> Not to be thumping my chest too much here but I've done the inside and > outside passage between B'ham and Lituya bay or north end Glacier bay. I > may have the good fortune to do the same or similar trip this summer. I > think more than a few people do similar trips each year. Mike, but you probably didn't go all the way from the north boundary of Garmin Bluechart Canada to the southern boundary of the map, - which is somewhere in Seattle suburbs, crossing either boundary on this trip, so that you would have to change the map memory card (that is, if you had a GPS)? Seems too long journey to me, and southern part probably feels too crowded after the northern section. > I don't own a GPS. The main advantage in owning one might be in saving the > hassle of hauling around a pile of nautical charts. But I really don't > like looking at say Topozone maps on the computer scene. I just can't get > the big picture very well. I suspect the small screen of a GPS would be > even worse. I'm trying to decide if a GPS is in my future. The hassle with > batteries on long trips and a fragile gadget on deck are pretty big > disadvantages for me to get my head around. But, maybe others out there > can give me their best sales pitch on why I should own one? I think, the best reason is in its name - global Positioning system. It shows you your position in LAT/LON grid, and then you can use paper maps and charts, to plot or correct your course. Everything else is evil, and not really necessary, but people like it, because they are spoiled :-) ... And it shows your position on a small patch of map (except for the cheap yellow Etrex - this one is not map-able), relatively to the closest waypoint - that is, IF you took care to enter such a waypoint before the passage. You are right, those maps on the screen are not for viewing them on handheld unit. What people do, is tracing the course or waypoints in desktop computer (using that electronic map), and then merely following the dotted line or going to some particular waypoint. Or entering the waypoints from paper maps (either before the trip, or on campsites, before the next passage). *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Fri Dec 29 2006 - 23:19:49 PST
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