"Joe Zorzin" wrote in message ...

But as I look at the models available, I'm not sure what to buy. One feature
on the better ones that looks indispensable is a digital compass!

Any suggestions? Anyone using them regularly? Is GPS really as good as it
sounds or are there things you don't like about it?

I'd like to find one that will help me find beatifull, rich, available
women. G

You're right about one thing, they all have a tonne of bells and
whistles. I use one on a daily basis at work, usually for tracking
down hotspots from IR scans, or keeping track of equipment caches and
pump sites. You'll see a lot of figures quoted as far as accuracy
goes, but if you can get within 50 ft of the spot you're looking for,
you're generally doing really good. Sometimes they are even more
accurate than that. We had a hell of a time this summer on one fire
though, it seems that the military was screwing with the system while
things were going down in Afghanistan. Our rides were having a hard
time finding our helipads that we got dropped off at; coordinates
would change over our shift. A couple of other things to watch out
for: Map datum: make sure everyone is one the same page, or you might
find yourself a ways of course; and navigational units: usually have
the between several sets of units, again, make sure you're on the same
page as your GIS or others you are getting coordinates from (dd mm ss
/ dd mm.mm / dd.mm) But that's small biscuits, just things to be aware
of.

They are handy, no doubt. The digital compass is something that we
didn't bother with. Just take the bearing off the GPS unit and use
your magnetic compass. It's hard to shoot a line with the GPS unit,
and you tend to walk with your head down looking at the screen, which
leads to a not-so-straight transect through the woods. As you pick up
and lose satellites, the bearing will even change as the new sats get
lumped into the calculation, leading to even more wiggly walks.

We used several different models by Garmin and Magellan... I
personally preferred all of the Garmin models over the Magellan.


As for all the rich, beautiful women, you'll find them he

45 degrees 58.446 minutes N
66 degrees 43.102 minutes W

good luck! Scott