Which GPS should I buy ?

You wouldn't be willing to do a how to manual for the site would you? For me it would have to be the idiots guide to GPS trekking whereas for my boy only a tech manual would suffice..

One of the people could do is make maps of their own. Just use one of the inexpensive GPS then could play with it.

http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/index....armin/Download

as an example. It would be fun.

If somebody is in the himalayas and has GNU/Linux and one of the Garmin GPS stuff would be fun to play with.

What about using an iPhone with Google Earth and the built-in GPS locator function? I know Google Earth isn't totally accurate and some of the coverage of the Himalayas region is only in low resolution but used in combination with printed trekking maps it could be a usable solution? I'm hoping to take my iPhone to India with me this year and test it out.

There are ways and means of using google maps. It is something that I am just not techie enough to play around with these days.

<crossposted>

If one was to use google earth, one would have to be able to get an internet connection. Do trekkers find that cell phone signals and net coverage have preceded them into the hills?

You have a good point, I didn't really think that one through well enough! Of course you would need good cell phone coverage to obtain a GPS reading with an iPhone. Probably not something you can get easily in the Himalayas? Oh well, back to the satellite systems then. Just need to find one that has decent out of city mapping capabilities.

Well, GPS on your phone will, if it GPS, work just fine --- just that there may not be much in the way of map!

As I've mentioned, Chennai is well covered by Nokia Maps, but on a recent visit to Kerala I found nothing but a few major roads. I was still able to get lat and long coordinated to facilitate seeing places on Google Earth back home. At a pinch, it would have told me the direction and distance from one saved place to another too --- but not much more.

Painful task and its way too technical for IM.
Now even I can't believe that I did that.

OK. Give me some time and I will write that out. But as I mentioned, you save a lot of money and put in a lot of effort!

Other,
Definitely, service provider signals would not be available in far off regions. Stored maps are needed there...

So, we are back to square one ! Take a detailed terrain map (physical or printout) with good resolution and Logitude+latitude data, use cheap but reliable GPS, giving at least correct coordinates (Long+Latt) and then fix your position over the map manually.

Dunno what you guys think of Google Latitude

Another interesting piece I saw on a blog

Comments on both should be interesting to say the least

i bought a nokia n810 its not actualy a normal gps its an internet tablet with built in gps. the advantages are that you can use a lot of diffrent mapsources for example gstreet, yahoo, virtual erath, osm maps and any kind of vector-maps such as garmin-maps. so you are very flexible!
search for "maemo mapper" or "navit" for further informations...
i bought it for 200$ last week!

Hi,

Garmin eTrex H is a good and cheap (less than $100 in USA) GPS unit, especially for hikers/trekkers. I own a Garmin eTrex Vista HCx, which has lot more features than the eTrex H model, but eTrex H should suffice for most, including me.

I use it mostly for creating my trails and waypoints (co-ordinates of important points on the trail). It eases returning to the trail head by letting me know how far and in which direction any given waypoint is from my current location.

However, paper maps and compass are must for backup if going on a remote trail. As are additional batteries for the GPS unit.

Amazon's site contains fairly good review of these GPS units.

Good luck.

Has anyone got experience of using a Garmin Nuvi GPS unit purchased in the USA, and subsequently purchased a map chip that covers India, particularly the State of Rajasthan.
If you did purchase a map chip, where did you get it and does it work well?
Any help is much appreciated.

ok so im back and tried the n810 in india!^^
works quite well, and its easy to get the maps you actually need simply by finding wifi access! i didn use it in a professional way, it was more like a gadet, but it stil worked fine with google maaps!

There may well be members who'd appreciate more technical detail... if you have to time to enlarge on that.

Unless your mobile phone has a satellite receiver built into it, the position that it gives out is not your position, but the position of the cell tower that you are currently connected to, from Google's cell ID (cell tower) location database. Whilst in a big city centre this may pinpoint you down to 100m or so, in the countryside the tower may be several kms from where you are, so don't start thinking the Rescue Services can use this to locate you on a trekking trip!