Mike...If you use a compass in conjunction with the GPS then it eliminates the problem associated with GPS only navigation. Many people attempt to use the GPS as a compass. The GPS was never intended to work like a compass. When standing still, the GPS can't tell what direction you are facing. However, when combined with the compass you truly have an outstanding navigational system. Add a topo map and Lewis and Clark would be green with envy. Now here's where your saved waypoints come in and how to navigate with ease.

Lets say I wanted to walk to your house from mine. I already have your house saved as waypoint number 1. I then tell my GPS to navigate to waypoint number 1. (your house) At that point the GPS tells me what bearing in degrees I need to take to walk a straight line to your house. Let's assume it's 150 degrees just for arguments sake. I then rotate the dial on my compass to line up with 150 degrees. Now I turn my body to line up the magnetic needle with the orienting arrow. At this point I am facing 150 degrees. Now I just walk and use the compass as my main navigation tool. If I leave the GPS turned on, it will track my movement and give bearing updates as I proceed. If I get off track I will instantly know since the GPS is continually updating my location. At that point, all I have to do is spin the dial on my compass to the new bearing and keep going until I arrive at your house at which point I hope you have some cold beer for me because it's a long walk to Texas.

Sorry about being so long. I always get the feeling that many folks don't know how to get the most out of there compass and GPS. I hope this helps anyone who may be having trouble navigating.....Jim

many of the newer GPS units these days also come with a bulit in electronic compass, that works just like any normal compass would, you do not need to be moving, or see the satellites for it to work... only downfall is that it does drain battery power on the unit a little quicker when you are using the compass...

I learned to use a compass in the marines, and I have never used one here at home. But I got my GPS about the same time I started bow hunting so I starteded hunting many differant spots and I just love the gps sure it has some drawbacks but it is nice at times. I like to use it scouting and hunting. I love it before the sun comes up walking in and taking me right to my stand in the pitch black. And same for coming out of the woods in the dark. A couple of times I have been in some preatty thick stuff and checked my GPS and realized that I was all turned around. It might not always get me within 5 yards but it gets close enough for me to know were I am.

Its really hard to beat GPS. Its not just the direction feature. Its being able to walk around and scout. While scouting you can mark icons for various things like - heavy used trails, lightly used trails, deer beds, food sources, natural barriers, creeks, and the list goes on. When your done and look at your map, you've got the BIG PICTURE! This make sense and become sometimes quite obivious. Then its easy to go back and find your new found spots or things you want to double check. If your in a big area or a new area, they are quite valuable.

GoodLuck!

I always carry both, and extra batteries. You can't beat GPS for scouting, marking trails and stand locations, etc. Its also great to just be able to hit goto and get back to your truck. I'm not into orienteering, and the compass can generally get me back to the road I came from, but the GPS has saved me some steps on more than one occasion. Also, you can't take your compass home, plug it into your computer, and mark a topo with your favorite locations, show the tracklog for where you've been, call up an arial photo or topo map of new areas that you just scouted for the first time...

Also, I've looked up new areas on the computer, picked out interesting spots on a map and noted their GPS coordinates. Take those coordinates and plug them into your GPS (or just download them) and you can get to a spot you've never been to before. I even use the GPS to mark where I should start looking for somewhere to park the truck when hunting a new area. With free software such as EasyGPS or USAphotomaps the GPS is a very powerful tool. Its great to have the ability to mark your stand locations on a map, print it out, take it to the woods with you or give to your wife so she knows where to tell the authorities to start looking if you never make it back (assuming if you want to be found).

Here is a good orienteering book for those who would like to learn more:

Be Expert with Map & Compass by Bjorn Kjellstrom

Good luck! Jim

I have and carry both JIC.

I should have mentioned this in my earlier post, Dave 590 who post on the Political and Offseason area has writen a book on map reading, using your GPS and compass. I have read his book and found it to be clear, easy to follow and it has good understandable illustration. I was in in recon in Nam an had plenty of training and first hand experience with maps and a compass but still found his book to be useful.