gps or map?

here's a new poll for you!!
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Weed vaporizer

i like taking the gps out with me to find some of the boxes that have numbers..
The cost is coming down. some of the newer ones have maps built in.
The modern age has arrived. lets embrace it !!
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Washington Medical Marijuana

they go hand in hand, you carnt use one without the other if your going vary far.

use both. Personally think that GPS takes the fun out of it a wee bit. Handy to have as backup along with map and compass if the fog comes down.

Whats the battery life on these things like now?

"you carnt use one without the other if your going vary far"

What total and utter nonsense! No-one 'needs' GPS for Dartmoor, or indeed for fell-walking anywhere: knowing how to use a map and compass (and let's face it, most people don't fully) is the only prerequisite.

When those little GPS units became affordable a few years back everyone rushed out and bought them (me included) and soon realised they had a neat little gadget that had no real application. So Geocaching was invented: basically letterboxing for the brain-dead. If you really feel you need a GPS for letterboxing, you're doing something seriously wrong.

One of my fondest memories of the moor is when I got lost in a blizzard on the way home from cut hill. If I had a gps with me, it wouldn't have been such an interesting experience. So, I reckon, using a GPS is bad...

As I said in a previous post - I take my GPS out with me as a safety backup.

I mark the position of the car,and turn it off, and then I go and get lost in the fog somewhere, turn it back on - get horrified at the massive distance I am from my car and walk back!

The last few times I have been out I have ended up in a Dartmoor pea souper barely able to see my feet! So a GPS is useful to to get a position.

Also I would find it useful if there were an accident.
That is as far as it goes!

why does it bother others if someone uses a gps to find boxes ??
i would put myself in the bracket of not being able to use a map properly.
yes i could get quite close, but not within 40 feet as the gps can !!!
there are plenty of clues without the 8 digit map ref. in fact a lot more.

At the meet there was a smart programme that is a map of dartmoor on your computer, when you find a box store it on your gps and when you get home you connect the gps to your computer and it puts flags everywhere you found a box . a smart idea i thought !!!
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CHRYSLER N PLATFORM HISTORY

I think both can be used side by side!!! you still have to look for the box the GPS cannot find the box for you!!! it's all fun what ever!!!!

We don't have GPS so couldn't use it anyway but surely its a case of each to their own. Only you know how you found the box and if you are happy with that then its fine.

batty

I believe that Letterboxing is about getting out there and enjoying the national park (beats the Xbox any day) and if they require help from 2000 satellites to find their way back to the car then thats fine.

I have one in my bag to help with arguments with younger members of the family - if i show them the technology and reason as to why i want to go a certain way they tend to go more willingly, rather than me dragging them along through the rocks...


Ki Adi Mundi II

I've never even used a GPS but I can certainly see the advantages of them.
Personally I am not to bothered with buying one, my compass works fine and as long as you know how to use it properly in conjunction with your map then all should be ok.

We all know that compasses can vary a little on the readings. My Dad's compass is actually 1/2 a degree different from mine, so when we go out he can sometimes be about twenty yards from me looking for the same box! This only really applies to the more distant bearings though.

I think the traditional compass is the way forward for me, but I do think that the absence of putting your sighting compass to one eye and rotating your body 360 degrees, looking like your doing the balero, then waiting for the needle to stop spinning is all part of the fun!

Paul

the 8 digit map ref

When I started boxing the 8 digit reference didn't exist - they were all 6 figure ones - ok the 8 figures make it easier to find if you have a GPS but the challenge surely is to find the box using your own navigating skills.
Or has boxing just become a matter of numbers (I must admit I am guilty of counting too)

I will concede that GPS is useful when there is zero vis, but it takes away looking around the moor at what is there.

And to top it all I have seen 10 figure references (Down to 1 square metre!!!!)

Oh dear...

I still, and always will I think, use a good old map and compass.

Just my opinion ... but GPS to one square metre seems too easy. No challenge there in my eyes. Apart from the walk maybe.

I prefer the traditional method, the map and compass is by far the most fun and rewarding, but when you live as far away as we do the GPS does give you a back up if the mist comes down and you can not take a bearing, it saves a wasted journey.

Mind you it is quite funny watching our 10year old walking in zig zags trying to follow the arrow on the gps.

There is no substitute for learning to read a map and navigate using a compass even in the fog.
The gps will not show you where the bog is or the sheer drop and worst of all it does not work at all when the batteries are flat.

We don't have gps system and at the moment, couldn't afford one either!

One thing we love about Dartmoor, the one thing that attracted us to it really, was it's wilderness. We get a great buzz out of guiding ourselves around without the aid of electronics - our skills (such as they are) against the wilderness I suppose. The problem we've ever had was getting separated in a snow storm at Bellever, we both knew where we were and which direction to go - we just couldn't find each other!

Each to their own I suppose but I prefer more primitive methods, but then, maybe i'm just a tiny bit envyous as we don't have gps!

I have to admit I love my gps. I use the map and compass to try and locate a box from the clues (usually unsuccessfully!) and the gps gives me a very precise reference for my stamp records. I have found this really useful when returning to an area as I can quickly identify whether I've found a box before or not.
The biggest reason I love the gps though is that it will always get me back to my car! When the weather changes and landmarks become tough to spot that is really handy ( especally as my mapreading skills are not too hot )
So really a combination of the two is what does it for me. I could probably manage without one or the other but as my old dad used to say, "if it aint broke, don't fix it!"

I navigate the old-fashioned way with map and compass but the GPS is nice as a back-up. It's also useful when the person setting out letterboxes clearly has no idea how to take an accurate bearing, at least if they give a GPS reference you have some chance of finding the box. The Scouts and Guides are amongst the worst for giving accurate bearings and I won't even attempt their walks unless they give GPS references.

I haven't bought a GPS yet. However, I am considering getting one just for safety reasons - in case I get stuck in thick mist. This happened to me once, when the boys were young. It caught me unawares. I knew I had three roads around me so just followed the compass in one direction until I found one of the roads, then walked back to the car that way. However, if I had GPS, maybe I would have landed on the right road (I think I landed on the one south, instead of north). It was a little scary at the time, but quite amusing when I think back - like the time I thought I'd cross a small river and landed flat on my back ... lol.

Just started letterboxing again after a two year break - I went out a few times, back then, but really haven't been out properly in about 8 years. Decided need to get fit, and what better way than going out on Dartmoor. The plan is, one day each weekend, from now on ... fingers crossed. I would like to get more adventurous so GPS could help me back to the car if I lose my way a little. I'm not the best at using a compass and map. However, I probably wouldn't use it to find the actual boxes, even though I am absolutely hopeless at finding them. I just like the fun of walking and hunting. Any boxes I find are always a bonus.

I agree with what you say Fulchet. It's always worth practicing with a compass and map though, so you feel confident in using them. GPS's are good things, bit of a you know what if the batteries go though!

I'm sure one of us including myself are willing to meet you up there during the Spring, to give you some pointers. Bit iffy this time of the year but then again excellent practice in all this fog and rain!

Dizzy

thanks Dizzy

Can anyone recommend which GPS model would be best to get please?

Many thanks in advance

Tina

I bought a Garmin etrex last summer for £90. It's a 'no frills' GPS but does the job. It's a bit bulky (110mm X 50mm X 25mm) but does what you need..............and loads that you maybe don't. You may be able to buy one for less if you look around.

thanks for that - I'll have a look

Tina