In actual fact, I used to work at a pretty famous outdoor shop and quite a few 'red faced heart attack victims' would buy GPSs but more as a gadget to locate the chippy or car I think. Mind you, I've got a GPS and I'm pretty thin - oh my god, I'm going to be fat, anyone want a GPS?
on a less humorous note, i've been itching to buy a GPS for some time now. when the USA turned off S.A. on the 1-st of may,(thanks Bill-C), i pointed a pen at my cheque-book, then all of a sudden it's election time, so who knows if George dubya Bush is gonna turn it back on again? or not. does anyone know?
No, it shouldn't be turned on again unless you are in a war zone involving the USA. SA always existed to stop people other than the military targeting missiles and the like with it.
In fact if you looked at your GPS when the US went to war the SA could put you up to about 1km out!!!! (Had it happen to me in the Lakes when US invaded Haiti).
But it was switched off because they got a new system which could switch SA on over a limited area where they didn't want civvies getting an accurate fix, in warzones etc. Which with a bit of luck Europe won't be, although around the Balkans might be a bit dodgy for accuracy.
But it was never much of a problem, I heard people saying how appaling 100m accuracy was in one breath and then quoting a 6 figure Landranger grid (which is accurate to, yep you guessed it; 100m!). So even if it is switched on again it isn't really a major problem as you shouldn't be using it for precise navigation anyway!
thanks Chris. i didn't know about "selective" SA, if you see what i mean. BTW, i would never swap a gps for a map & compass, it's just that i like gadgets, especially electronic ones. oh, and it'll be a Magellan 315. nothing comes close for the price.
Being fond of electronic gadgets I too thought I wanted a GPS. That was until I tried one last weekend. It turned out to be more bother than it was worth.
To begin with I held it in my hand, using only one pole to walk. As soon as I got into the woods it started beeping at me every 2 minutes, whining that it had lost satellite cover. These were unleaved beech woods, not dense forest by anyone's standards. It was driving me around the bend, like a toddler that keeps throwing away its toys so the adults will pick them up. If I wanted the bloody thing to find the satellites again, I had to stop. It was sheer bliss when I finally found a way to turn off the (*&^%$%#$ beeping.
Then I came to a "technical" area, where I had to use both hands to catch myself in case my boots got stuck in the mud, so I had to put the thing in my pocket. Of course there's no way it could find the satellites through fabric, so the technical bit of the walk simply isn't mapped.
I can also attest to what someone said earlier about it not being useful for detailed navigation. Once back in the village I got the thing out again and it plotted my course. The resulting trail looks like I was drunk, lolling from one side of the road to the other.
I agree that GPS can be fine for finding out where you are right now but not for tracking which way you went. And how often do I find myself scratching my head over the ol' Explorer unable to figure out where I am? Well it hasn't happened so far. So I guess I'll just stay off Dartmoor and save my 114 quid. Buy a PDA instead if you don't already have one. They're much more useful. --Mjausson (my 0.02 euros)
cheers james. i like your delving in history to remove spam!
its almost like today james will teach us about the 2002 model Casio watch that's no longer available... am i the only one who reads the date after ive made no sense of the post?
