[Paddlewise] FW: FW: "Waterproof" . . .

>>
At 09:51 AM 3/9/98 -0600, you wrote:
>FYI, yesterday I gave my new Garmin 12XL GPS unit an
>immersion test.

 I think it is false advertising
>to claim that this unit is waterproof, and I am going to send a
>complaint to Garmin.
>
        An hour is twice as long as 30 min. 22 inches of water is about   the
same as a meter. I'd expect the battery compartment to take on some water
after an hour. It's rated for 30 minutes.
>>

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First, 22 inches is only a little over half a meter (0.56 m). Second, If
a seal doesn't leak in the first 30 minutes, I don't see why it should
leak in the next 30 minutes without an increase in water pressure. I
would expect 30 minutes to be the minimum, not the maximum, time
the unit would stay watertight.

As for the utility of a GPS unit vs. a compass, the other night
while trying to get back to sleep I tried to imagine what I would
do if I ran across a capsized kayak with no sign of a paddler.
The first thing I would do is notify the Coast Guard, and here the
GPS unit would probably give a much more precise location than
dead reckoning, especially if visibility was a problem. The second
thing I would do would be to spread my group out in a long line
and search upwind, abandoning the kayak for the sake of speed.
(In my imagination, this was happening on Lake Superior, where
currents are rarely a problem.)

For most purposes, I think a map and compass are adequate, but
when I am paddling in low visibility or along a coast where it is
sometimes hard to tell one feature from another, I like the idea of
being able to double-check my position.

Does anyone know of a GPS unit that is *totally* waterproof
(including the battery compartment)?

Chuck Holst


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