A few years ago there was a similar story of a Silicone Valley geek getting snowed in with his family after taking instructions from GPS. After a few days he left to go get help, hypothermia got him, the family survived. I've had a number of instances where GPS asked me to do unwise things, taking an RV down a steep, single lane dirt road that happened to be shorter, being my favorite example. Another time, cruising down the highway towards Palm Springs at night, 80+ mph (just keeping up with traffic), freeway makes a right, GPS cursor just keeps going out into the desert. It took more than a minute to get close to the vehicles real location. I have had three different models of garmin at the helm of my sailboat each reporting a different speed, though each was off from the nearest by .1. GPS seem somewhat useful in determining where I've been, the Vista has shown an elevation gain of 60' during a paddle on San Pablo Bay, but I no longer have any faith in their ability to direct my future course, land or sea. Mike San Rafael *************************************************************************** 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 Jan 01 2010 - 22:31:50 PST
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