Buy yourself a hand held device


GPS and Other Emergency Contact Devices

What is the best kind of GPS system foremergency navigation tool in Utah's
you? This depends on what you intend todeep, narrow canyons, where a map and
use it for.compass can be almost useless.
Garmin 12 GPS is very good. There areOne word of warning, take very seriously
various models of the 12, 12XL etc. Theythe statement on the front of all GPS
can be found for under $150. Theunits "Do not rely on this unit as the
altimeter is usually off but once youprimary source of your navigation."
find your position, most of the time theIt's always a good idea to have a map
map tells me what my altitude is. Theyand compass with you when engaging in
have a pretty decent battery life sincewilderness travel and use them right
you rarely ever use your GPS for 12along with the GPS. It can actually be
hours straight.kind of fun to see how accurate you are
The vendors selling GPS units are Garminwith a compass and compare map routes
and Magellan, those are good brands andwith GPS routes to see why you ended up
can meet your requirements quite well.going the way you did.
There is a third player, BruntonWhat are the numbers on a compass for
(compass makers gone hi-tech). Theyand how do you use a compass? The
make very reasonably priced GPS unitsnumbers on the compass are for degrees
with lots of bells and whistles. Garminor headings. They will tell you what
GPS records the distance travelled,direction to proceed on. The first
speed, average speed, etc. Make sure youthing you need to do is figure out what
get good battery life and enough memorykind of compass you have, a floating
to be useful.dial or a floating needle.
Mitac Mio 168 comes out well for myAs to emergency contact, you could buy
requirements but is more expensive,an expensive Iridium/satellite phone -
especially if you go for the tom tomthey can get a signal just like a GPS
mapping software too (voice directionsdoes. They run over $1,000. It may
when I'm out on my motorbike!)also be possible to rent one. For real
Most of the functions on GPS of thisemergencies, not simply a vehicle
sort you can get from a map. Maps onbreakdown, there is a GPS signaling
pure GPS are not as good as on a GPS/PDAdevice, much like ONStar (GM trademark),
but good maps for these are usuallythat can send an emergency signal. The
expensive. Some mountain rescue teamfinal thing to do is to check in at the
members use PDAs with 1:25000 OS mappinglocal ranger station, BLM office, forest
data for recording search patterns etc.service visitor center, etc., and see
You really need to look at your ownabout leaving your itinerary with them,
plans - for instance, most backpackersas well as a promise to check-out with
use GPS to "confirm" their position, andthem when leaving. If you don't check
they don't use it to set waypoints,in, they would send someone out to check
determine compass direction, navigate,on you.
etc. Many backpackers use it as an



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