ozzy

The weather on the West Coast has been foul for at least the past week. I had to cancel a trip to Skye last weekend because of it.

I'm certainly not saying don't waste money of a GPS, just that it shouldn't be relied upon 100% and as Jye pointed out it can send you over cliffs if you blindly follow it.

Like Chris, I've only used to it to confirm my grid ref (especially since counting paces accurately can be a nightmare in bad weather and rough terrain) or just to confirm a bearing/heading.

The Garmin eTrex is the one I've used in the past - http://www.garmin.com/products/etrex/

Stefan

ozzy

Try reading a map with 80mph winds and horizontal rain make sure it and your compass is strapped to your body

The good thing with the GPS in foul weather is it can make getting off the hill that much quicker - which is exactly want you want when it's lashing it down.

Stefan
P.S. I'm assuming those that carry maps have them in a good waterproof bag like an Ortlieb

hedgehog

I'm currently experimenting with the Aqua3 waterproof maps, they seem to work OK but I'm not sure they will last very long at the folds. The great thing is you can write on them with a permanent marker and then wipe it off with some solvent.

Actually, I've just discovered that I lied previously when I said I didn't use any of the GPS features, I occasionally set a waypoint :-)

As pointed out sometimes it is nice to get back to the car quickly, specially on a nasty day when you have the head set for home or if you are rushing on somewhere else. In circumstances where the car is parked such that it can't easily be seen I would often enter it as a waypoint into the GPS so I can more easily find it on my return.

There is nothing worse than hitting the road and not knowing if you should walk left or right and while you can aim off (i.e. deliberately aim to miss your target by a considerable margin to, say the right and then walk left along the road once you hit it knowing that is the right direction.) sometimes you like to hit it dead on, or at least know exactly which direction to walk in. I find that setting a waypoint works well for this as once you hit the road you know exactly what direction you have to walk in to find the car. It's not going to be more than 100 yards either way but at the end of the day it is a luxury I enjoy.

anc-sti

There bomb proof, put them through hell during Polaris/trailquest endurance type racing on mtb. Get them home give them a wipe good as new, never had a fold split on me yet.

scobub

Attack points Often unused but a life saver when required