Why Proper Navigation Training is Necessary

I just finished up a article on why Proper Navigation Training is necessary and figured some of you may be interested in reading it.

The most important point that I attempt to make in this article is that we underrate the importance of good navigation skills in avoiding Survival Situations and often take Wilderness Navigation skills for granted, especially the Compass.

In the article I go over the top three avoidable mistakes in wilderness travel. No route planning or route card, No rescue plan or escape route, and Not understanding how to use the Navigator’s Toolbelt.

If you are interested the Article is Here: Why Proper Navigation Training is Necessary

I hope you find the information of interest and spent some time practicing with your compass and making a Routecard before you leave for the woods next time.

Lots of interesting links and resources in there. Thanks for posting.

Bruce,

Outstanding post.

I agree compleltely about your thoughts on Wilderness Navigation.

Blake

www.outdoorquest.biz

www.outdoorquest.blogspot.com

Agreed. I think some people treat their compass like a good luck charm. Its a little button in the pre-fab survival kit they bought, and it makes them feel like they are prepared for an emergency. Thanks for posting the link.

Most "Pre-fab Survival Kit(s)" purchased are just a Placebo or a the Ultimate Survival Sugar Pill. If I pack this I will survive; instead of thinking if I take the right critical survival item that I know how to use in poor conditions I can be comfortable through the survival situation.

I can use a map and compass relatively well. Probably better than 90% of the people on the street - no brag just fact. I was in the Army before GPS, and before that my dad taught me a ton in Scouts. Fact is, would rather plot where I am than rely on GPS, as I can get within a meter if forced, 10 meters standard.

Having said that, great post. Anything that makes people think before they act, and not rely on the button compass in their PSK.

I usually carry two compasses. One might be wrong, two aren't.

If you review the posts in this forum I believe you will find that a very common sentiment is that training and skill trump gadgets and gear when a survival situation occurs - lightweight and they don't take up much space, either.

If you carry two compasses and one is wrong, which one is wrong?

There seem to be two themes in this thread, one on the importance of good navigation and as we have seen so many survival situations begin with the "victim" becoming lost, I consider the importance of good navigation and staying found to be a given. Another given is how easy it is to become lost if you don't actively stay found.

The other theme is that of pocket/personal survival kits. I'm not big on the small survival kits peeps buy and never use until they realize they are in a survival situation. I much prefer EDC users: knife/knives, flashlight, whistle et al.

When I go off-road I have map & compass(es), GPS (preloaded with maps and waypoints and these days a second GPS on my wrist sans maps but with the same waypoints. Getting lost is bad form and waypoints are cheap. Having a GPS with dead batteries is also bad form. If you carry a GPS, carry spare batteries too and turn the GPS off when you don't need it.

There will be lots of other gear too, but it's user gear -- no unopened survival kits, stuff I've used with back-ups I've used.

Spare batteries IN EXCESS.

I've experienced several 4-packs of good name-brand AA batteries having a dud in the package. If your GPS needs 4 batteries (my older ones do) and one of the 4 spares is a dud then I'd effectively NOT have spare batteries.

Gotta be careful out there!

Also, many phenomena which cause compass variation (power lines, metallic deposits, etc.) will affect any compass in the area, so both may be identically wrong. The vast majority of the brand name compasses are pretty reliable.

When carrying spare AA primaries (not rechargeables), I strongly recommend Energizer Lithiums. They last much longer in storage, do not leak, and provide more power than alkalines, especially in high-drain devices.

No affiliation.

"A GPS without Batteries is as useful as a Gun without Bullets"

Therefore I always carry two sets of spare batteries.

On longer trips I now take 8 Rechargeable AA. I have also been experimenting with the use of a Solar Charger to charge my batteries when I am on longer trips. This way I can have a permanent supply of AA/AAA Batteries. This is no good on a short trip because of the weight of the panel and charger, but on longer trips it does help.

Seriously, what can go wrong with a compass? Apart from all those jokes about what happens when you place two compass close together (both will be wrong!), let's run through the different scenarios:

=> Compass smashed. Fairly easy to see which one broken and not

=> Compass needle is stuck and can't move freely. A 10 second test will show you if this is the case - just rotate the compass while you hold it horizontally

=> Compass needle is completely de-magnetised. Highly unlikely. Rotate the compass while you hold it horizontally, and you'll see

=> Compass needle has changed polarity (north points to south). Rare, but there are at least one report here on ETS of that happening. Use other indicators to tell which is which. If you can see the sun you can tell which direction that absolutely isn't south.


If the compass needle is magnetic and can rotate freely it will point to magnetic north unless there are other magnetic objects really close to it (such as the other compass). Period. There's no way a compass can be pointing consistently, say, 45 degrees in the wrong direction. You need human navigation errors for that... (such as messing up when finding out which heading you should use).

There was a lot of tongue-in-cheek with that not too serious question. The statement I commented on was "I usually carry two compasses. One might be wrong, two aren't." and in fact hikermor's post above is correct, two compasses can be wrong and for the same exact reason. I carry a compass, but the course taken from a GPS when walking is independent of the local phenomena that could affect a magnetic compass' accuracy/correctness.

Your point about carrying a back-up compass in case the primary is damaged or lost is valid.

Ron Hood demonstrated a good direction finding technique using a sun-dial: The Ottomani Sun Compass & Sun compass and direction finding

I carry a small GPS when hiking. Also a map and compass. I always try to stop at least once on a hike, pull out the map and compass, and practice determining my location. I've never NEEDED to do this, I haven't gotten lost ever (knock on wood!), but I like to stay in practice.

One thing I don't understand very well though. Here in Colorado I have lots of mountain peaks that I can triangulate off of to determine my position. And huge ridges and drainages I can use to keep myself "walled in" so I have a good handle on where I am by using just a map without compass. But how do people in the flat lands determine their location when there is nothing sticking up more than a few feet, thus nothing to triangulate off of? GPS would be a great tool for the flat land wilderness situation where you don't have many landmarks that would show up on a map.

How do you folks in the flatter areas of the country do it with only map and compass?

Before the drop-dead date and within the operating temps of alkaline batteries, you really shouldn't notice any performance difference with alkaline batteries compared to lithiums -- except that the lithiums are lighter and have a higher power density.

That said, if you have some emergency only gear and the batteries have been in there 5 years, you might notice a big difference. The alkalines may be leaking while the lithiums will still be good to go.

Yeah, I switched my lights and GPS receivers (less the Garmin 60CSx) over to lithiums. What was Garmin thinking when they designed the 60CSx to be incompatible with lithiums? A reason to upgrade to the 62? That's one reason I carry the ForeTrex 301 as a back-up.

Lithium batts will also perform better in low temperatures, compared to alkies.....Not as much of a factor down here, but it might be important in the Frozen North....

I have lost way too much equipment to leaking alkies to trust them in anything significant. For items in regular usage, i am very happy with Eneloops. For anything that is used intermittently, I will install lithiums..

Alkalines simply don't cut it for high drain applications. Such as "max" mode for most flashlights: They can't deliver the currents involved. The light will work, but at much lower intensity than you've bargained for.

Alkalines are OK if your needs are more modest. Say, your flashlight at low or medium modes. I don't like alkalines for several reasons, but that doesn't mean they won't work within some constraints (not too low temperatures, not in high current applications).

Izzy, I'm surprised that eneloops don't live up to your expectations. I'm quite happy with eneloops and similar low self discharge batteries by other vendors.

That being said, disposable (single use) lithium has a lot going for them. In particular in the "emergency only" scenario.

The charger and the charging cycle you use may affect their performance. So-called "inelligent" chargers and a slow cycle are allegedly better. My usage so far tends to confirm that notion.

Ditto on the above - I use smart chargers only.

I've stayed away from the eneloop charger since no one has confirmed it has intelligent charging circuits. On the contrary: Last time I checked, the available data made me suspect that eneloop supplies a "dumb" charger.

Hints: Unless you can charge ONE battery individually in whatever port you like and the manufacturer braggs about delta-v circuits it probably is a dumb charger.

I don't find this to be true in my case. My 4Sevens Quark 1xAA LED flashlight runs on standard alkaline AA's, NiMH (which I havent' tried yet), lithium primaries (also untried), or 14500 rechargeable lithium (which I HAVE tried - and use all the time now).

A 14500 is quite a bit brighter than the an alkaline in this flashlight. Actually, a TON brighter. No comparison really. Rechargeable lithiums have the highest voltage, followed by lithium primaries, followed by alkalines, followed by NiMH. Even though the NiMH have the lowest voltage, I still would expect them to give better brightness than the alkalines. I haven't tried this in this particular Quark flashlight, but in other lights I have the NiMH's will out perform the alkalines. Lower voltage, but significantly higher current capabilities.

Now in something where you don't have a "brightness" to compare, or in devices that only draw a low amount of current, like a GPS, I don't know how the various batteries will compare against each other. I generally use alkalines for these devices if they are used infrequently or NiMH if they see a lot of use. For intermediate use I choose the Eneloops (special NiMH formulation that doesn't self-dischage to a significant extent, like regular NiMH's do). I don't usually store the alkalines in these devices (due to leakage concerns), but occassionally I forget and run to open up the forgotten device and say "Phew, lucked out there - they didn't leak!"

The 14500 rechargeable lithium is "lithium ion" and at 3.6 volts is in another league compared to the standard ~1.5 volts we normally associate with AA batteries.

Check the note at http://www.batteryjunction.com/protected-14500-lithium.html

Sure. I even stated the difference in voltages and current capabilities in my post. I was simply responding to your comment that "you shouldn't notice any performance difference with alkaline batteries compared to lithiums". You will notice a BIG performance difference. This is BECAUSE lithiums (either primary or rechargeables) operate at higher voltages (not always) and have higher current capacities (always) than alkalines. If lithiums had the exact same voltage as alkalines and the exact same current capabilities as alkalines, they would perform exactly the same as alkalines (ignoring cold weather performance and total runtime differences).