— In Yahoo Canyons Group, “Rick Pratt”
We try and “not” use the GPS to find our way but will often use it > to “verify” we are correct. It’s no fun mindlessly following the GPS > but it’s also no fun wasting time working your way down the wrong > side canyon or up an impossible exit.
Mindlessly following anything is a recipe for disaster
No one should use a GPS or any other device as their sole method of navigation….
You need redundancy, just as you do in anchors etc….
A good map and altimeter will pin point your location in a canyon probably better than a GPS IMeO
The one area where the GPS out performs all others in night… With out features navigation at night is tough even if you are familiar with the area…. It is reassuring to see the track you made in and that you are on it on the way out
Water proof and floats and shock resistant would round out my wish > list. Never used a color one and have not had problems with the > basic screen on mine. How much more juice does the color screen > and “x” chip use? >
The GPSmap76CSx in my experience is much more efficient by nearly 100% over the GPSmap76CS and about 125-150% over the GPSmap76S, all 3 of which I own and have used extensively
I have gotten about 20-24 hours out of a set of lithium batteries and about 10-12 out of super alkaline with the CSx
I have no experience with the Colorado but have not heard good things about the battery life….It does address the Topo map issue though.
It is my (mis-)understanding the maps with the Colorado are subscription based rather than a direct purchase or data as a service (DaaS) I really despise this business model and try to avoid it like the plague
This is another reason I don’t care for the Delorme unit either which has a tiny screen to boot.
Rather than using routes with waypoints etc I much prefer to trace the route with Expert GPS and upload the track to the GPS as a saved track. I do use waypoints but mostly at major junctions and then employ the proximity feature.
The CSx allows for 10(?) saved tracks of 750(?) points each, plenty for any canyon or multi-day trip.
You can make your own topographic maps for the garmin as well with the proper software and these are very accurate as long as you do a good job of data collection…. The contour lines can be extracted from DEM’s making these truly custom maps.
matt