I was embarassed late one Saturday afternoon (we had both worked that morning) to find ourselves 'lost' in the well travelled Blue Mountains, when we somehow missed a turn off (there was a lot of track reconstruction at the time) to Rodriguez path, on the way to Acacia Flat and the Blue Gum Forest for an overnight walk. We found ourselves instead heading up the Grand Canyon. It would have been nice to have known exactly where were were sooner, and we could have backtracked while we still had time and light. All was good, we camped under a great rock overhang near the creek and did another walk the next morning out of the valley. As we plan on doing more longer walks I thought it was time to bite the bullet and buy 'something'
What I have bought is probably overkill, but this model comes with all the Aust States and NZ maps preloaded, and we can also use it as a car navigation guide in our second car (it doesn't talk to you though like my Navman though and the screen is a lot smaller). If we go overseas additional maps can be purchased. It's got a pretty low res camera, I guess just for pics of waypoints etc, and a mic so you can make track notes. Not sure if we'll actually use these functions. It's waterproof up to 1 m depth for 30 mins. I know the Garmin ones have the ability to make your own maps, but this isn't something I forsee myself doing. (Is this what the Maps and Trax advertisement up the top of the forum page is referring to??) Reading these forums seemed to give the impression that the Garmins were less user friendly. I need something easy
I bought my model from Johhny Appleseed, from the North Sydney store over the phone. The staff member with whom I dealt was extremely helpful. All they do is sell GPS and PLB's etc. They will price match, and it arrived the next day by mail. Magellan also have a deal at the moment where, after you register your purchase on their website, they'll send you some freebies such as a case and a car mount bracket etc, depending on the model you buy. This arrived about a week later.
The Johhny Applseed website has some good information, which, as a technonoob, I am slowly working my way through. I thought some others here might find it interesting and helpful
http://www.ja-gps.com.au/links.aspx
And now I also know the difference between a PLB and an EPIRB! (http://www.ja-gps.com.au/GME/mt410g-plb/ - down the bottom)
This site is also helpful
http://gpstracklog.com/2011/01/magellan ... eview.html
I'm looking forwards to going out for a quickie on the weekend, with my L plates on
