Ken, you make some interesting points. I guess what GPS to buy is a matter of personal choice. I have gone thru about four starting with an Eagle and then Lowrance (both made by same folks in Tulsa). Currently I have the Lowrance iFinder Hunt with the optional MapCreate package of six CD's to download onto my computer. I can transfer data back and forth via the card reader and create personalized maps on an SD card which plugs into the GPS battery compartment. Older GPS units had a compass built in but it only worked when you were moving. Now, this new unit has a compass that works standing still but I am not really comfortable with it. I prefer my compass around my neck.

Let me make you aware of a couple of very interesting and useful sites on the internet:

web page and web page .

The terraserver has printable aerial photographs of a good portion of the US. They are zoomable as well as printable. You can print several and overlap them and using a good gluestick from WMT make a great aerial photograph of the area of interest. One rainy day here in West Kentucky I set out to find the area on Ruby Ridge, Idaho, where Randy Weaver and the feds had the infamous shootout. I think I found it give or take a few hundred yards. Not bad considering I didn't have any coordinates to work with. I learned that the site was 1620 miles from my location on a bearing of 310 degrees!!!!! Of course that is as the crow flies. If the crow had to drive, it would be considerably further. <img src="/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" />

The mapserver has zoomable topo maps of the US in color. What's great about this site is that after you find the area of interest, you can move your mouse pointer over the area and get rolling coordinates (including UTM) in the lower left area of the screen. It's like a rolling odometer sorta. For instance, you can find an area on a map that you would like to visit, put the pointer on it, read the coordinates and enter them in your GPS as a waypoint. These two sites are so great that I think I will start a seperate thread for the benefit of all GPS believers. Surprisingly, there are some on this board that just absolutely poo poo this fine little computer. That's what it is, just a hand held computer but ain't it great? <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Boone