Gershon,
I have to disagree.
twice now I have set a way point and headed into the mountains, once back packing and once fishing down a mountains stream and returning cross country. In both cases I simply followed the gps home and in both cases my truck was not visible until I was within 50 yards of it.

If your GPS was 600 feet off, then something was wrong, like your original fix only grabbed a couple of satelites or you didn't give it time enough before setting out. Even in the old days of the purposeful error in the GPS, being 600 feet off returning to a waypoint was really bad.

Maybe you need to practice with that gps like you practice with a compass. I can be completely totally lost in a white out snow storm and if I can get a gps signal [debateable I admit}, I can go directly to my truck. I have done this on several occasions. As in I used to go up to the Sierras for the winter storms and I relied upon my gps to find my truck and it never failed me, unless the batteries died, and if you take a waypoint at your TH and turn it off, you can still use it to point to the TH even if you don't know where the path goes, or you can leave it mostlt turned on and easily backtrack. This is the best, just carry spare batteries.

Jim

ps in deep backcountry there are not many trails and few easily identified peaks. a map is of very little use if you don't know where you are on it and quartering 20 miles isn't reasonable.