sampool63

Hi,
Im kinda 'old-school'.. I do have a gps but i always always carry a compass.. have to be able to navigate without technology if shtf!

mcostan

I use a compass mostly to confirm my gps. It's thick and swampy around here, there are no real landmarks to take triangulations from. If you have a map you can kind of figure out where you are.

I use my garmin's to make maps from gpsvisualizer.com. I've had several different ones, the earliest garmins were kind of unreliable but they've gotten a lot better. I have 3 now, 2 garmin astro 320's that I can use to track dogs, or whatever the receiver is attached to, and a garmin vista.

I use eneloop rechargeable batteries and always carry spares. I've gotten free topo maps from free topo map.com, or whatever it's called. The astro's can hold a card that holds quite a bit of map. I have the entire southeast, which also includes roads and streets. It's not a navagatable like a nav unit but that's not the point.

The trick to using a handheld gps is to become familiar with it, they are only a tool and are prone to little idiosyncrasies. You need to know what they are.

You also need to know when to use what strategy. I will have a "track" that I can follow, but sometimes I "goto" a waypoint. This is because in dark thick swamp it's not always desirable to follow the track foot for foot. If you know the general direction you can pick out the best path

I like to save tracks and map out areas, and print them. You can got to gpsvisualizer.com and look at your tracks superimposed over satellite images.

You can also put sat images on your gps if you subscribe to that garmin feature but I find it's not helpful. I have actually used the phone for that sometimes. The topo maps have more info, the sat images are just a bunch of green.

I have also had an Oregon touch screen but I tend to save a lot of tracks in an area and if I turned the unit off, then back on, I had to go back into track manager and tell each track I wanted it displayed on the map page. I called garmin and they tried to convince me it was supposed to be that way but I don't' think I believe them. It was nice having the touch screen when I wanted to name waypoints, and the screen was nice and big for when I was riding my atv, but that track thing was a big downside. I wound up losing it so it doesn't matter anymore.

Speaking of losing them, don't get the stupid black or camo cases for them. Tie a reflective tent cord, or something else to it so you can find them. I've lost more than one.


The menus on the new garmins seem complicated and they are very customizable. You just have to fiddle with them a little and get used to them, they are really intuitive when you do.

Clear your trip log and tracks before you start out. That way you can save a nice clean track if you want to.

I use a program called "easy gps" to back up my files. That way my gps isn't loaded with a bunch of waypoints and tracks I don't need at the moment, but I have them saved.

Become familiar with your gps before you need it, not while you need it. Check it with a compass, the nice ones have an electronic compass which needs calibrated every so often, esp when battery's are changed or used up. The electronic compass is nice because you the unit will be properly oriented when you are standing still. If it is off it will be pointing in the wrong direction.

Once you travel at any speed the electronic compass turns off and it orients by Gps. If the map shifts a lot when you start moving your compass is off.

You can orient your map page by north up, or track up. Each one has it's advantages depending on what you are doing. If you are also going by a map it's sometimes better to have it on north up. The important thing is to know what it's set at and be mindful of that.

I have had good luck with eneloop rechargeable batteries, but make sure you have a good charger that will not ruin your batteries if this is the route you want to take. I take a lot of batteries with me, plus some alkaline ones.

Not only am I a handheld GPS junkie, I'm also a headlamp junkie. I love nothing more than to go tramping and bushwacking through the woods with my gps and headlamps. This has come in handy for trailing lost deer and finding stubborn dogs.

My headlamp of choice is the Princeton tec apex, the one with the AA battery pack in the back. It's up to 275 lumens now!!!!! You kind of have to be careful with it, the hinge isn't the most durable thing. They have a lifetime guarantee though. I just ordered a fenix last week.


A GPS isn't really a replacement for a map and compass, especially in real wilderness areas. Its more of a complement. They can and do act up in mountainous regions, but I rarely am in mountainous regions. Also, for whatever reason, sometimes they just shift and circle. I think power lines affect them somewhat.

I love being able to pinpoint areas in the woods. I mark trails, scrapes, places for potential stands, where I've seen turkeys . . .

Truth is, I have no sense of direction at all. I used to panic and run when I even think I was lost. These things have changed my life. Between my handmade maps, compass, and gps I don't even panic anymore which has made it easier to learn to find my way around in the woods.


I could go on about this all day long. Oh wait, I think I already have.