GPS suggestions wanted

[mmeyers]

I want to get a handheld (not wristwatch) GPS to supplement my map/compass/altimeter (and to mess around with) for my mountaineering and backcountry jaunts, mostly for whiteout situations. I think I want it to have mainly 4 features:

- be lightweight

- last a long time on a charge, or one set of batteries (is 1-2 weeks even possible?)

- give me coordinates when I want them (obv)

- track/save my coordinates (so I can get the coordinates and evaluate my path back home)

 

What are you other folks using? any suggestions?

 

is there anything else i should consider in that list of requirements?

 

Do I want it to have a map display? Is that generally what climbers are using? It sounds all neat-o, but if I have a map anyway, is it worth the weight, and won't it use more power?

 

Thanks,

Matt

[pcg]

I want to get a ...GPS ...mostly for whiteout situations.

In my experience a GPS does not help in whiteout conditions. The reason is that the real hazard in a whiteout is the possibility of skiing or stepping off a shelf or cornice that you can't see, and a GPS will not prevent that. Better just to hunker down and wait for visibility.

 

Even when there is no whiteout, but visibility is poor, a GPS is of limited use. If you have stayed oriented, you can use a compass to navigate and travel, so long as you have a heading to aim for. For example, I find that in poor visibility (heavy snow or fog) I tend to lose my sense of direction. Last fall I was on the summit of Pinnacle Peak in heavy cloud cover and after waiting for ten minutes for Rainier to show for a photo-up I gave up and started down and could not find the easy decent path. I wandered around the summit for 15 mintues, fighting back panic as I kept getting cliffed out and dusk was approaching and it was starting to rain. I finally looked at my compass and realized that my brain had spun 180 degrees in my skull. A GPS would not have been any help.

 

I do find a GPS useful for route finding in areas where prominent features are many and confusing, or absent altogether, so that it is hard to get a bearing on something, or I am just plain lazy and don't stay oriented to a map like I should, but I try to never rely on it like I do a map and compass, for the obvious reason that if the batteries die I'm in trouble. Mine is old (no map display) and I'm not familiar with the newer models that have more memory and better graphics, so I can't offer a recommendation as to what to buy.

[snoboy]

IME I found that once I got one with a map display, that I used it a lot more, and it became more useful. If you just want it as a backup to your current nav methods, then go cheap and light.

 

I am unsure what the current top pick is, but I am happy with my Garmin 60 CSX

[BootsandPants]

I picked up one of the new etrex 20 models from Garmin 9 months or so ago and I really like it. Smaller than the other GPSMap series units but just as functional, cheaper, and lighter. Battery life has been better than I could have hoped too. One set of rechargeable NiMH lasted 6 days of constant operation doing mostly tracking with the occasional position check in ~20F weather (turned off at night obviously).

The new etrex series also uses the Russian GLONASS satellites in addition to the GPS constellation and satellite lock times are fast and accurate.

 

Pretty affordable too: http://www.spadout.com/p/garmin-etrex-20-gps/

 

Lots of free user maps out there too for the Garmin units, so you don't have to worry about plunking down the cash for Garmin's maps. I found USGS quads for most of the country with a simple google search.

[max]

 

What are you other folks using? any suggestions?

 

is there anything else i should consider in that list of requirements?

 

Do I want it to have a map display?

 

Here's mu answers:

1. The only GPS device I use now is my iPhone. It's marginal. I wouldn't suggest it. I have previously used Garmin... cv-70 or something like that, and one of those units that have a radio in it.. and some super old survey units.

2. From what I've heard, and my experience with my phone is that battery life/reliability is high on people's lists. But I think you may have mentioned that.

3. I've never been impressed with map displays on any unit, even a laptop screen. Nothing beats the detail and scope of a topo map. I'm tring to use a Delorm gauzetteer withthe coordinates gridded out and just use the lat/long feature on my phone. No idea how much differnt datum error from the topo.

 

I actually never bring this when I'm climbing in the mountains.

[JDCH]

I picked up one of the new etrex 20 models from Garmin 9 months or so ago and I really like it. Smaller than the other GPSMap series units but just as functional, cheaper, and lighter. Battery life has been better than I could have hoped too. One set of rechargeable NiMH lasted 6 days of constant operation doing mostly tracking with the occasional position check in ~20F weather (turned off at night obviously).

The new etrex series also uses the Russian GLONASS satellites in addition to the GPS constellation and satellite lock times are fast and accurate.

 

Pretty affordable too: http://www.spadout.com/p/garmin-etrex-20-gps/

 

Lots of free user maps out there too for the Garmin units, so you don't have to worry about plunking down the cash for Garmin's maps. I found USGS quads for most of the country with a simple google search.

 

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