge marks on one point or another - inaccurate maps, trouble connecting, poor software for downloading new maps, etc.
 
I pushed the button on the Oregon 450 last night for the boy's gift, at the store mentioned above. It's quite a bit nicer than I intended to buy, but the sale price put it right with the other models I was considering.
 
ThriftyJoe said:
I could have got the B&W eTrex 10 for about $60 less, but I went with the 20 so when I finally get the SD chip topo maps for it I can see water sources in blue, in case of an emergency. Can you see the little back country ponds and streams on the topos well enough to be useful?

By the way, does anybody know a cheap source for SD chip maps? I need Wyoming and Colorado, and so far it looks like I will be forced to pay double and also get Montana and New Mexico. :rolleyes:
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I bought a Garmin Etrex HCx in 07, it's been all over the world, works great.

as for maps, I looked at the sd card maps and found that it was cheaper to get the cd with all of the US on it and load what I needed instead of getting separate sd cards. I got mine on amazon back in 07 for less than 85.00 no idea what they are now. its all USGS maps, I found that a lot of the info wasn't there anymore, small creeks gone, old roads gone, but topos still good.
 
I think Silva makes the best "GPS". Long battery life and no touch screen to break!
That being said I do like my Backtrack.
 
The two main programs that I used to make my 1:25000 maps were Mobile Atlas Creator (a.k.a. mobac) and Mobat2jnx. Mobac has a really easy user interface and can connect with various map sources (like google) from a drop-down menu. Then, an area on the map can be marked and downloaded into an 'atlas' format suitable for many different devices. I created OSMTracker format atlases of the whole UK (the Ordnance Survey maps are online due to a deal with Bing) and then converted them into Garmin's jnx file format using Mobat2jnx.

Jnx files are intended for things like downloaded satellite images from Garmin. Oh, I nearly forgot: You need to use a modified device firmware to use non-Garmin-supplied jnx files. That's not a problem though, and the original firmware can always be reinstated. It is possible to make maps in other formats but they are either limited and not suitable for a huge map like the UK, or harder to make like Garmin's main img file format. Jnx is easy to do and works just fine with the whole UK split across about 35 files (done mostly automatically by mobaj2jnx). Larger files tend to slow down the GPS unit and make scrolling around the map too laggy.

Google or some GPS/Mobile forums can easily locate the modified firmware to allow the use of jnx files. The two programs I mentioned are free to use.

There are many other useful map-making programs, many of them free or cheap (and very good!), and some quite expensive commercial stuff. It is possible to make your own topographical maps and even vectorised, routable road/trail maps too, but that is hard work. Making a 2D map like I have is very easy and really that is all I need - the contour lines on the map tell me the heights; I don't need a 3D profile display or to be told how much I have climbed. I just need to navigate.

Edit to add: Mobac has had many of its map sources removed from the drop-down list due to some map providers being unhappy about their online maps being used this way. It seems no one is quite sure of the licensing situation, including the owners. However, another google search will turn up an older version of Mobac from which the maps source files can simply be copied to the new version's folder. Hey presto, more sources again!
 
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No argument with that, and I don't think anyone is saying otherwise.

If going somewhere that position and navigation are, or might be in an emergency, critical, then having a real map and compass and the knowledge to use them are essential. No question, and no batteries to run out.

A GPS is a great recreational tool though. It makes my time in the outdoors more fun, allowing me to take in the surroundings and chill out, and just follow the idiot box's instructions for the route and to find my way back if I go off trail. I was never into orienteering as an activity in itself; once one knows how to read a map properly, that's it finished. I just wanted to be out there having fun.

I have a ton of routes downloaded from the internet on my GPS that I can choose from if I fancy following one somewhere new, again without the hassle of map reading. I can carry the GPS with me and have the whole UK in my pocket when travelling around. My box of paper maps is too big to lug around.

I've navigated by map and compass for many years, and always saw it as a necessity of being outdoors, rather than what I really wanted to be doing which was just enjoying being out there. That's probably why I frequently got 'lost' and eventually had to get the map out again to work out where I was.

Eventually I learned the trick of never getting lost, by not intending to be anywhere in particular!

GPS units are great!
 
I've been using an older Garmin eTrex Venture for several years and find no reason to upgrade. Battery life and PC connectivity are two features important to me.

Stay sharp,
desmobob
 
I've been using a 62st for the last year. I'll never use some of the bells and whistles but I bought it for the compass, altimeter, and antenna. I almost went with the Etrax 30 but decided that the ability to track the Soviet satellites were not as a significant advantage to me over the more sensitive antenna of the 62 series. I also love the detail of the maps and the configuration in basemap is not difficult to learn. I use my GPS mostly in the winter to identify where the trail is, as a lot of trails that I go on in the winter are not marked and covered under several feet of snow. I can use a map and compass, but I find it is much easier to find my exact location with a GPS under tree cover with limited visibility of the surrounding area.
 
Eventually I learned the trick of never getting lost, by not intending to be anywhere in particular!
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It's helpful to be able to find your way back to the parking lot. Eventually, that is. :D
 
Hence the GPS ;)

Actually though, I was referring to slightly longer walks, like the 260 mile backpacking trip where I zig-zagged around the route and made it more like 300 miles.

I'm really much better at intuitive direction finding in the outdoors that I am in towns, where I have almost no direction or location awareness. I once parked the car, took careful note of the location, went shopping, then went back to the car park only to find the car missing from the bay that I had parked in (third column along from the entry and two rows left). Ten minutes later I was just about to call the police when I suddenly wondered if I was on the correct floor of the multi-storey car park. No - I was parked on the floor above!
 
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