Pick one - Map and compass or GPS

[davidmorr]

The earlier thread on what to navigate with on a flat featureless plain got me thinking…
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=16419

Out in thickly-forested canyon country with limited views of the sky, which single equipment would you select to help you navigate out? Map and compass combo or a GPS? Of course, we are talking about a highly durable map and quality compass along with a dependable GPS with a good supply of battery power by whatever means.

[icefest]

I think it's time to update your sig, Dave

Both GPS/compass have limited use in a deep canyon. The gps can help you get unlost when you get out. Both will require a considerable amount of dead reckoning.

[GPSGuided]

Another hypothetical... If it's such a complex terrain, I'd go for a GPS knowing that it's a mapping GPS with built-in electronic compass. As Icefest said, I'll know exactly where I am once I have a small opening and have signal. With map and compass after being lost for a while, location may not be easily identified.

[jjoz58]

"With map and compass after being lost for a while, location may not be easily identified." I didn't read you were lost? Map, compass and paces, only way to work in thick forest/jungle with overhead cover.

[davidmorr]

Both GPS/compass have limited use in a deep canyon. The gps can help you get unlost when you get out. Both will require a considerable amount of dead reckoning.

But following a map closely can stop you getting lost, so what is best if you are lost is irrelevant. Understanding and knowing the terrain and the map is the most important thing to not get lost, imho. Not so useful with a tiny screen.

[icefest]

Don't get me wrong, I use my map and compass a lot more when hiking than my GPS.

It's just that a GPS, like an EPIRB, is more useful when things get really bad.

[Mark F]

I think I can handle a map and compass pretty well, but I can think of several (many?) instances over the years where a gps would be/has been preferable. These instances almost always come down to one issue - I can't see my surroundings and so I can't position myself on the map. This may be due to poor visibility or head high scrub or dense forest.

Personally, I want a paper map so I can see in detail 2 to 5 km around my position and I want a gps to tell me where I am on that map. The gps doesn't have to be a mapping gps, just one that will tell me my location. In the old days the compass was used to triangulate my position on the map (if I could see my surroundings) and to navigate a course determined from the map. Other than the issue of failure, I feel a good gps with built in compass can replace the ordinary magnetic compass, but nothing so far really provides a satisfactory replacement for a paper map at an acceptable weight and degree of robustness.

My choice would be paper map and gps. I still carry a small magnetic compass but it gets very little use.

[GPSGuided]

But following a map closely can stop you getting lost, so what is best if you are lost is irrelevant. Understanding and knowing the terrain and the map is the most important thing to not get lost, imho. Not so useful with a tiny screen.

That takes skill and even highly experienced can make mistakes and get lost as seen in a recent thread. With GPS, the quality of the signal is quantifiable and can be easily verified.

[GPSGuided]

My choice would be paper map and gps. I still carry a small magnetic compass but it gets very little use.

Based on the rules of this hypothetical, you have just cheated. Fail mark, 0%!

[Mark F]

Not really a fail for me - just a poorly designed questionnaire with only 3 out of a possible 6 responses catered for.

[GPSGuided]

It's a hypothetical and participants are asked to pick one only. Light hearted, don't get too seriously linked to real life and personal routine preferences.

[neilmny]

..........The gps can help you get unlost when you get out..............

I'd go for a GPS knowing that it's a mapping GPS with built-in electronic compass. As Icefest said, I'll know exactly where I am once I have a small opening and have signal. With map and compass after being lost for a while, location may not be easily identified.

Yep!

[izogi]

If the compass has one of those little magnifying lenses, you might be able to use it to help start a fire in some circumstances.


Why not do this hypothetical question thing properly, and ask which navigation choice is preferable for survival inside an otherwise-empty, air-tight and pressurised locked shipping container, hurtling uncontrolled through space 50 light years from Earth?

Map/Compass, GPS, or Watch, Sun and Stars?

Ideas?

[icefest]

Izogi, there is only one way to navigate like that; jaunting.

"Icefest icefest is my name
And Terra is my nation,
Deep space is my dwelling place
And earth's my destination"

[Gadgetgeek]

I would go for compass and map. I don't really trust electronic compasses, as if you watch a compass needle closely as you move around, its easier to tell if something is interfering with it. Plus with a compass and map you can navigate in general much more easily, until you get to a point of locking down your location. Even with my admittedly poor compass and map skill, I'd trust my own estimation of my errors, before those of a GPS. But maybe my thoughts would change if I used a newer one?

[perfectlydark]

Interesting take given your forum name lol!

[GPSGuided]

... But maybe my thoughts would change if I used a newer one?

Errr... I'd think the question implies a decent quality unit, whether compass or GPS.

I get the impression that a lot of the answers are based on somewhat subjective points of view.

[Bubbalouie]

[quote="GPSGuided] get the impression that a lot of the answers are based on somewhat subjective points of view.[/quote]

When you've got similar functional outcomes under most circumstances you'll get pretty subjective answers. What you've got here is a good old fashioned Ford vs. Holden debate.

[GPSGuided]

When you've got similar functional outcomes under most circumstances you'll get pretty subjective answers. What you've got here is a good old fashioned Ford vs. Holden debate.

Not quite the same analogy as Ford and Holden essentially shared the same technology platform. I'd say more like horse and bike.

[Bubbalouie]

Not quite the same analogy as Ford and Holden essentially shared the same technology platform. I'd say more like horse and bike.

As an analogy isn't it more like bicycle vs. moped? :p

In any case I really meant it as an example of how those debates go, no right or wrong answer and a few die hard fans that will insist the others are wrong no matter what.

(now let the debate of best analogy commence)

[davidf]

I use a map and compass and a watch with an altimeter. This is for walking.

I have come around to the gps, particuarly packrafting where the land and you change position so quickly and its "wet" knowing where you are is problematic.

Still there's nothing like taking your hat off, guessing the time of day, felling where the sun burns hotest and guessing north.

I did walks as a kid where we'd memorise the bush on the maps during school classes where we were going. Maps on lawnmowing money were expensive and you didn't want to wreck them on a walk.

I am now a very soft middle aged man

[Gadgetgeek]

The GPS I used to use was an old magellan 315. No maps, just waypoints, a "solar compass", and an altitude accuracy of +/- 30M. Not a bad unit, but one with severe limitations.