A few weeks ago, I went hiking in the Vosges (north-east, near the german border). I had a very detailed map, and compass (never used GPS yet, not too keen on this stuff!)

This area is cris-crossed with trails of any kind, mostly well marked...but in this place, forest covered slope, not much of a view, tiny hamlets spotted down in the valley, everything looking the same, and no less than 9 trails going vaguely in the same direction! An altimeter could have be useful.

I got completely lost save for the direction, never found the specific hut I was looking for, hacked part of my way through fallen timber (thanks to the '99 storm, some parts have been devastated and look like something out of "The Road" movie) to some kind of logging road. I was getting ready to sleep in the woods somewhere (hardly more than a micro tarp...) when I found another hut (old decrepit, creepy...and cold)

This one, I could NEVER locate on the map, I have no idea of where exactly I spent the night, but I found my way miraculously the next morning

x

If you had a GPS you could have "Waypointed" the spot and found it easily the next time you went out.



I don't agree that a GPS is unreliable. I might agree that I would not want to "Have to" rely on one, but I have many times. Mostly when boating. I have navigated the old "White River" channel on Bull Shoals Lake many times in pitch black darkness and very dense fog using my Garmin eMap GPS and it's been as solid as a rock for me.

I've had it turned on for at least 1000 hours and probably closer to 2-3 times that.

One night I got a big lag bolt in the tire of my car when I was driving up Hwy 55 in Illinois. No repair stations open anywhere, and nothing but small towns for miles. I checked the GPS and it told me there were two gas stations between me and a Wal-Mart about 20 miles away. The GPS led me to their front doors. I stopped twice for air, and then I got a can of "Fix-a-Flat" and a tire repair kit for under $10.00, fixed the tire and made my destination without a problem. I would have never found the gas stations or the Wal-Mart without the GPS and my wife and I would've been stuck all night on the side of the road next to corn fields with a totally flat tire in the morning. So, while I didn't really rely on it then, it did make the trip much easier and saved me a lot of time and hassle.

I have never had to rely on my GPS while hiking though. But I have used it a lot to find places I've waypointed on maps and it works incredibly cool for that.

There is a local guidebook by Tim Ernst called " The Arkansas Waterfalls Guidebook". Tim provides lat/longs for all the falls in his book and descriptions on how to find them. But some would be really tough to find without a GPS to guide you there.

Once you're deep inside the "hills and hollers" of the Ozarks you may have a general idea of your location, but knowing exactly which hollow you're in or looking into isn't likely until you've spent a lot of time in that area.

I've stumbled upon some cool spots here while bushwhacking, many of them unknown by ol'timers that have always lived here, and more than a few I'd have had a pretty tough time finding again without a GPS waypoint.

So, while it's certainly a personal preference, I do think the function to weight ratio makes it worth carrying when hiking.

BTW, the main reason I still use that old Garmin eMap is because the screen is much easier to see than the "eTrex" models. Well, that, and because it still works

Jim, I don't need an instruction manual and many hours of learning time to use my headlamp. That comparison really limps!

I'm still trying to learn the intricacies of my camera (the other battery-dependent item I take with me). It went haywire on a trip last summer, and I didn't find out until I got home and spent two hours with the manual that the picture-taking mode dial had been bumped off automatic! I doubt that I'd ever be able to master a GPS, nor do I even want to try!

Oregon Mouse
I am sorry I hurt your feelings, I apologize. My reference was to your comment about relying on anything that uses batteries.
Jim

You didn't hurt anything; I was laughing at your comment about the lamp! Interesting gadget, by the way--looks a lot more complicated than a modern headlamp!

I've experienced enough failure of gadgets with batteries--at home as well as out in the woods--to eye them with great skepticism. That includes the headlamp, for which I take a backup. I don't take a backup for my camera, although I'd sure like to have had one last summer!