For those of you who already use GPS or are thinking of getting into it for hiking and/or geotagging photographs I have some suggestions...
The first suggestion is to buy a hand-held unit. By far the most popular GPS for hikers is Garmin's GPSMAP 60CSx.
(For price/performance and to meet my specific needs I purchased Garmin's eTrax Vista HCx)
For non-owner newbies like I was until two days ago...
Make sure the GPS you purchase has these three crucial capabilities:
1-Uses removable miniSD cards (Buy your own card even if your unit comes with one)
Be sure you have enough disk storage for BIG maps. If a unit comes with an SD card it will probably be to small to hold much in way of detailed topo maps. I bought a 8GB SD card for my unit that cost $25 and loaded it with over 1 GB of topo maps for the states of Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, Nevada and Oregon that I need for starters even before my GPS arrived.
2-Allows you to upload Maps (Don't use the GPS's cable connection)
Your unit should allow you to prepare maps on your computer and load them directly onto your SD card via computer. The manufacturer will probably supply a USB cable that plugs directly into the GPS that can also be used to upload maps to your SD. Don't use the cable if it can be avoided. It will take many hours to upload maps of any size whatsoever. I loaded my maps directly onto the SD card from my computer. The card was connected via a fast eSATA connection so card loads are decently fast. It is also part of the notebook setup I take with me on trips.
3-Allows you to record and easily retrieve GPS tracking logs
You will likely need this to geotagg photographs unless you buy an expensive device that attaches to your camera and geotags them when the picture is taken.
Learning curve...
If you are unfamiliar with GPS you will have to commit yourself to some serious learning:
1-Learn GPS terminology
You will need to learn what the two different ways location coordinates are expressed and what they mean. You will need to understand the differences between routes, tracks and waypoints and what they mean and how they are used. And there are other specific terms unique to GPS you will have to learn.
2-Lack of standardization
There are more file format types in GPS than you ever dreamed of in your wildest imagination with photography. You will have to learn them, learn who uses them and what they are used for. Converting GPS data from a type usable in one place to a type usable in another place is a big deal. A whole computer program called GPSBabel was written help you with it.
3-GPS functional operations
You will have to learn what GPS is all about, how it is used in practice and what are the standard functions you can perform with every GPS unit.
4-Learn your specific GPS unit
You will have to learn the intricacies of your own specific manufacturer's make and model which may be entirely different from any other unit even though they all perform the same basic functions. Just think of how camera operations differ from one model to another, that is how it is with GPSs.
5-Learn how to build and load detailed maps
Detailed mapping information loaded into your GPS is important. The more detailed the information is, the better. Detailed topo maps are of particular importance for hikers trying to find their way from here to there and back again safely.
For the Pros...
1-Get to know GPSFileDepoe.com
This is your one stop shopping center for all things GPS. It is a group of GPS enthusiasts who like to create and publish detailed maps to upload into GPSs, among other things. It is a great source to learn about GPS, GPS software applications and answer detailed questions you might have. All my topo maps I got for free from there and pretty much everything I know about GPS started from this site. |
