Beware: Your GPS Could Kill You

[Desert Cruiser]

That's good Lee. I'm usually the opposite, I rely on my GPS. I'll lay out a trip on the Map Source topo with turns and waypoints for a trip then load it all into the GPS. I also use a hand held one that also mounts on the dashboard where Linda (Iggy) can see it. It's running off the vehicle battery while there. It also has 3 AA batteries (I keep spares in the Cruiser). We just used it on a trip with Reptilist to find an area in New Mexico and it always works great. It does have the High Sensitivity reciever so it'll work in a building, under trees, or in narrow canyons in 3D. It's small but has a huge memory, including additional 1 gig in a card I added so I have almost all of the West in topo maps loaded into it. Has a nice color screen that's easy to read too. I think they're a great advantage myself if you use common sense when navigating out there. Later I can go back and download the tracks to the topo program and see where we've been in relation to other things out there.

Don...

[Tono Aratagona]

Hello Folks,

I'm new to this forum, but not new to the great outdoors or the many troubles of blindly trusting your GPS.
After I had upgraded my Windows Mobile operating system I had to purchase a new GPS license.
As part of that I tried out several programs and one of them was "King Hanzi", a GPS software written and distributed by a Chinese outfit.
That program tried to make me turn into oncoming traffic and the wrong way into one way streets with such a persistence that I simply dubbed it "Harrakiri Software".
Naturally it was utterly useless in any sort of off road condition.

Then I tried several other programs and *all* the brand name software among them (TomTom, Navigon, Garmin and so on) showed the same problems once I got of the beaten path.
In the case of TomTom I had actually demanded and gotten the most recent (Beta) version of up-to-the-minute maps of the NorthEastern US & Canada, just before I headed out into the white void there. And guess what, already in the woods of Maine that darn thing started to show me roads where there were nothing but beaten up dirt pathways, uttterly unfit for any kind of town car.

Once I actually got up into Canada, things turned comical. Small townships didn't show up at all, and then gas stations and rest stops where displayed where there were none.
And in Canada those rural stations may be up to 50 miles appart from each other. So if you're low on gas at -40 degrees and you trust your lying GPS that you can turn into that snowed up country road, because there's supposedly a Bed & Breakfast or a Gas Station down there, and then you find out there is nothing but white and more white to be had, you can kiss your rear good bye right there and then!

On at least one occasion that damn GPS tried to have me drive straight into an iced up bay, because it claimed that a road was leading accross where there was none.
Lucky me it wasn't snowing at the time (but it was pitch dark at night), or I might have tried to play Penguin at the Polar Circle with my Rover.

In essence, never, ever trust your GPS over your common senses! Most of the GPS manufacturers get their map data from a single source and that means if there is one mistake made, it gets multiplied all over.
And if you're in a remote area and have to make a decision on wether to go on or turn around, don't trust your life to the GPS POI database.
Your life is worth more than that!

[Iggy]

Welcome to the site Tono. I can see why you would have doubts about using a GPS. In a way your story was funny, but using common sense would be the way to go. What did you mean about having to get a new license for your GPS? Is this something you have that's different then the normal ones? just curious.

[Tono Aratagona]

Welcome to the site Tono. I can see why you would have doubts about using a GPS. In a way your story was funny, but using common sense would be the way to go. What did you mean about having to get a new license for your GPS? Is this something you have that's different then the normal ones? just curious.

Well some parts sound funny now, but when King Hanzi yelled at me to turn around "Right Now. Right Now" in the middle of the freaking Highway, I rather felt like strangling some darn Chinese Software Developer.

And updating the operating system on my Windows Mobile device invalidated the licenses of all my GPS programs.
And none of the manufacturers would just issue me a new one for free - so beware of that issue when you decide to uprade your system and check with the manufacturer of your GPS software beforehand!

[Iggy]

Tono Wrote:

And none of the manufacturers would just issue me a new one for free - so beware of that issue when you decide to uprade your system and check with the manufacturer of your GPS software beforehand!

Thanks for that info, nice to know.

[yuccahead]

Well, here's a new study giving more credence to the 'death by GPS' possibilities.
Apparently we really do walk in circles or at least are unable to walk in a straight line in the wilderness.
The desert subjects fared a little better than those in the forest, until the clouds moved in. They all had a GPS and didn't believe they had deviated even after being shown proof.

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/MindMoodNe ... id=8368583

[Desert Cruiser]

Well that's interesting and I've heard that before. I wonder why that is. I've always had an uncanny sense of direction, Iggy gets mad because I never get lost. Yet other people don't seem to have a good sense of direction. And I never pay any attention to the sun or moon for directions!

Don....

[Tyroler]

Well,i go in January and February,without Car
May take a Donkey to carry Food,water and Gear.
Will have a GPS with me,to note Location if i take a Photo or see any Interesting.If i see any History thing,i may not do it with me,but take a Photo,note Location and forward it to the next Ranger or History-Museum.
I will do a Google mapping printed to have a Glue
I also have Boots,Ax,Shovel (Fire,Toilet,Gold digging:-),or whatever)
Travel Insurenc over £10000000.- if Search has to be startet.
Well,Laptop to show you Photos when in a Town,Mobile Phone,Camera,Paper and Pencil,Knife,and Gun
Maybe a Horse? - Don't know as i go in the Mountains and wouldn't find a Smith to change Horse Shoe
Have i forgoten anything? "Yes",but i can't carry a Shop with me.
Anywhy,post when i go and maybe we meet once around a Fire

[Dan]

Generally, I don't use a gps designed for turn-by-turn directions on pavement for my off-road trips, although I have them for my street cars. I generally use a hand-held and a topo map for off-road use. I usually keep a fair idea of where I'm going by checking my actual longitude and latitude once in a while, against the topo map. That way, I can explore without too much risk of getting lost. As long as I have batteries, and some idea of my route, as well as the general landmarks of the area (mountain ranges, peaks, roads, rivers, canyons, small towns), it's easy to keep track over a long period of time.

I have used the handheld to lay out a club ride or five, and to assist in laying out a sanctioned race course for my club a number of times. It works fine if you have the right software to work with it, and if you've already been on the route and saved it. Plotting a ride strictly using the software, then loading it on the gps doesn't always work out. I don't know of any gps topo plotting software that indicates trails as either open or closed. You would have to be on the ground to determine that.

[Desert Cruiser]

Dan: I agree with you to a point. like I explained above on our trip to New Mexico with Reptilist I used a GPS to plot the trip on the topo first then loaded it into the GPS. BUT what I did also was to lay out several different routes into the same area in case some were blocked or inaccessible (like you mentioned above). Now this came in really handy because the original route taken to get to the area years ago WASN'T available anymore. But no problem we had alternative routes and got permission for another one we had plotted. Now granted you need to use your head and spend some time doing all this on the computer, but it is doable! And Like you said they are handy for laying out routes, like the ones on our web site's trip pages that (most all) have GPS routes you can download. Or like you said again' for runs by a group, we helped with a poker run by doing that exact same thing and made it available for the clubs members for the run. Isn't modern computer stuff great?

Don....