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Buying a GPS — a Wise Investment

I purchased my first GPS off Ebay for $50 when I was 17 years old. It was an old Magellan model with a small screen and few features but it introduced me to the world of GPS navigation. Back then,of course, Selective Availability(SA) was still a factor and you could count on the fact that your GPS device would be inaccurate up to 300 feet. But by the time I started relying on GPS to help me navigate through the cities of the world, Bill Clinton had orded SA to be turned off and the accuracy of GPS greatly improved. Today, millions of civilians around the world rely on GPS for activies such as flying, hiking, driving,traveling,and even scuba diving.

I first put my trust in GPS during my frequent visits to Guatemala City in Central America. Guatemala City is a sprawling city with many streets and areas that look similar to other parts of the city. It is quite easy to get turned around and even easier to wander into a shady part of town. I remember getting off a bus one day close to the downtown area of Guatemala City and becoming completely disoriented. When I pulled out my GPS, it showed me where my hotel was but the direction that it was pointing me in was completely opposite to my sense of direction. In the end, I followed my GPS and it led me straight back to my area of town. After that, I never doubted by GPS abilities again and I often used it to find my way back to my hotel throughout Central America.

When I arrived in Beijing for my first time, I had no friends, no maps, and no sense of direction for navigating through China’s largest city. And worst of all, my knowledge of the Chinese language was very limited so asking for directions was difficult. But I was carrying a secret weapon with me in the form of a mini Garmin GPS and it ended up saving me a lot of trouble and heartache. My GPS didn’t have maps on it; I didn’t need maps. It didn’t have a color screen; I didn’t need a color screen. In fact, the unit had only cost me $80. But it worked like a charm. All I had to do was mark my hotel on the screen and then take off by foot to wherever I wanted to go. When I was ready to come back to my hotel I would find my current position and compare it to the icon of the hotel on my map. I could even follow a series of “electronic breacrumbs” back to the location using a handy backtrack feature on the GPS unit. I explored various parts of Beijing that week and I never once got lost. Having that GPS in my backpack put my mind at ease.

You don’t have to be a technical genius to figure out how to use a GPS system. These days, a wide demographic of people use GPS devices making these devices more user friendly than ever. GPS systems are usually accompanied by a helpful guide or in some cases an instructional video. After you purchase a GPS, however, you should definitely practice using it for a few weeks before you put yourself in a position where you need to rely on it. 
 
If you are looking for a GPS that will get you back from point B to point A, you needn’t spend more than US $100. For international travel, maps may be helpful if you are driving a car, but for on-foot travel, they are unnecessary. Instead, you should focus on buying a rugged GPS that can withstand any type of travel. Most portable GPS devices are waterproof and some have added shock resistant material. You should also pay attention to battery size and consumption when purchasing a GPS. Unless you want to be carrying a payload of AA sized batteries with you on your trip, you should try to find a GPS unit that takes AAA batteries or at the most, two AA batteries. Your GPS should be able to last at least 12 hours on its batteries with the backlight on. Finally, the smaller GPS that you can find the better. Hardcore travelers know that even a small object can make a big difference in terms of weight on a long trip.

If you don’t know where to look for GPS devices, I suggest starting with Ebay. At any given time, there are thousands of navigation devices listed on Ebay and the prices are substantially cheaper than your local electronic store. I have owned ten different GPS devices, and everyone of them have come from Ebay. You can also occassionally find good deals online at the Best Buy and Circuit City websites. If you are overseas, you may be able to find  GPS device at a flea market but always make sure you are being sold a working device before you shell out the money.

Finally, there are numerous guides and reviews for GPS devices online. If you are on the verge of buying a GPS device, you should run the make and the model through the search engines and see what others are saying. These reviews will often list the “pros and cons” of a device and you can read about tests that were performed on your particular model. If the reviews are mostly positive, then you are probably making a good choice.

You may not use a GPS device everytime that you visit a new city. You may not always venture far from your hotel or maybe sometimes you will have a guide But, no matter where you go, it is always nice to have the option of using a device that will never steer you in the wrong direction. Well, as long as you have a satellite fix, that is.  

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