[pct-l] SPOT Alternatives

Tue Feb 22 17:33:21 CST 2011

i would like to respectfully disagree,
i've broken a lot more compasses than garmins in the past... and have dropped 
both about the same number of times.  compass's do shatter / break / leak fluid 
... and i'm often replacing my compass's when i take a spill  (at 60 bucks a 
piece for the brunton TDCL i use).  my last eTrex fell about 15 foot onto 
granite and was fine, and later washed away in a "creek"  (waist deep snowmelt) 
and i recovered it the next day in the water and it ran once i opened it up and 
dried it out.

so far my dakota has only taken one good spill about 12 foot onto a stone 
wash...   it didn't even reboot.  many compass's would not have held up to that.

... that said you could carry 2 compass's for the weight of a GPS.  of course 
once you add in paper maps the compass route is FAR heavier  (like 0.03 
micrograms heavier!  j/k )

a compass that you're using for real navigation is going to be 3 ish ounces,  at 
least 2.5  " 0.03 micrograms " is a drastic understatement.  a compass's weight 
is real and significant.  those 2 dollar micro compass's aren't going to help 
you if you have to cover a long distance.

... there was a time when people didn't trust cell phones... they wanted a land 
line... compass's are going this way too.  btw, by the time you add in a bunch 
of paper maps, and 2 compass's,  you could carry 2 GPS's as a backup ; )

My humble opine,
~Paul

________________________________
From: Devon Taig <devon.taig at gmail.com>
To: James F. Miller <jamesfmiller at hotmail.com>
Cc: pct-l <pct-l at backcountry.net>
Sent: Tue, February 22, 2011 5:16:57 PM
Subject: Re: [pct-l] SPOT Alternatives

I've been told by sources that if you can hike 2650 miles on the PCT, then
you aren't too old to import .gpx data into your Droid.  This apparently
spells doom for me though  since I'm still struggling to program my VHS
recorder (but if I ever do figure it out, I'll be taping Miami Vice and
that's gonna be radical, man!).

Anyway, just a word from a wise old man who hiked the PCT in 1991...carry a
compass and the knowledge to use it. The .03 micrograms won't break your
back, and the likelihood of the earth's magnetic pole shifting is
considerably less than running out of batteries or breaking your GPS.  Back
in 91' on the trail, by gum, we didn't have no fancy GPS thingies.  And we
had to carry a compass! Built character, yes-sir-ee.  And the trail was
uphill in *both* directions back then too...30 foot drifts of snow (and that
was in the Mojave)...

Devon

On Tue, Feb 22, 2011 at 2:15 PM, James F. Miller
<jamesfmiller at hotmail.com>wrote:

>
> I have Backcountry Navigator (BN) on my Droid X. I have started the work to
>
> to put the halfmile maps and data on it, but I haven't figure out the
> importing of the maps to BN.
>
>  Am I too old?
>
>
> > Date: Tue, 22 Feb 2011 14:49:43 -0600
> > From: ron.a.guay2 at gmail.com
> > To: pct-l at backcountry.net
> > Subject: [pct-l] SPOT Alternatives
> >
> > Those with android devices... Consider using backcountry navigator... It
> > allows you to import gpx data... and download maps off-line... I have my
> > phone setup with the entire p c t... using my topo maps and half miles
> > data... his way points and track data. In theory this should be cool...
> > since I can see all the water icons trail junctions..etc... relative to
> my
> > location. It is a lot of work... but it was fun...
> >
> > However, in practice this could all fail... and that is why I have
> packets
> > of paper data... as described in yogi's handbook.
> >
> > If you want to record tracks/waypoints...you may want to
> > consider...oruxmaps. The apps take a bit to get comfortable using... take
> > your time.
> >
> > (Typed using google voice)
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