Hey guys, I will be spending my summer fighting fires and surfing relatively unexplored territory in the Pacific Northwest, and my Winter buming around central/south America looking for waves. Because of this, I think it's pretty important to get a handheld GPS unit I can map out good spots on, and use to get my self un-lost and such. I was wondering if any of you guys had good/bad experiences with specific GPS units used in surfing circumstances, particularly in wilderness areas such as much of the Washington Coast, or while traveling abroad in Latin America. I was looking at the Garmin GPSMAP 62S Handheld GPS Navigator depicted in the link below: http://www.amazon.com/Garmin-GPSMAP-62S-Handheld-Navigator/dp/B003IHV6YG/ref=dp_ob_title_ce Any thoughts, experiences, advice, sure-buys or ones to keep away from would be much appreciated.
no personal experience, but garmin is the brand that a lot of long distance paddlers & sailors seem to use & trust.
I have a Suunto Ambit 2 GPS watch that I use for surfing, hiking, SUPing, kayaking, biking, etc. It's a tough watch; I have had it for about 18 months now and I have had no issues at all with it. I also have a Garmin 610 GPS watch, but I do not take it in the water because it seems to fragile (touch screen face and finicky charging system). Both of the watches have to be charged and battery life lasts anywhere from a week to a month depending on how many functions you have enabled. Both of the watches are in the 500$ range.
Get one that allows you to view the topo maps with your waypoints. Im assuming youll be learning or have already learned how to use a topo map and compass, because thats much much much more reliable than anything that runs off batteries. Never leave home without a map and compass EVER, learn it if you dont know yet! With that said be prepared to spend $$$ on 24k maps because the preloaded/ cheap 100k maps suck. and dont buy a gps watch and expect it to function the way you want in deep backcountry. No hate towards suunto/garmin gps watches, they are an excellent refrerence but gps watches tend to be underpowered and much harder to read.
GPS companies are on their way out of business. Smart phones are taking them apart. Probably won't see stand-alone GPS units in the mass market anymore inside of 3-4 years from now.
article in ystdys nytimes was about when TURKS need to talk privately they remove their phones from the room as IT IS A GIVEN that they have been compromised as listening devices……(##$%@@?!!!)….
