I agree with all of you about the compass thing although as far as I know, all the older GPS units with a compass warn you that it works only when moving. When you select a waypoint and instruct it to "Go to" you get this compass rose pointing directly to the target with outside parameters to be set by the user. In other words, you can set it to where an alarm goes off if you stray more than fifty feet off course to right or left. This is for situations where you would be holding the compass in front of you for the entire trip. I don't find that a good choice. While I am watching the compass, I will step into a stump hole or smack a tree head on. I just take the bearing, confirm with a compass, and turn it off and follow the heading, checking periodically to see if I am still on course. That always works for me. Of course you can't always follow a straight line unless you can walk on water, walk thru barns, etc. They are now making GPS units with MP3 players built in and I believe, cell phones. I wish they would just stick to the basics and improve on any problems the unit is causing, namely the "moving compass". That being said, I still say that the GPS is the greatest navigation tool invented since.....................well........................anything! Don't let it intimidate you. It's not all that hard to master. You don't have to learn ALL it will do. Mine has three modes, namely "Easy Mode", "Advanced Mode" and "Hunt Mode". The easy mode more or less just gets you back to your vehicle which is all that a lot of folks would want. Then Advanced Mode goes into projecting waypoints, creating routes and return routes, etc. The more you fiddle with it, the more you will learn and you can enter the most foreboding wilderness with all the confidence in the world that you will emerge just where you entered and have a ball while you are in there saving waypoints, experimenting, etc. One final comment. I have never encountered a woods canopy that was so thick that I couldn't get a fix. Admittedly, on a few occasions it buzzes and says "Position Lost" but I take a step or two and it shows "Position Acquired". This scenario is so rare that it is not a problem. Wade into it and enjoy! Are you listening Benjammin with your divining rods, rules of sine, slide rules, protractors, etc.? <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />