 Im thinking of investing in a GPS for a number of reasons, but mainly just for safety reasons. ive narrowed it down to 2 choices, Garmin Oregon 200 or Garmin Dekota 20? They both seem fairly identical but at more or less the same price, a few pounds here or there, i wondered which is the better of the two? Or if you have any advice on better ones? i dnt really want to spend much more than £200 as ive seen both of these for that price... any advice is appreciated, thank you lewis
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 > Im thinking of investing in a GPS for a number of reasons, but mainly just for safety reasons. 'Safety reasons' would suggest that you won't use it most of the time. In which case, why not get one that just gives a grid ref, rather than one with mapping? Or does your 'safety' include the 'oh dear, I've lost my map' situation?
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 "mainly just for safety reasons" buy the cheapest one available that will allow you to connect to a computer. they are expensive because they are crammed with bells and whistles that you won't either need or use. get a cheap one. use it. play with it. decide what you want to use it for and what you want to get out of it and then decide which expensive one you want which will fulfill your needs.
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 I recently got a Garmin Geko 301 specifically for the safety aspect, it's great, small and light and cheap as I got it off the OM classifieds forums 
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Before you buy, what sort of phone have you got? You may have a GPS already.
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 Before you buy, what sort of phone have you got? You may have a GPS already. Indeed. Google maps on a Sony Erricson has let me see the error of my ways before now!
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Thanks for the replies, but no, my phone is a cheap nokia that doesnt do much (i like my phones that way) haha... i can see where your points are coming from, but besides safety, i will still be using it to help guide me, as i dont feel comfortable trusting myself fully with a map n compass!
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To be honest, I'd suggest working on your map and compass skills first and use a GPS as an additional bit of assistance. Electrical gizmos tend to fail just when you most need them. That said, the cheapest GPS will give you your location in a grid ref and you can do the rest from there. Not really answering your original question I know.
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in which case lewis you definitely need a cheap gps unit. you will learn to use a map and compass very quickly with the backup of a gps as it does wonders for your confidence and helps with those exploring alternative destinations moments. i would urge you to become famialiar with map and compass before relying on a gps. sounds a bit luddite but you will get a lot more out of your gps by understanding the map and compass. you will learn the disadvantages and advantages of both systems and how to combine them into a really powerfull tool that is superior to just one or the other.
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"Electrical gizmos tend to fail just when you most need them" a common thing said when gos comes up yet we're all quite happy with the electrical gizmos like cars, tvs, watches, calculatiors and the list goes on... i haven't heard of anyone's gps unit failing (user error doesn't count). i've heard of people's maps being destroyed/lost and compasses not pointing in the correct dorection though.
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"Electrical gizmos tend to fail just when you most need them" a common thing said when gos comes up yet we're all quite happy with the electrical gizmos like cars, tvs, watches, calculatiors and the list goes on..." We will just have to differ on that then Gizmos fail all the time, my Tv broke , my last car broke down repeatedly and my wifes watch has given up the ghost. I was not happy about any of these events. It would seem we are not "all quite happy" with our gizmos as you say we are. Maybe you mean you are happy with yours, which is good, I'm genuinely pleased for you. I'm mostly satisfied with mine most of the time.
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| Edited: 17/02/10 01:00 |
happy with your nav? don't use technology to make up for it. Learn properly ,its easy.
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sean. did your things fail because the electronic circuits failed? you're quite happy using the "gizmos". i assume you're not going to buy another tv, car or watch and use them because they might, just might, break down? i would suggest that the chance of your gps failing is far lower than you losing or trashing your map. it is a fairly robust benign device not subject to difficult operating conditions.
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You may suggest indeed, just as I may ignore it and stick with my original advice of learning to navigate properly with a map and compass. I'm all in favour of using a GPS, AS WELL AS, a map etc -but I've already said that and presumably you read that in my previous posts. You have made the same point re using both tools yourself but for some reason have decided to fixate on about how infallible electronic gadgets and such like are . If yours are infallible good for you.I'm serious when I say I'm genuinely pleased for you. Please bear in mind though that a device is not "benign", it does not care about your wellbeing, it just "is", helpful as its intended use may be.
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| Edited: 17/02/10 11:00 |
a simple disagreement sean. you say ""Electrical gizmos tend to fail just when you most need them" based upon what? other things you have that have failed but not because of elctronic failure? this phrase, or similar, gets trotted out with quite unfair, biased tedious frequency i disagree and say they are very reliable. more reliable than your compass or you losing/trashing your map. this is based on personal experience and from not hearing/reading of reports of gps units failing compared to compass/map disasters on the other hand... i endorse learning to use map and compass properly but not because of the imminent failure of a gps unit but because it's fun, a very useful skill and showing you what the ground looks like before you get there. in the south east it is impossible to navigate using a basic gps alone. you can navigate using a basic gps (following a route) and a map. but a compass and map is much, much more fun.
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