GPS for Hikers

Dan Neil of LA Times calls Colorado 400t utterly vital

Garmin's in-house bloggers can be relied upon for interesting links and stories on their products. Today they posted an interesting and very positive article on Los Angeles Times writer Dan Neil's desert hike across Joshua Tree National Park with an Iridium satellite phone, an ACR Microfix 406 Personal Locator Beacon (PLB) and, most importantly, a Garmin Colorado 400t GPS.

Mr. Neil loved the 3-D topographic map display, clear data screens, and particularly the ease and accuracy of using it to find preset waypoints, most especially his vital pre-cached water locations.

Can I put street maps on my hiking GPS?

As we recently discussed, putting topographic maps onto your hiking GPS makes it a much more powerful tool. Many outdoors-oriented GPSes can also have street maps loaded onto them, making them just as useful in the urban jungle.

Putting street maps onto a GPS really brings two features: the maps themselves, and (often but not always) the ability to get "turn by turn" directions just like a car "nav" system.

Generally speaking any Garmin GPS that support their MapSource TOPO series of outdoors maps can also support their City Navigator street maps, and show the incredible level of detail that modern GPS street maps contain. If you've ever used Google Maps or Yahoo! Maps you're actually getting something of a preview of a GPS street map since the GPS map is based on the exact same NAVTEQ or Tele Atlas map data.

More advanced outdoors GPS units, such as the Garmin eTrex Vista HCx and Colorado 400t, can also do the same turn-by-turn route finding that you can do on Google Maps or on a driving-oriented GPS. When loaded with City Navigator maps you can search the point-of-interest (POI) database for cities, hotels, gas stations, addresses, etc, have the unit calculate the shortest route, and then guide you to it!

Do I need topo maps on my hiking GPS?

Any GPS receiver will tell you your current location (latitude, longitude) and elevation - that's what they do. Most units will also display a map screen, with you precisely positioned on it, but the amount of detail displayed on that screen varies enormously.

Some more basic models (or models aimed primarily at other activities such as running) have no map data stored in them. They will show you your "bread crumb" track of where you have been, and also will show "waypoints", which are labeled locations that you either save as you are hiking (for example a peak, campsite, or trail junction that you want to find your way back to later) or preload from your PC before you go.

The next step up are models such as the Garmin eTrex Vista HCx and eTrex Legend which contain a "basemap". This basemap contains cities (their locations, not their detailed streets), major highways, lakes and rivers, railroads, and coastlines. This can sometimes be useful to orient yourself, or for highway driving, but does not add very much once you set out on the trail.

However these two models can also have detailed topographic maps purchased and installed on them, Garmin's MapSource TOPO series. The detail level of these maps vary depending on where you are in the world, but they add the sort of terrain information that you expect from a good topo map: contours, peaks, roads, trails and jeep/mining roads, river/creeks, campsites, trailheads, etc. In some cases these are just as detailed as the USGS 1:24,000 paper maps! The nearby point of interest (POI) database can be searched by name, which can be invaluable in finding you to (or back to) a landmark or trailhead.

Finally, the Garmin Colorado 400t comes with these maps of the US already loaded onto it, so right out of the box it is ready to go out into the wilderness. The Colorado also shows "shaded relief", enhancing the display with shadows to illustrate the terrain.

What to look for in a GPS for backpacking

Generally speaking the same GPS works great for both day-hiking and backpacking. You want a model that balances size/weight with features and screen size. For backpacking, two criteria become more important.

- Weight: even if you're not of the ultralight persuasion you'll want to go with a lighter unit such as the Garmin eTrex Vista HCx.
- Battery life and replaceability: if you're out on the trail for a couple of days or more battery life becomes very important, because you don't want to carry spare batteries if you can help it. This is an area where the Vista scores again. More expensive lithium AA batteries will give you much longer battery life. Lithiums are also much lighter than conventional batteries, and work better in the cold. All our GPSes here have replaceable AA batteries, so you can always carry a spare set, or pick them up at a trailside town. Some otherwise very good units such as the cycling-oriented but surprisingly versatile Garmin Edge 705 have built-in, non-replaceable batteries.

For day-hiking these may be less important, and if you use your GPS for other activities then the needs of those activities might sway your choice. For example, for geocaching you might want a large bright screen to display detailed map and cache information, for skiing something with larger, glove-friendly buttons, while if you use your GPS to track your running you'll want a smaller, more easily pocketed unit.