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Satellite Navigation Vs Map & Compass

Satellite Navigation Vs Compass

Satellite Navigation
15
11%
Compass (with map)
34
25%
Both
88
64%
 
Total votes : 137

Re: Satellite Navigation Vs Map & Compass

Postby sloosh » Fri Mar 12, 2010 2:21 pm

magicdin wrote:I do think however that gps tends to make us a bit lazy with regards to navigation :think:

At least I look at a GPS unlike um, maps. :oops: :shifty:
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Re: Satellite Navigation Vs Map & Compass

Postby planetnine » Fri Mar 19, 2010 2:33 am

I prefer to plan my route on a map and follow it on a GPS. You can see more at a time on a map, but the GPS screen is ok while on the go.

I feel naked without a map and certainly without my old Silva compass and would always like them at least in the pocket of my rucksack to look at during stops, but since getting a Satmap last year, I'm happy to follow it during the walks and ascents -its easier to handle than a 10"x10" mapcase in exposed locations ;)

I'm definitely down for both.

>
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Re: Satellite Navigation Vs Map & Compass

Postby bootsandpaddles » Fri Mar 19, 2010 8:35 am

Maybe the aged hillwalkers should not go out in inclement weather conditions.[/quote]

Following my recent birthday I am seriously considering whether I should go out if it is raining, snowing, cloudy or windy. However I do find that all those years of experience help me to battle through against overwhelming odds.
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Re: Satellite Navigation Vs Map & Compass

Postby sloosh » Fri Mar 19, 2010 11:52 am

planetnine wrote:its easier to handle than a 10"x10" mapcase in exposed locations ;)

Ah yes, you are obviously referring to 'map case strangulation syndrome'.
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Re: Satellite Navigation Vs Map & Compass

Postby malky_c » Thu Apr 22, 2010 1:42 pm

Map and compass for me - never occurred to me to spend any money on a GPS. My navigation skills aren't amazing, but they have been good enough to get me out of a fair few white-outs and other tight spots in the past.

Unless I am trying to navigate in poor conditions, I don't tend to look at the map much beyond working out where to leave the road. Have been caught out a few times in areas with lots of paths/forestry tracks. I think this is where I'm most likely to get lost!

I suppose GPS would have assisted me in getting to all of the summits I had originally planned in cases like this day out in the Cairngorms http://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=3440, but in those conditions I prefer to simplify or cut short the route.
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Re: Satellite Navigation Vs Map & Compass

Postby Caberfeidh » Thu Apr 22, 2010 2:43 pm

GPS? Map ? Compass ? Pah, pah, and thrice Pah! I laugh in the face of your pansy inability to navigate, and pinch the buttocks of your dependence on gadgets ! I simply get lost, starve, and find my way home by following the migration routes of badgers/geese/whales. Of course I had to eat one of my own legs that time, but never mind. Pah !
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Re: Satellite Navigation Vs Map & Compass

Postby stomper » Thu Apr 22, 2010 8:34 pm

I have both but i do love my Satmap GPS as its 99% acuate and as yethas not let me down. Yes i still use map&compass but with my satmap alot of money to fork out but at the end of the day its the best device for walking in the hills. I used it two whole days this week and the battery well its still half full. Does anybody wish to have a Geko 201 GPS theirs for £30
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Re: Satellite Navigation Vs Map & Compass

Postby Gythral » Thu Aug 05, 2010 11:16 pm

Map & compass, for me, although they often just loiter in my pack unless the weather closes in!
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Re: Satellite Navigation Vs Map & Compass

Postby sloosh » Fri Aug 06, 2010 5:58 am

Gythral wrote:Map & compass, for me, although they often just loiter in my pack unless the weather closes in!

Hello :)

Yeah, that was the same for me until one day that approach didn't work out so well.
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Re: Satellite Navigation Vs Map & Compass

Postby iainwatson » Fri Aug 06, 2010 9:42 am

stomper wrote:I have both but i do love my Satmap GPS as its 99% acuate and as yethas not let me down. Yes i still use map&compass but with my satmap alot of money to fork out but at the end of the day its the best device for walking in the hills. I used it two whole days this week and the battery well its still half full. Does anybody wish to have a Geko 201 GPS theirs for £30



i'm on the look out for a cheap gps just for back up-whats the geko like?
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Re: Satellite Navigation Vs Map & Compass

Postby Paul Webster » Fri Aug 06, 2010 10:27 am

I took the Geko - well worth £30.

If you are buying a new GPS the best cheap bet though is an Etrex H. The newer Garmin's with 'H' in the name are hugely more accurate than the older models without, and get a better signal in woods / deep glens etc. too. The Etrex H takes AA batteries which last alot longer then the AAA in the Geko too.
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Re: Satellite Navigation Vs Map & Compass

Postby HighlandSC » Fri Aug 06, 2010 11:08 am

I'll second the Garmin Etrex for a quality GPS without the frills.
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Re: Satellite Navigation Vs Map & Compass

Postby tilley hemp th5 » Sat Aug 07, 2010 1:00 pm

never used gps in all my years walking..... however ,compass does not work correctly on skye Cuillin Hills , and assume gps would...... so i can see a benefit here for gps.....
(are there any other places where compass gets 'magnatised' by the rock ??)
so its a case of
1. learn to use a map and compass (in local park !)
2. plot the route
3. put map and compass in rucksack (good visibility days they will never get much use)
4. leave reading specs at home.....walk all day ! (take binoculars)

for low visibility days

5. put map and compass around neck and take bearings all day long
6. beg borrow or steal lots of cash and buy a gps (probably means no holiday that year)
7. (remember to take reading specs !!!!!).... put on reading specs..... then use gps to back up your essential map reading skills and confirm you really are at the top (just in case the huge pile of stones at the summit is buried in deep snow !!)
8. spend hours learning to use the gps for when you go to skye (or just hire a guide to show you the best routes).

(my friend takes his gps golf course planner with him when we play golf. despite the markers on the course he needs to know how far from the pin he is by using the gps !!!!! as he hardly ever hits a green you can imagine its just a waste of time ......perhaps an unfair comparison here !!!)

gps would be very nice to have if i could afford the unit and the expensive maps to load on, but it would only get used as a back up to the essential map and compass. how many good hours are spent with the map opened out on the table and a few friends looking for new routes.
gps / battery life etc ... i dont think so for a good few days out in the hills........ just a nice to have back up.....
been hill walking on and off for getting on 50 years so i suppose i will take a bit of convincing on this one !!!!!!

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Re: Satellite Navigation Vs Map & Compass

Postby tilley hemp th5 » Sat Aug 07, 2010 1:11 pm

Caberfeidh wrote:GPS? Map ? Compass ? Pah, pah, and thrice Pah! I laugh in the face of your pansy inability to navigate, and pinch the buttocks of your dependence on gadgets ! I simply get lost, starve, and find my way home by following the migration routes of badgers/geese/whales. Of course I had to eat one of my own legs that time, but never mind. Pah !
Ye Only Mappe Worthe Havinge.jpg


were we at the same (victorian) school ????
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Re: Satellite Navigation Vs Map & Compass

Postby HighlandSC » Sat Aug 07, 2010 1:17 pm

tilley hemp th5 wrote:.........6. beg borrow or steal lots of cash and buy a gps (probably means no holiday that year)..................

(my friend takes his gps golf course planner with him when we play golf. despite the markers on the course he needs to know how far from the pin he is by using the gps !!!!! as he hardly ever hits a green you can imagine its just a waste of time ......perhaps an unfair comparison here !!!)

.......battery life etc ... i dont think so for a good few days out in the hills.........

A basic but very good GPS can be purchased for about the same price as a good compass. Regardless..you must have cheap holidays! :D

Golfers using GPS - hilarious! (but a good idea!)

Battery life - most GPS units are perfectly capable of a good few days in the hills.
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