Backcountry GPS Unit

[hev]

I can’t search for GPS and I don’t think this topic has been covered very recently. Anyways I’d really like to add GPS capabilities to my back country set up. I appreciate good interface design and am willing to pay a bit extra for it. The technology on this stuff moves so fast I am really not sure what is out there these days, but it seems like a great tool to have. Many folks around here use one?

[mrkristofo]

I put the Garmin eTrex Vista Cx on my christmas list for some snowpit data logging and route mapping. Here's why:

•USB Connection (key for me since I have a Mac and apparently USB>Serial connectors don't work worth shit) for transferring routes and maps from the PC to the unit
•It's the only eTrex model that has an altimiter/compass
•Removeable SD card
•It has a $50 rebate through garmin right now.

It also has a color screen (which is nice, but not absolutely necessary)

If you want more in-depth mapping capabilities than this may not be the right one for you. But for those models add around $400 more.

A key piece of software is also the NG TOPO! 24k maps for the area you'll be travelling in. As far as the mapping software/online published routes/free maps I'm definitely a n00b in that area, so hopefully someone can point in the direction of where to get those maps for free.

[mc_roon]

I put the Garmin eTrex Legend Cx on my christmas list for some snowpit data logging and route mapping. Here's why:

•USB Connection (key for me since I have a Mac and apparently USB>Serial connectors don't work worth shit) for transferring routes and maps from the PC to the unit
•It's the only eTrex model that has an altimiter/compass
•Removeable SD card
•It has a $50 rebate through garmin right now.

It also has a color screen (which is nice, but not absolutely necessary)

If you want more in-depth mapping capabilities than this may not be the right one for you. But for those models add around $400 more.

A key piece of software is also the NG TOPO! 24k maps for the area you'll be travelling in. As far as the mapping software/online published routes/free maps I'm definitely a n00b in that area, so hopefully someone can point in the direction of where to get those maps for free.

my dad has one of these. When i played around with it over the summer it was great. Loading trips from Topo took me about 5 minutes to figure out. If heavy trees it loses the signal, but that is normal

[Cirquerider]

Also recommend the Garmin GPSMap 76cs. All of the above plus a better quad helix antenna, twice the memory and larger screen. Weighs 2 oz more, but carries easily, costs about $100 more. I used a Garmin 76S (not color) for a long time.

[upallnight]

search for for garmin and you will find good stuff.

i've been using an eTrex vista since 1999 quite successfully. once you learn the limitations (and get frustrated in the process) it will be fine.

these devices can't handle Topo! map uploads (you can upload waypoints/routes, etc) as they are graphics. you can update vector-based maps such as those from mapsource. you kind of need both.

[bagtagley]

This Receiver:


With this handheld:


...and you're set. Sure, it'll set you back many grand, but as long as you can connect to a base station, you're looking at centimeter accuracy.

Just imagine this with skis and poles (and mountains). You could mount the receiver to your head and you wouldn't need the pesky survey pole:



OR, you could puss out and get a Garmin GPSMap 60Cx, which my dad has and loves. Got it on Amazon for pretty cheap. The 60 series and 76 series are basically the same as far as features, but the 76s are effin' huge compared to the 60. For handheld use, I'd go w/ the 60. If you wanna get mega-dorky, check out the Groundspeak forums. It's TGR for GPS nerds.

[mrkristofo]

these devices can't handle Topo! map uploads (you can upload waypoints/routes, etc) as they are graphics. you can update vector-based maps such as those from mapsource. you kind of need both.

Here's a link to some good info for gps-noobs trying to figure out wtf all this gis/drg/dlg whatever map data is:

http://www.fws.gov/data/gisdata.html

This Receiver:
With this handheld:
Sure, it'll set you back many grand, but as long as you can connect to a base station, you're looking at centimeter accuracy.

man, I want one for entering avalanche terrain. better than a beacon.

[El Chupacabra]

What'd you do with the rest of the imperial probe droid?

[Free Range Lobster]

What'd you do with the rest of the imperial probe droid?

BWAH!
A+

[bio-smear]

What'd you do with the rest of the imperial probe droid?

"Bwahh!" ...seconded. Good eye.

I have had the eTrex Vista C for a few years now and I really like it. You can't beat the size, and I love the barometric altimeter and magnetic compass (at slow speeds.)

[summit]

Just remember that a GPS is about useless without a map in most cases where GPS actually becomes useful for more than a novelty.

[bio-smear]

Just remember that a GPS is about useless without a map in most cases where GPS actually becomes useful for more than a novelty.

Yeah...just like people who know nothing about navigation often think that a compass is the solution to find their way. These tools are useless without a map or known landmarks. However, what's changing this is that most handheld GPS units nowadays are moving map, so that solves the problem of having a map as long as you've taken the time to upload the correct topo maps to it. You don't even need to be able to identify real landmarks, just a destination on the integrated map.

[summit]

i have a magellan gps 315... i think it is powered by tiny hampsters on tiny exercise weels... i can't think of the last time i really *needed* it for something other than telling a distant part an exact location via radio

around here where there is a road within 10miles of the crow flying from any point, except for the previous scenario or unless i'm looking for an exact landmark that would be hard to find by normal orienteering (a particular cabin or a particular chute entry), a paper map is much more usefull to me for seeing what is around me in the big picture and what is in the next drainage or three. otherwise GPS becomes a toy... a novelty you keep checking to see exactly whehre you are all the time. i dont need that

[bagtagley]

GPS becomes a toy... a novelty you keep checking to see exactly whehre you are all the time. i dont need that

Yeah, who wants an all-in-one map, altimeter and compass with switchable vector landmarks and DRGs, the ability to collect waypoints, instant coordinates all on a lit display that you can hold in one hand...all accurate to within meters?

Oh, and that measures distance traveled, time, altitude gain/loss, speed.....

That's just silly.

[upallnight]

quite often i use the GPS to:
1) track my route, where it's just in my pack the whole day. i get stats at the end of the day regarding moving time, stopped time, vert, max/avg speed, etc., and i can lay the route over a topo map;
2) mark some waypoints that i want to hit on a route. in that case, i'll have the gps out of my pack periodically to make sure i'm on track. this can be useful for me for lining up descents, especially if i have not been able to climb the route i'm descending.

it can be a novelty, but it can also be more than a novelty. really depends on the user.

[cj001f]

Yeah, who wants an all-in-one map, altimeter and compass with switchable vector landmarks and DRGs, the ability to collect waypoints, instant coordinates all on a lit display that you can hold in one hand...all accurate to within meters?

All-in-one - sweet, so when the battery craps out or it breaks in a hard fall I'm SOL. That handholdable display that I can't see shit on - but it's accurate to meters. Woohoo!

I've a Magellan eXplorist 500. It's small, lightweight, color display, SD card memory expandable, good battery life, yadda, yadda. My beefs are
1) maps are expensive.
2) planning out coordinates ahead of time etc. doesn't fit by travel/touring methodology, so that functionality is lost.
3) it doesn't have good reception (and few GPS do) in the areas where I'm likely to get lost. Heavy trees, slot canyons.

So it mostly sits at home because it isn't useful for me.

[bagtagley]

All-in-one - sweet, so when the battery craps out or it breaks in a hard fall I'm SOL. That handholdable display that I can't see shit on - but it's accurate to meters. Woohoo!

Get an extra battery and some new glasses?

He says novelty, I say valuable tool. I'd never suggest it as a replacement to more traditional and reliable tools, simply a very useful additon.

[cj001f]

Get an extra battery and some new glasses?

woohoo - now I can see the same number of pixels, only bigger! Small displays = less information.

I'd never suggest it as a replacement to more traditional and reliable tools, simply a very useful additon.

I'm not plotting lots or cruising timber when I go to the backcountry. Meters aren't a BFD. I'm not interested in tracking my route. So for my uses (and apparently summits) it's more novelty than useful tool.

[bagtagley]

woohoo - now I can see the same number of pixels, only bigger! Small displays = less information.

Can we at least have a discussion without the rolleyes...I mean, c'mon.

[dp]

i have my eye on this buddy:

http://www.garmin.com/products/rino120/

two birds, as it were.

[bio-smear]

I love using GPS. I use it for flying, backpacking, backcountry skiing, driving. It's useful. But, like many of my navigation purist brethren, I am of the opinion that while they have moving maps and are a complete solution by themselves, I don't like to use it that way. Having a real map is really nice, and I have been in the situation where my GPS batteries were dying and gotten worried that I would be left without any navaids. Plus, it's really hard to get a good overall mental picture of the area on a tiny screen. It's just nice to unfold the big ass map and eat breakfast over it ands plot your domination of the countryside.

[summit]

He says novelty, I say valuable tool.

I say a lot of a time it is a novelty for me based on where I travel. I am not everyone. YMMV. I do think a lot of people use it in a novelty type fashion... pinpoint accuracy and all sorts of precise statistics are not often much benefit over traditional accuracy and knowledge. In some situations they can be though.

I'd never suggest it as a replacement to more traditional and reliable tools, simply a very useful additon.

I agree it is a great compliment in some situations. GPSs aren't bad things. I have one.

[BFD]

a remote antenna helps to keep the lock in the trees and when you can't keep the unit orientated constantly. I have one in my boat and that thing goes on right after the motor. I think I need to play video games. I find it hard to follow the track in dense fog or darkness. The area we fish is for the most part uncharted, you depend on your GPS. Lot of respect for those guys out there before GPS.

[char]

The new GPS with color screens and mapping software are pretty nice to have.

I don't personally own a GPS, but use one at work and they have a way of clearing up some confusion when you've been flying for an hour in a part of the country you've never been in and get kicked out and have to find you're way to the nearest road. Having contour lines, ownership, watersheds and roads all in the palm of your hand makes decision making much easier. The ones we have are capable of holding most of the PNW plus parts of Idaho and North CA that we respond to. (No clue on model.)

That being said, I don't plan on buying one for personal use because a) I like maps, I just like the aesthetic of them and b) maps don't break. There also is no substitute for being able to read a map. And I mean read a map in the sense of being able to look at the terrain you are in put yourself on the map and then be able to look at the map and visualize the coming terrain.

The recent reports of ambulances in Britain driving 400 miles to move a patient 10 miles because they relied on GPS and not their brain are disturbing to say the least.

Bag - When I cruised timber we had a bolt on a hardhat that you could mount the receiver to. Hilarious. Some of the worst days were carrying one of those through thick reprod and trying to keep all the wires plugged in.


hev- If I was going to buy a GPS I would make sure it had the ability to upload maps and a color screen. And make sure you get the tools to convert your lat/long into a position on a paper map.

[goggle tan]

does anyone know how well the garmin rino 530 handles gullies/deep foliage??

christmas '06 has come down to the rino 530 or the gpsmap60csx. decisions, decisions, decisions.....