Handheld GPS Units
10-08-2010, 07:36 PM
#2
Typical Buck
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Kansas
Posts: 616
10-08-2010, 08:30 PM
#3
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location:
Posts: 1,832
All of us in our hunting camp have one. Reason being is we can send our mapped coordinates to everybody as well as have verbal communication.
10-09-2010, 07:55 AM
#5
Banned
Join Date: Sep 2010
Posts: 220
GPS works on LOS - Line of sight.
That is a communications term which means that as long as you can physically see something and there is nothing between the transmit and the receive - you will receive it.
The problem with GPS is that it cannot see through a heavy tree canopy. Just as a Motorola walkie talkie cannot have one person at the bottom of one ravine and another person at the bottom of another ravine and have the two people talk to each other - due to the fact that the signal will not go up over one side and down into the next.
GPS works great for someone who is hunting out in the open - such as in a desert, or flying an airplane or driving a automobile - because the automobile travels on a road and the road is open to the sky - at least part of the time. But when you get into a place like Pennsylvania that has high ridges and trees growing beside the road, the GPS does not work well - except for the fact that the GPS does not require a constant stream of information to work - as does a XM radio receiver - which also receives information from a transmitter on a satellite on a fixed geosynchronous orbit above the earth.
The GPS needs about 3 or more satellites to get a fix on your location. Once it gets a lock, it will give you a set of coordinates and you can establish way points and home and a go to.
Usually the more expensive a GPS is - the more travel routes you can store in it's memory. Some are totally programmable and some you can store a almost infinite amount of way points.
My opinion is - if all you do is hunt in one place every year and you pretty much know your way around, a GPS is not necessary.
If you are hunting in a place where you have never been before - a GPS is a wonderful tool. The first ones would get you to within about 150 ft, which was about as close as you needed to be to be able to find what you were looking for. These new GPS units are to the point of where they are accurate to within 15 feet which scares me - because a uneducated terrorist could use it as a guidance system for a missile with no limitations.
It looks to be a very fine unit - but you have to remember two things. It chirps when you need to change directions and in the woods - while hunting - it is not always a good thing to have things on you that makes noise. The second is that battery life is going to be low - with all the options that it has. The more technology progresses the more battery life we need and the cost of the battery of the unit might be quite expensive. Third is the power button is placed in a inconvenient place that can easily be accidentally pushed.. When you are trying to conserve battery life - having a unit on in your pocket, draining down the battery is not a good thing.
Whitetail deer hunting in your back 40 - it really doesn't matter how much battery life you have. Elk hunting in Colorado 20 miles from the nearest road or power source - battery life is going to be a big concern.
The only thing that concerns me is the subscription price of the software to download the image for the area you wish to hunt.
You might only use it a couple of times a year, yet have to pay for a whole year where it is sitting in a drawer at home doing nothing - just for those couple of times a year when you want to use it.
My opinion is that simplicity is the best tool and if you can get one that just shows where the truck is parked and where home is and where you are right now in relation to where you want to go - that is all the more you need. Not a 3 D color picture of the terrain and a lot of cool gadgets.
It's your money - buy what makes you happy.
Oh ya - one more thing, if you don't subscribe to their service - those images are not going to work. So all the fancy features they use to sell it to you - are worth less without the subscription fee.
As with all new technology, as the unit gets older - something better and cheaper will probably come along in a couple of years to take its place and it will end up in the same drawer as your old cell phone or your bag phone - if you still have it.
That is a communications term which means that as long as you can physically see something and there is nothing between the transmit and the receive - you will receive it.
The problem with GPS is that it cannot see through a heavy tree canopy. Just as a Motorola walkie talkie cannot have one person at the bottom of one ravine and another person at the bottom of another ravine and have the two people talk to each other - due to the fact that the signal will not go up over one side and down into the next.
GPS works great for someone who is hunting out in the open - such as in a desert, or flying an airplane or driving a automobile - because the automobile travels on a road and the road is open to the sky - at least part of the time. But when you get into a place like Pennsylvania that has high ridges and trees growing beside the road, the GPS does not work well - except for the fact that the GPS does not require a constant stream of information to work - as does a XM radio receiver - which also receives information from a transmitter on a satellite on a fixed geosynchronous orbit above the earth.
The GPS needs about 3 or more satellites to get a fix on your location. Once it gets a lock, it will give you a set of coordinates and you can establish way points and home and a go to.
Usually the more expensive a GPS is - the more travel routes you can store in it's memory. Some are totally programmable and some you can store a almost infinite amount of way points.
My opinion is - if all you do is hunt in one place every year and you pretty much know your way around, a GPS is not necessary.
If you are hunting in a place where you have never been before - a GPS is a wonderful tool. The first ones would get you to within about 150 ft, which was about as close as you needed to be to be able to find what you were looking for. These new GPS units are to the point of where they are accurate to within 15 feet which scares me - because a uneducated terrorist could use it as a guidance system for a missile with no limitations.
It looks to be a very fine unit - but you have to remember two things. It chirps when you need to change directions and in the woods - while hunting - it is not always a good thing to have things on you that makes noise. The second is that battery life is going to be low - with all the options that it has. The more technology progresses the more battery life we need and the cost of the battery of the unit might be quite expensive. Third is the power button is placed in a inconvenient place that can easily be accidentally pushed.. When you are trying to conserve battery life - having a unit on in your pocket, draining down the battery is not a good thing.
Whitetail deer hunting in your back 40 - it really doesn't matter how much battery life you have. Elk hunting in Colorado 20 miles from the nearest road or power source - battery life is going to be a big concern.
The only thing that concerns me is the subscription price of the software to download the image for the area you wish to hunt.
You might only use it a couple of times a year, yet have to pay for a whole year where it is sitting in a drawer at home doing nothing - just for those couple of times a year when you want to use it.
My opinion is that simplicity is the best tool and if you can get one that just shows where the truck is parked and where home is and where you are right now in relation to where you want to go - that is all the more you need. Not a 3 D color picture of the terrain and a lot of cool gadgets.
It's your money - buy what makes you happy.
Oh ya - one more thing, if you don't subscribe to their service - those images are not going to work. So all the fancy features they use to sell it to you - are worth less without the subscription fee.
As with all new technology, as the unit gets older - something better and cheaper will probably come along in a couple of years to take its place and it will end up in the same drawer as your old cell phone or your bag phone - if you still have it.
10-10-2010, 02:09 AM
#7
Spike
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Chesapeake, Virginia
Posts: 50
I got lost a few years back...4 hours later and a long tough hike, I finally made it back to vehicle. I now depend on my GPS. I personally have a RINO 120. It has a 2 way radio as well as GPS.
A good feature to consider is that the unit vibrates. Beeps and tones are not good to have in the woods.
Garmin has some nice TOPO maps as well.
It has some nice features such as weather alert, barometric pressure, and hunt/fish forecast.
A good feature to consider is that the unit vibrates. Beeps and tones are not good to have in the woods.
Garmin has some nice TOPO maps as well.
It has some nice features such as weather alert, barometric pressure, and hunt/fish forecast.
10-10-2010, 02:28 AM
#8
Boone & Crockett
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Maine
Posts: 12,564
I have the DeLorme Earthmate PN-20 and I love it.. It took me a little while to get used to it at first though. They have some great features. Up here in the miles upon miles of dirt roads and woods it comes in handy. It is also used by the State police and the Warden service as it is pretty acurate. You will find it hard to beat the TOPOs. As well as all the other features DeLorme has to offer that comes with these if you wish to buy any of the extra bundles.. Good Luck on what you decide.
10-10-2010, 05:29 AM
#10
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: VA, USA
Posts: 3,116
I just picked up a Garmin Etrex H myself and have been getting used to it. I have not had any problems with it not getting a signal in thick cover yet. Best part is you can get these units NIB online for less than $85.