Odometer for navigation

Not quite right TD6,

Agree that the GPS will only return straight line distance if you are using the GO TO NEXT function, but a GPS will acurately record distance while traveling in any direction, from point to point.

Sand Man,

Very true I was more thinking of the practicality of using the GPS on winding tracks etc and needing to mark off intersections or points of interest.
The other side of the GPS that lets me down is the lose of coverage because of trees etc in some locations.
A passenger side odometer would be a handy additon.

dont be so sure on there accuracy I have an etrex and on a few occasions I have been suspect on its odometer when walking. However this has been on battery save mode which may have something to do with it

How accurate do you think an odometer is anyway. Especially in conditions when you are continually spinning wheels.

GPS is more than suitable in ideal conditons for this purpose - I think they record position every 1 second - so distance is measured from your last position (ie 1 second previously) - for this not to work on a winding track you would have to be going very very very fast:). If you do a lot of work in areas of dense vegetation that affects satellite reception then an external antenna may solve the problem, at least some of the time. Figure that for most people , most of the time GPS will be OK..plus you get co-ordinate readout, you can record your trip,d you can take in other cars, and you can use it walking/fishing etc as well.
Cheers
Greg

Batteries fail regularly you know!

Well, at least she reads out the trek notes :-;