GPS receiver

[Feisters]

After about a year of learning and looking, I finally bought a GPS (Global Positioning Satellite) receiver. Man, this thing is slick! Even though I am often told "where to go", at least I won't get lost!

I like to wander while camping, fishing, or just driving around town, and by God, this thing might actually allow me to do that with peace of mind. I'm pretty handy with a map and compass while hiking, but GPS looks like it'll take a lot of work out of it.

Anyone here have navigating experience with GPS?

 

[surd615]

What kind did you get? I used to have one that came with one of the mapping packages (Rand-McNally I think). It used to plug into a serial port of your laptop and you could download maps into it. It worked pretty good placed on top of the dashboard of my car. I once used it to help me get from where I live in NJ to Myrtle Beach SC. It was particularly useful around DC(beltway?) whare I'd never driven before. Of course if you had any regard for life, you only used it if you had a companion to help with the directions. It would also announce turns and other directions, in a tinny voice. I gave it to my brother after I lost the CD-ROM for my laptop . I recently bought one for my Palm V, but promptly returned it as it couldn't even locate my apartment when I was standing in the parking lot in front of it!

 

[Feisters]

Nothing fancy. No audio cues. No PC interface. A Magellan Blazer 12. Pretty much entry level and actually a discontinued model. $100. You can program 100 landmarks, and one route (reversable) with 10 legs. I programmed in a route using a USGS map of my area, and went for a drive. The thing changed route legs right when it should have. Not bad for programing it from a map, versus storing the actual coordinates on location. This is a high-tech toy that I might actually find useful.