Glanceblamm: Good post, I have to agree that cellphone gps-navigation systems are limited by the units ability to communicate with a cellphone tower.
In writing this I have" kctibs" and his Garmin Rino 650 and his Rino 120 in mind. Without a doubt well equipped, and as stated before a little jealous.
I have an "old" friend and hunting partner who is retired from the Forest Service, he has come along with the ages, starting with map, and compass. He now owns a couple of trail gps units a Garmin Rino 530HCx, and a Rino 520. I believe he has been disappointed in his military grade cellphone and the navigation system. When it came to reception it was not better then the cellphone his partners carried. His military cellphone has held up very good on rainy days in the duck blind, out fishing and deer hunting. But the bottomline is the need for a cellphone tower to communicate with.
I believe there is a whole list of benefits to the Rino 650 and other Rino models. Because of my back ground I always have S&R in mind when I am in the woods. As partners in the woods we try and hit the transmitter every once and while on our Rino, in turn that creates a track on our partner Rino. We are getting to be the over-hill-gang working on our bucket list.
Unfortunately in the interest of making profits cellphone companies cut back on the analog system so that it does not exist in most locations. Some years back the above mention hunting partner took a hard fall on an ice covered slope. He thought he might have broken his leg. While I was driving he called his wife on my old 3 watt bag phone and arrange to have her meet us at the hospital. As a test in more recent times I tried making a phone call out of the same drainage on the little .6 watt cellphone in my pocket, it did not happen.
This brings me back to the Rino. The two way radio feature of the Rino gives the outdoorsman some other options. I was setting on a point about 2 miles from the above location and was scanning with the radio when I picked up some radio traffic. It is common for other radio users to act as relays in an emergency situation. I still like my CB because they are common in logging trucks, and other logging equipment. The downside is some truck driver’s talk 24/7.
Again Glancebamm brought up the subject of Lat/Long formats. I normally use the same format as the one used on the map in my day pack. Many people do not understand the value of having a common and correct position format set in your gps. The units offer a lot of option. After I retired I worked in an Emergency Command Center as an emergency dispatcher. Our Computer Automated Dispatch program would generate a LAT/LONG for a location resources was being dispatched two. It would display the three common hddd˚ formats and UTM.
I recall the confusion caused by a citizen calling 911 and giving a position that did not make sense. It was later found the GPS user had been learning the features of his GPS in his living room and selected one of the India Zone grids. He did not correct that before going out in the woods. I have heard of other problems because of incorrect format use. While working in the Command Center I took a call from a sheriff’s department dispatch center regarding a relayed signal from a SPOT transmitter. The dispatcher on that end could not convert the LAT/LONG given to her. I input the information into our CAD and gave her the location. I also gave other information because I had worked that area and Forest Service resources were dispatched to the emergency.
http://www.mypilotstore.com/mypilotstore/sep/6636?qryrmv=1&ppcs=google&ppcg=4-62keyword=spot&gclid=CI2I7vHUpa4CFSU0QgodAxEVRw There is no fee for using a common gps unit, there is a fee for the SPOT service.
I should note that SPOT has been abused by some users; Sheriff’s Departments and Federal Agencies are looking at addressing these problems.
