"GPS's are becoming a joke, i saw someone walking with one in hand looking at it on the Kauri trail in the coromandel...
thats a footpath, i dont think its possible to get lost there."
Some people like to log there every move which may be what this person was doing although a gps can happily do that from inside a pack. Each to there own
I still prefer the method that lived through y2k and possibly y1k
@madpom I only just got around to reading this thread. Your comments here are absolutely spot on.
Reading the land is a primal skill most of us have lost. After all Aboriginals travelled the immense Australian continent for 30,000 years with no maps, no compass, no tracks or signposts and definitely no GPS.
I always try to read the land first, then I'll cross-check with the map. For most trampers visiting an area for the first time maps are essential planning and safety tools. Sometimes I need a compass to get the map and the land to correlate.
The only time I've ever used the GPS is when descending off Tararua ridgelines in poor visibility. Knowing which spur you are on - when they all look the same in the mist - is immensely helpful.
Someone once explained that safely sailing open ocean was mostly a case of of having a Plan A, B, C and D. Then having a backup. Same with tramping. My Plan A is my eyes, ears and nose. Plan B is the map, Plan C the compass, Plan D the GPS.
After that it's the PLB I guess :-)
This post has been edited by the author on 25 April 2015 at 00:45.
Spending tramping time looking at a phone/ipad screen would ruin the trip for me. Spending 6 hours in a hut or around a campsite with nothing to do but potter and talk is what tramping is about. I don't usually take my phone at all. But I have no problem with my husband pulling his phone out for a quick look, at least I've got him away from the Playstation :-)
I do try to take a GPS and use it but I have always made it a rule that I don't look at the coordinates (my GPS is old & has no built in maps) until I've looked at my map and picked the coordinates of where I THINK I am first. Find it really useful for upskilling my nav that way.
I do own a gps despite my earlier comment but the only time I actually used it was to load way points from a post here for an untracked ridge where I didnt know if the entry and exits where marked
My total load of electronic devices when tramping:
- A PLB for the obvious reasons
- A point and shoot digital camera, with spare battery.
For the majority of tracks that is all I need! I'm not a Luddite but why carry all that weight when you don't need it.
I own a GPS but only take it with me for deep bush bashing and the like. I am quite happy with a paper map, compass and triangulation to find my position but you cant do that in really thick bush.
Talking about TaT'ers: I was in Anne Hut recently with a group of TaT walkers and 2 of them were carrying full sized laptops. I asked them why: they were using them to set up blog journal entries as they went...
I was slightly incredulous to say the least....
This post has been edited by the author on 29 April 2015 at 18:09.
@bradley1, do you take a torch? Just out of interest. :)
Head torch, but also candle stubs...high technology, thy name is head-torch!
BTW, take some candles with you the next time you go for an overnighter, there never seem to be any in the huts I stay in.
I cut them to about 5cm lengths with one of those wire cutters you use on polystyrene.
Stubs? Take the whole candle. In fact, take a few. And if there are none in the hut leave one for the next visitor.
Do unto others ... and all that.
That said, i probably carry more electronics than any posters above:
Torch
Gps/logger
Inreach
Phone
Shortwave radio
Plus spare batteries
And if im possumung based out of a hut then a solar charger
Guess my argument is its knowing when to use them and when to put them away
Inreach messenger. 2-way satellite messenger using Iridium satphone network. Send receive custom text messages to anyone, a built in gps and a big red 'rescue me' button.
