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How to Use a GPS for Hiking | Complete Beginner Guide

How to Use a GPS for Hiking

A GPS kit is an indispensable part of the traveler’s backpack. GPS stands for global positioning system, maintained by satellite communications around the world. GPS not only shows the location you want to visit but also shows you the trails and directions to reach that place.

Travelers frequently visit unfamiliar territory and get lost, putting their lives in danger. That’s where the best backpacking GPS comes in order to keep you on the right track, showing geographical milestones.

The coordinates of the GPS provide us with marked points of travel milestones we need to reach before we get to reach our red-spotted final destination.

Now, travelers use GPS all over the world to find routes to reach their desired destinations. We’ve GPS gadgets like Garmin navigators and Magellan models. Frequently, travelers take model A/or B (Garmin, Magellan, or Tomtom) as the best hunting GPS for their camping outdoors.

While we also carry GPS-enabled smartphones and an array of mobile apps to assist in our navigation endeavor, a dedicated GPS tracking gadget helps us relieve our travel woes and uncertainty.

We’ve compiled a list of the Best hunting GPS navigators for our valuable readers. Have a look at our best-reviewed list of GPS Gadgets and Navigators HERE.

Garmin eTrex 10 Worldwide Handheld GPS Navigator

  • Brand: Garmin
  • Color: Yellow and black
  • Are Batteries Included: No
  • Screen Size: 2.2 Inches
  • Human Interface Input: Buttons
  • Display Type: LCD
  • Item Dimensions LxWxH: 2.13 x 1.3 x 4.06 inches
  • Connectivity Technology: USB
  • Map Type: Australia
  • Battery Life: 25 Hours

One of the important features of using GPS is that it not only shows the fastest route to our destination but the easiest route to reach our destination.

It easily calculates the shortest possible time in which we can reach our destination. In traveling, this is a very useful and an important feature as we usually tend to get lost in our carefree travelogues.

GPS navigation gadgets are quite a trend for modern travel-mongers. Various models of GPS devices and gadgets are available on the market.

In the wild, if you’d like to go hunting, we have good hunting GPS gadgets, with models like A and B. See our list of good hunting GPS gadgets here.

But remember readers! we don’t only recommend you best reviews of GPS for hiking and camping. We are obliged to mention some caveats: — a traveler like you must not be absolutely dependent on GPS to pinpoint travel destinations as digital navigation systems can easily fail in very bad weather conditions.

Hence, GPS must always be used in collaboration with a detailed physical map of the destination area and a weather-resistant compass to determine directions.

A very basic GPS unit will have a display and controls that allow you to find your latitude (east-west lines drawn around the Earth) and longitude (north-south lines from the North Pole to the South Pole). Within that basic configuration, there are a variety of models with color-coded indicators of distance to desired destinations. You need to select one based on your personal preference and usability.

GPS units, like models A or B (Garmin, Magellan, or Tomtom), come in an array of modular prices, with the best models having higher prices. Pricier GPS gadgets have more features than the average models.

In this time and era, most travelers have smartphones with GPS apps installed like Google Map. This acts as good navigation assistance, but that is not recommended as an ideal GPS solution for hiking or outdoor camping.

There are several reasons why a smartphone may not be the best navigation device: small screen size, short battery life, overheating, no Wi-Fi or cellular data in remote locations, lack of water resistance, and risk of theft.

So, for our travelers to have a separate, dedicated navigation device on hand, we recommend you to use good models of these hunting GPS devices [models A or B].

**********A

Some GPS models, like Model A and B, are waterproof for your mountain hiking – very handy when crossing rivers and waterfalls or if you’re hiking on a bamboo suspension bridge over two mountains.

Different GPS models have some nice-to-have features like back-lighting so you can read them at night without holding them under a flashlight.

Few models of hunting GPS offer a tracking log so you can recall the last places where you’ve been in your travelogue. This way, you can have a modular breakdown of your full travel.

As in older times, people used to nail down points on their travel maps to understand the journey they undertook and what is left of to reach the destination.

GPS units For Your Travel Security & Safety Support

GPS gadgets now come with an inbuilt powerful security software program that lets you broadcast emergency help signals in a situation of untoward travel disaster. The GPS unit can have a companion mobile app for your smartphone. In case of an impending travel disaster or an emergency situation, you press the “emergency” button on the GPS unit.

This, in turn, communicates with the mobile app to broadcast an SOS help message to nearby fellow travelers via cellular networks. It can only be possible with modern GPS gadgets with an inbuilt security broadcast software program.

Conclusion:

GPS gadgets and navigators are a modern technological miracle for travelers.

It’s really a boon for people to have GPS as their traveling companion. Travelers can have peace of mind and get rid of the fear of getting lost in the wild.

Travelers easily pinpoint their existence in unfamiliar territory in a hand-held device, without the support of any second-person travel guide.

This is nothing short of the best secure navigation assistant for modern travelers and hikers.

Avatar of Shakil Ahmed
WRITTEN BY

Shakil Ahmed

Shakil Ahmed is a contributing writer and editor on outdoorenjoy.com. he specializes in writing articles in various fields. His work has spanned topics that include home product reviews, and social media research, and has appeared in publications such as The Spruce, Wirecutter, and very well, among others. he has also been involved in the financial industry, and he has many creative and unique insights when it comes to articles.

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