granitesun

I need to buy a GPS. Figure Topo software is a must.

Magellan has a Explorist 500 Hiking Bundle that comes with Topo software for $247. Garmin has a GPSMAP 60C that comes with Topo software for $317. The Garmin says it comes with Trackback technology. What the heck is that? Doesn't any GPS route back to any waypoint? I was thinking, from reading the boxes for these things, that with pretty much any GPS you could jump out of the truck, mark a waypoint, spend a day in the woods, and then navigate back to that waypoint to get back to the truck.

Thanks for any help in this. Looking to be able to get farther back into the woods and be able to get out in the dark.

Halfmast

I am partial to Garmin's. Topo USA covers the whole U.S. If you are going to spend that much for a GPS (and you get what you pay for) get the Garmin GPS Map 76 or the newer version of it. Has an easy to read screen that is bi-focal friendly. Trackback is a feature that takes place when the GPS is turned on while you are moving. While moving the GPS is making a Hansel and Grettel breadcrum trail. Before starting a Trackback you need to clear the track log which starts a "new" track. At the end of moving to whereever you are going you then "save" the track. From there you can navigate the track that you saved in either from the begining to the end or you can reverse the track from end to begining. Get a Garmin. Read the book. Practice with it! No tool is anygood unless you know how to use it. I ran into two guys on 4 wheelers in the woods a couple of months ago that had just purchased a Magellon GPS. They came up to me asking if I knew where their pickup was parked. By chance I did, because I had seen it earlier that morning. It was in the mountains several miles away! This one guy with the GPS said that he was learning how to use the GPS. He had turned it on somewhere along the trail ride. Had he knew what he was doing with the GPS he could have did a trackback if he had initially turned it on and cleared the tracklog and left it on during the trip to his farthest destination. But he hadn't. Or he could have initaially established a "Waypoint" at his trucks location and did what is called a "Go To" (direct path back to it the way the crow flys). The bottom line is that if your not familiar with your tools you may as well have a "Rock". Get a Garmin with a map. Get Map Sources Topo USA. Learn how to use them. Practice! Carry extra AA batteries. And a map and compass that you also need to know how to use!