Getting my feet wet with GPS

[Old-Towd]

Getting my feet wet with GPS . Has anyone had this GPS ( Magellan Trailblazer XL ) I bought it at a garage sale for $5.00 with manual carrying case and auto mount , I know it's a little old . Got it to fire up ( that's GPS talk ) seems to work ok but when I use the odometer it's off from my truck , like GPS reads 6 miles and my truck reads 8 miles. I know my truck could be off but we used a 2nd car and it was close to the truck not the GPS. Maybe the GPS is reading like as the crow fly's and not on the street. I walk every night around the block and the car's say 1 1/4 mile but the GPS says 3/4 of a mile. Have any thoughts. Keep on GPSing . Jay

[fubar]

Nothing beats common sense when you are lost. A while back a family from the Bay Area drove up a closed logging road in southern Oregon because the on board navigator picked the shortest route. That did not end well. Are you able to check the grid coordinants with another GPS unit? If you give a rescue chopper good grids they can find you at night in the fog. If that part works you got your $5 worth. But most cell phones have GPS now too..Is that a color tv on top of your tool box?

[Old-Towd]

Fubar, Thanks for the input, I'll try checking it with another GPS unit. My Buddy at AT&T said that if your cell with GPS drop's signal out in the desert that you lose it's GPS too. There's the new Ham Radio with GPS that would be hard to beat but lot's of bucks. Ya that my color TV on one of my Tool Boxes in case I have time to kill.

[5150bossman]

I think you'll find that the old unit is more frustrating than helpful. You can get a nice new unit for $150 and the topo map software for another $100 and you will find that you can go almost anywhere and be able to see what is around you on the map. For me, that is the most helpful part of it. You can see what kind of terrain you are getting in to , and also see where the closest town is or if need be, follow your GPS tracks back out of an area if you get lost. Well worth the price for the piece of mind that a simple coordinate GPS unit can not offer. :2cents:

[Old-Towd]

Thanks Mike , your right to old technology even if I get to understand it, it dosen't offer much.