Moving into the 21st Century with a GPS

Hi, with one of these little things, you will actually know where you are, direction of travel, speed, distance, elevation, etc, even if you do know where you are, the gps will still be recording the trip for you. If you do get lost, all you have to do is follow back the just recorded track.

How many times has it happened that you are part of a convoy without knowing where the hell you are? (you have never been there before, and all you are doing is following a stream of cars in the bush that are in front), with the gps recording the data, you can use that information in the future to explore the same place by youself. These are some of the basic things you can use a gps for.

At the moment, for a general overview of the area I use maps at 1:250000, and for a detailed veiw, I´m using maps at a scale of 1:25 000, meaning you can see on the screen every single land feature, roads/tracks (and there names), gates, water features, buildings, camping spots, etc.

Cheers
Ulises

Hi Glenno...

about 6 months ago I bought my first GPS and after much deliberation picked the Meridian Gold Travellers Pack. I found it NOT easy to understand at first and in fact was quite confused by it all. But after playing for a few days it became clearer... I could still get lost, but at least I knew WHERE we were lost!!!!

We have a done a few blacktop runs with it where I have loaded a route in from the DiscoverAus software and the GPS "beeps" us to our destination.... very handy! But I am still having drama out in the hinterland, on property's or state forests etc... one instance we were solo doing a trip "recce" to a previously loaded route and got lost. I thought the GPS was telling me to go 130 metres to the right to pick up the track..... but I didn't trust that I was reading it correctly... the next day, with someone who knew the track.... we made our way across to that point 130 metres (or so) from where we were... LOL...

Mine mounts to the dashboard with the suction cup bracket and as unreliable as that seems, it actually works quite well, although no protection from the light-fingered brigade. Mine doesn't seem to have external aerial connectivity either which is a bummer! I load waypoints in either before we leave, or as we go... it's easy when driving, just one button... you can edit the info later. I have a habit of chattering away when driving or singing along witht the car stereo and missing turns etc... so to have an audible reminder is a plus! When not on a "trip" it just hums along on the dashboard as a very accurate speedo!

There are some places around that hire them out.... why not hire a few different ones to get a feel of what you want in a GPS... the one I went to buy was very different to the one I came home with!

Hope all this typing helps you out Glenno.... keep us posted with what you end up with!

Hi Glen - there are two basic options :
1. Buy a GPS which has full mapping on it - needs a lot of memory, and a large display to be useful - expensive for a good one (around $1500).
2. Buy a basic GPS that connects to your Laptop, and run mapping programs on the Laptop - big colour display, and multiple maps.

We bought a Garmin 72 (a basic unit). It does all the usual GPS functions like drops a breadcrumb trail everywhere you go; waypoints; routes; trackpoints; elevation etc.
On the Laptop, you need 2 programs -
One to interface with the GPS - the most popular is OZIEXPLORER,
And then the maps - in digital form. We use NATMAP 1: 250k plus Hema Great Desert Treks. Ozi can switch between them on the fly, so you can see the same point/area/track/waterhole on different maps with a click of the mouse.
Oziexplorer is around $130 and the maps around $100 each.
For this option, you need to ensure the GPS can talk to the Laptop, and preferably plug into the car 12V (cig lighter).
Ours works a treat... I think a TAFE cource would be very desireable for any GPS. Would save a lot of time with self discovery, and raise confidence levels.
regards.............................Keith