Thread: GPS noob questions!

Originally Posted by Daniel L

1. Automatic route marking - as I walk do GPS systems automatically track the route so that I can back exactly the way I came in? Does this chew up the battery life? Or do you set them to automatically drop a way point every 100m or something like that to conserve battery life?

Called a "track" on most devices (I think). It's a continuous recording. Very useful. Battery life on my phone seems fine when I use it. Keep phone in flight mode.

Originally Posted by Daniel L

2. Getting back to camp efficiently - can devices create an automatic efficient route from the current location back to camp (assuming I dropped a pin there). i.e. fastest route, not necessarily shortest as the crow flies

I don't think so, that's a pretty tall order.

Originally Posted by Daniel L

3. Planning on a computer to mark pins - what's the recommended software these days that will sync things I've planned/marked on the PC back to the GPS device? Or is manually by co-ordinates?

It's easy to transfer from phone to Google Earth or other software. Haven't done it the other way myself, but imagine it would be fairly straightforward. I'll often find places of interest on satellite maps on PC and then manually mark them on my phone app. Sounds like a hassle, but for me, it's only usually one or two spots in a new location.