Why Use a GPS?

Having a GPS when out and about is a great thing and I never leave home without my Garmin GPSmap 60CSx. I am going to do a review on this at a later date, but for now I'm going to explain how I use my GPS and what I use it for.

Geocaching
Many of the walks I do are based around Geocache points as waypoints for my entire route. Either someone has laid out a number of Geocaches that can be visited in sequential order making up a circular route, or I will take several Geocaches and navigate too them in turn, using footpaths and accessible terrain. Geocaching.com is a great site with free and paid membership options. As well as getting the cache locations onto the GPS you need to print the cache description as they can sometimes be hard to find.

Position Check
Having a GPS is not a substitute for knowing how to use a map and compass. Your GPS could go flat, get dropped and break, or stop working for any number of reasons so whist it is a great navigation aid, its not a substitute for a map and compass and knowing how to use them. I alternate between using my GPS with map and compass for backup, and vica versa. When I'm navigating by map I will periodical test my skills by checking my expected grid reference with what the GPS is telling me.

Route Debrief
Even if I haven't used my GPS for navigation on a walk, I will still have it running at the top of my rucksack so I can view where I walked once I get back home. After importing the trail into MemoryMap or OS Get-a-Map, I can see where I walked, and if I made any mistakes, can learn from them for next time.