GPS suggestions

[Noah A]

I work mostly in urban areas but in January I'm starting a project on the Colorado River. I'll be driving around a lot but also some hiking. I'm thinking that a handheld GPS may be a good idea. I'd like to be able to find the coordinates for places I want to shoot and have the GPS help me find them. Also if I find a good shot but want to return later for the light it could help me find my way back. And of course I don't want to get lost walking around...

Anyone have any suggestions? Do others find a GPS to be a helpful tool for shooting or am I better off sticking to maps (which I like and know how to read). Sorry if this question has been asked before but when I search for GPS I get every post by member with a certain name...

[Kevin Bradbury]

I use the Garmin 60CSx and really like it for hiking. For driving it is not nearly as good, especially in city expressway systems where you need to receive multiple instructions at once. But it is clearly designed as an outdoor/hiking GPS, and for that it's great. The necessary detailed maps of the National Parks and other areas are extra (as are the road maps). I think it has been replaced by a new model now; I don't know if more maps are included with the new models.

[Ivan J. Eberle]

My BlackBerry Storm II smartphone has an onboard GPS chip, and I've downloaded the Google Maps application. It also uses the GPS to work with Heliostat, a software program that calculates the time of day for sunset/rise and moonset/rise for anywhere on the planet, and TideBerry, which gives tidal calendars for 250+ N.American locations, etc. It's pretty useful so far, but I'm not using it for backcountry navigation, yet.

This same BB device is also a camera that geotags images, a wireless modem that tethers to my laptop-- and a decent cell phone to boot! The days of single-purpose electronic devices are numbered.

[Tom Westbrook]

Not sure how generally this is true, but I've found that the maps imbedded in my Garmin GPS to be less than reliable for trail placement, but it's OK for general terrain info. If you take a GPS in the backcountry, take a topo map, too, just in case.

GPS is handy for dropping waypoints where you take photos, but unless you intend to go back to the same spot (I hardly ever do), then GPS isn't worth it just as a photo accessory.

[Chris Strobel]

I own three Garmin GPS units.I use them when offroad in the desert, and use the bread crumb feature when wandering off trail so I can back track and get out alive.Question, never had a smart phone, but have been looking at the latest iphone that has gps.Do these phone gps units work directly off the satellites like the garmins, and can you do similar bread crumb tracking?My Garmin emap has downloadable topo data, can you get the same for these smart phones?

[Nathan Potter]

I'm wondering if any newer GPS units might have some kind of a transmitting distress capability. Satellite phones are very expensive but if I could send an alarm from a GPS indicating the coordinates, and that info could get back to my wife in some fashion, that would be handy when out of cell phone range. Much of my photo work is out of cell phone range and I'm getting old and rickety.

Nate Potter, Austin TX.

[Jim Michael]

Nathan, get a Spot tracker. I use one in the plane and it works great. You can set it to plot your position every 5 min. and you can make tracking info available to anyone who hits the web page with the map. Also has a couple of alert modes, one that signals family etc. and one for emergency responders. It's a subscription service but the yearly and the tracker is pretty reasonable.

[Shen45]

Can you get a GPS accessory that finds the GPS?

[GPS]

A good map with personal notes written on a piece of paper is much less distracting. Plus you have a better spacious awareness where you're and it's much lighter too.

[ndavid813]

Though I agree, I find it ironic that GPS recommends not using a GPS.