Gear

I walk in SW Cornwall and have been getting lost regularly.
Sometimes it's because there are no road signs, bridleway markers are smashed or rotated, whole mapboards are stolen plus it's often difficult to get any visual clues as to where you are.
Reading the threads on GPS I initially decided to buy a cheap non-mapping Etrex and plan routes on my PC....but my days out mostly consist of hopping on a train and getting off somewhere then heading errrr...somewhere so a mapping GPS was needed.
After looking at many models I gave up and splurged on a Garmin Gpsmap 60CSX - the built in map is totally crap and all that £350 gets you is bells & whistles.
However I also bought the Topo southern England map on an SD card that slots in behind the units batteries - FANTASTIC - ideal for walking as it shows contours which help work out where you are and where you want to go but best of all it shows remarkably accurate paths & bridleways AND those villages of population 1.
I walked from Truro to Redruth via the Carnon valley mining district today deliberatly trying to keep to paths where I had no visual clues as to where I was - the GPS was brilliant showing me small streams, the tailings pit of Wheal Jane mine, I didn't get the Msp out once.
Another handy feature is that I have to get home by train so the GPS can tell me how quickly to walk to get the next train - I'm mightily impressed even though it's my first day with it and I don't really know how to use it properly yet.
As a mapping GPS the supplied basemap is totally useless - the Topo map transforms it into a usefull tool that (for me) can replace paper maps.
Very expensive compared to car GPS systems and limited in features but can navigate a walker around England's pathways without a box of maps and is not affected by wind and rain.

I'm pleased you like it, but remember that it IS electronic, and can fail, so a back-up map is always a safe bet.

I'm a bit of a technophobe, but I still fancy getting my paws on a basic GPS, if only for grid refs when I'm temporarily location-aware deficient (I don't like using the L word!)

remember that it IS electronic, and can fail, so a back-up map is always a safe bet

This has to be the most commone argument against GPS use - but it's also massively overstated. If you take as much care of your GPS as you would of your map then you're unlikely to ever have a problem. You can run out of batteries if you don't use a bit of sense but equally you can lose your map if you're not careful.

I must have tested close to 50 GPS solutions over the last 5 years, and have only had 1 failure - and that was years ago with a pre-release model I was testing. While it's always good to have a back up (and know how to use it) there's no reason at all why GPS shouldn't become your main navigation solution.

must admit gps is my main navigation tool but alway make sure i carry map and compass and use as well just to confirm i no where i am..

if you use the highest power rechargable batteries and always carry spares there should not be a prob..
sometimes it does loose you in say a deep gully or ravine but if it does just wait for some differant satalite to position itself and bingo u are back on..

used it today on old man of coniston but got beaten back by the wind and was thrown over the top of the wife at one point,so had to call it a day near goats tarn..nowt to do with gps that bit but thought id share it with you lol

Enjoy it its a great aid to have...

good to hear you say that dave.i have a basic garmin geko 201 and think its great.have used it many times to comfirm my position and on one occasion to confirm i had walked the wrong way towards scafell pike in stead of heading towards sprinklin tarn from langdale.weather was bad so i did not study the map well enough.fantastic tools and as for batteries running out,i always take plenty as my headtorch takes the same.

Day two GPS'ing
Tried alkaline batteries yesterday - lasted around ten hours and the battery meter showed them draining visibly.
Today tried 2700AH NiMH - battery meter still showing full after a days use with compass enabled.
Found the setting to show UK map co-oordinates.
Heading home when I was about three miles from the railway station I used 'points of interest/transport' to auto route me there (3D screen like a car GPS) - the unit works out your walking speed and projects an arrival time which was exactly as the train left without me. (unfit)
I find the routing feature invaluable as I rely on public transport to get me home and often grossly underestimate my walking ability and arrive at the bus station with hours to spare - the GPS avoids this completely.
Downloaded my track logs and found exactly where I'd missed a path which had been ploughed up.
Downloaded my commented waypoint marks so I can annotate my photos.
I'll try it in the snow tommorow :)

"missed a path which had been ploughed up."

You want to contact your council's Rights of Way Officer - get that farmer a spanking.

"missed a path which had been ploughed up" lol

didn't the gps tell you where it was?

experiment with the battery bars and don't necessarily believe them. you may find that the battery bar suddenly plummets.

I've just bought a Vista HCx having had the Cx prior to this.

I still can't see where all the extra money goes to on the 60CSx....

I just got a Venture HC. The difference between that and the old basic Etrex I had is unbelievable. It is now my primary navigation device (but it doesn't negate having basic map & compass skills, which I always have as backup).

Yep, both Dave and I have Satmap units on test at the moment. I can't speak for Dave, but after years of finding GPS units pointlessly difficult to use, I'm very impressed with the Active 10. There'll be a full test on the site next week, but it's incredibly intuitive in use, seems to have excellent battery life and works as a standalone unit without needing a computer interface to plan routes.

In very simply terms it puts an OS map on a screen in front of you with a red dot showing exactly where you are and a trail of dots showing where you've been. You can zoom in and out and with the National Park mapping, the unit shifts from 1;50,000 to 1:25,000 scale pretty smoothly. There's a built-in compass as well. You can check route stats etc on the move and so on.

You can use it either on quite a basic level or there are more powerful features if you want to use them. Just seems to have been very well thought out. And the unit's been developed specifically for outdoor use, which means it's robust - no touch screen, it's all toggle and buttons - there's a replaceable polycarbonate screen protector too, it's waterproof, there's an optional rechargeable lithium polymer battery pack etc.

Also, as a small company, they seem very responsive. For example, I suggested that clearing a track from the unit should be a two-stage process with a 'Yes/No' confirmation screen to make sure you didn't accidentally delete an entire day's walk by mistake, next day I got the latest software upgrade on SD card and the revision was incorporated, which was pretty impressive.

I'm not saying it's perfect, sometimes it's hard to get the sort of bigger picture you would with a paper map, but it's the best I've tried by some way. I suspect you could get a similar sort of solution by running a PDA loaded with mapping software and some sort of mobile phone set-up, but you'd also need a protective case for the PDA. It's also a great option for Mac users as you don't have to run mapping software on a PC to use the Satmap and because Satmap's own free mapping software will run from their web site, you'll also be able to use a Mac with that once they release the relevant USB drivers.

Oh, and because it uses GPX files, you can export routes from existing mapping software in GPX and use them on the Satmap unit.

No problem

 

I plan to upgrade from my Garmin eTrex Venture to the 60Csx with TOPO mapping.  I am looking for help to find out :

• will I still be able to download routes planned in Anquet on my PC to the 60Csx ?

• is the route overlayed on the TOPO map display of the 60Csx?

• are route and TOPO map synchronised for zooming in & out ?

I asked Garmin who referred me to Anquet, who (usually very helpful) were not sure!

Can anyone please help?

p.s. Would my eTrex Venture have any 2nd hand value?

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