Buyers' Guides - Navigation

Buyer's Guide - Navigation Kit

You can be decked out in head to foot Sooper Dooper-Tex clothing and have the most comfortable walking boots known to man along with the fitness of an Olympic marathon runner and the focus of a Tibetan hermit, but if you can't find your way across the hills, you might as well stay home and watch telly...

The good news is that navigation equipment is getting more and more effective, the bad news is that even with all the cunning electronic devices known to man, you still need to be able to use a map and compass and you should always carry them regardless.

You can find links to relevant user and editorial reviews in the 'Reviews' section of the site.

In the old days, pretty much everyone used one inch Ordnance Survey maps, these days though, there's a bewildering choice. The OS maps are still a benchmark, but there's a choice of the pink 1:50,000 Landranger series and the 1:25,000 Explorers.

Both have pros and cons. The 1:50,000 scale covers more ground with a single sheet, makes it easier to spot the big features and is arguably the best choice for full-on winter conditions where the details of a 1:25,000 maps will be covered with snow anyway and the overall lay of the land is more important.

The larger scale Explorer series is much more detailed which makes it great for navigating through nadgery farm and urban areas and for picking out small details. It's easier to walk off the map though, if you use a case, you'll be refolding the map more regularly as you walk off the edge of the current portion and, in some situations, all that detail can get confusing and make it harder to see the overall lay of the land.

The other main mover in the map market is Harvey which produces map aimed squarely at walker and climbers and covers selected outdoor areas like the Lakes, Peak and Dales. They have two options, the 1:25,000 Superwalker series and the 1:40,000 standard maps.

If you're used to OS mapping, the Harvey maps can seem a little odd to start off with, but they delineate the differences between hill and valley land very clearly and are arguably easier to use. They're also printed on 'water proof' paper, though in use we'd say that highly water resistant was a more accurate description...

Harveys also publishes atlases covering the Dales and Lake District area in a handy, ringbound book form. They're neat and compact, though the breakdown into pages makes it harder to see the big picture - plan on a bigger map and use the atlas on the ground.

A final option, if you use mapping software - see below - is to print off map sections and laminate or carry them in a plastic bag or map case. More efficient than carrying an entire map.

Note new open access areas are being included on the latest OS maps as they take effect.

The only map case we've used that we'd unequivocally recommend is the urethane-type Ortlieb case, which is totally waterproof, nice and grippy and damn near indestructible. They yellow with age, but just keep rolling on. Only downside is refolding the map in deluge conditions which can be tricky. Stow it in a pocket, not round your neck where the wind can catch it and tie it in knots around your larynx.

Laminated maps are an effective solution, but add a little weight and bulk. They also tend to be slipperly making them hard to hold onto when things get wet and the bulk makes folding and stowing hard. The best we've used are the Aqua3 series.

Waterproof paper as used by Harvey's tends, in our experience, to be more water resistant then proof, particularly along fold lines. We'd still use a map case in wet conditions.

For navigating using a map and compass, you can't beat the classic baseplate-type compasses from the likes of Silva and Suunto. Anything without a baseplate makes mapwork less accurate, so don't bother. Incidentally, if you're changing hemispheres, you can buy compasses with different weighted needles to compensate, but your normal compass will still work as long as you hold it at a slight angle for clean rotation of the needle.

Simple eh? Electronic compasses are fine for following bearings, but for mapwork, the original, simple Silva design is still the best.

GPS - Global Positioning Satellite - units are getting smaller and smaller and more and more affordable. They use a series of satellites to pinpoint your location and altitude. Which you choose depends a lot on how you're going to be using it.

At it's most simple level, GPS is great for dragging out of your pack if you're lost and knowing exactly where you are almost instantly - with some units now wrist mounted, that's actually quite a viable option. As a standalone navigation tool though, GPS has limits. Generally the interface is best described as 'user hostile' and it can take ages to enter simple routes and waypoints manually.

The way round that is to use a computer interface and mapping software to pre-programme points into your GPS before walking and / or download your walk details afterwards. You'll either love the idea or not. If you love it, go ahead, if you're a technophobe, it's back to the map and compass.

Incidentally, Apple Macintosh users are at a huge disadvantage here. Most GPS and mapping software works only with PCs, though a little bird tells us that at least one major mapping software outfit is currently working on porting their product to Macintosh.

Check out the reviews section for relevant tests and comparisons, however used in conjunction with a GPS, mapping software is a brilliant navigational tool. You can use the electronic map with your computer to plot a route then either print maps off or download the details to a GPS unit.

You can easily check distances covered and total ascent and descent plus share routes with your mates if they have the same programme. Again Mac users lose out here, though things may change soon.

Last time we reviewed mapping software, Tracklogs was our favourite option, though Memory Map and Anquet also have their plus points and all are being revised and improved. None is cheap compared to paper maps, but they're a lot more versatile even used without a GPS unit.

There are a fair few wrist watches with altimeters on along with barometers, chronometers, thermometers and the like. Suunto, Polar, Techtrail and others. Very handy on Himalayan peaks, but for UK use more of a semi-useful entertainment than a practical aid to navigation. Bear in mind too that the altimeter uses air pressure to determine altitude, so may need to be re-set occasionally.

Finally, you really can learn navigation skills, despite what people mutter about 'sense of direction' , sniffing the wind and so on - there's actually a lot of very logical processes going on and a fair few cunning tricks that'll help you get from A to B without getting horribly lost.

There are plenty of useful books out there, but the ideal is to get professional instruction either as part of a general hill skills course or on a specialist mountain navigation weekend. There's no point in having all the gear, if you have no idea...

Hopefully this article will have given you some basic pointers. The good news is that there's a load more advice on OUTDOORSmagic:

• Ask on the gear forum about general issues or specific items.
  
• Check the member reviews section for user experiences of kit.
  
• See OM editorial reviews on the front of the site for our impressions.
  
• Ask Richard Gear if you have a specific question you need answering.