GPS Tips & Tricks - Get the Most From Your GPS

[@butchcassidy3562]

Great brief, thanks. Just bought a 67I. Love it.

[@mkwaruzatsi]

You are a good teacher for international English speaking international leaners.

[@gagahph]

U explain so detail and clearly. Thank u

[@ve3ekn808]

A lot of good information here. Thanks.

[@jimineycrickit4239]

Very informative! I have the ETREX 22x

[@mickilkr]

Your videos are excellent!

[@willian.direction6740]

Thanks for your review and tips on the GPSMAP 65s. I finally got it working to suit what I do out hiking. Mine found some of my waypoints down to 2m at the loaded coordinates. Regards vk5cz ..

[@twestgard2]

This information shows a really deep understanding of how the technology works, which I really appreciate. This will help me a ton with getting the highest quality precision out of a relatively inexpensive device.

[@Hikingguy]

thank you!

[@hermes8258]

Thank you for all this practical indignation. While I do hike in South Asia (Nepal), most of my use will be in urban area of ASEAN countries, and East Asia, especially Taiwan, but also Japan and PCR (China. I am shopping for a secondhand unit that already has subscription paid. I am in Tokyo

[@ReversePeople]

As always - your content is super informative. Thanks so very much for taking the time to prepare and share these vids.

[@Hikingguy]

Thank you 🙏👍

[@missakbarsamian5211]

👍👍👍🙋‍♂️

[@johnreese3762]

WOW! Been using GPS on mountain bikes for years and never knew this stuff. Thanks for sharing! Great video BTW!

[@Hikingguy]

Thank you and love the Alfred E pic - I grew up on MAD... 👍

[@scottjackson7249]

Thanks for the great content. Can you track your hunting partner, them having the same 67i ???

[@AtticaEnduro_monohoma]

Excellent! Very valuable informations! Thank you!

[@Demococcus]

Very well explained, thanks !

[@HuskyMike]

Great info. Good level of tech information without getting too deep.

[@Hikingguy]

Thanks, and yea, it's always a balance, don't want to get too geeky and loose folks.

[@lgoolsb]

Excellent video! Very helpful!

[@Hikingguy]

Thank you 👍

[@OldPackMule]

Excellent tips. Thanks for making this.

[@AZC1949]

Chris, thank you for this vlog. I enjoy your hiking vlogs, too. Here in Florida, mountains are scarce, to say the least, but I will again, hopefully, spend time hiking in the Blue Ridge portion of the Appalachians. That is more similar to the terrain you hike. I am mining your expertise in your vlogs and on your web page. Thank you again for all the information you share!

[@Hikingguy]

Thanks for the note and glad the videos have been helpful 👍 I used to live on the east coast and have spent a lot of time in the Blue Ridge Mtns - lots of great hikes and scenery there, hope you enjoy it. I need to get back when things are a little more normal...

[@gtb7138]

Great video! Thank you for sharing.

[@kervanoel]

In fact we need 4 satellites instead of 3 to get exact position. Because gps has no atomic clock we need 4 to correct time. Thanks a lot for your videos than I appreciate

[@justmeinbridgeton]

Thanks for the details!

[@DARTHDANSAN]

Thanks

[@whitemexican3923]

Thank you!

[@toddstantalizingtips6079]

Great Videos....Have just spent the last 5 hrs watching your content..... learned enough to really second guess what i thought i needed to do hikes.. I know there are several factors in choosing the right device..what would a good newbie to hiking device? Thanks for all the effort you put into your content!!

[@Hikingguy]

Ha thanks for the support and glad the vids have been entertaining. I'd say if you're a newbie and you have a smartphone (and you aren't hiking in extreme conditions), start out with your phone + Gaia GPS (free). That's a powerful toolset and will serve you well.

[@FlorinSirbu.]

Fantastic.

[@ShameerShahProject]

Hello Cris, hope you're well. Can I ask you a quick question, please? How do I change the colour of a ROUTE when navigating that I have uploaded to my Garmin GPSMAP 66sr? I don't want the magenta colour, I would prefer red or other. I don't want to convert the route to a track, I just want to go on the route GPX file I uploaded. Many thanks for your help. Keep up the good work.

[@Hikingguy]

I think with a route you're stuck with purple. You can change the track color, but not the route.

[@ShameerShahProject]

@@Hikingguy thank you. It’s actually what I thought but frustration got the better of me and I needed to ask. Another thing for Garmin to add to their OS updates!

[@papajon62]

Very good video, thanks

[@magicmark456]

I have an Etrex 30. I don’t normally set up my route ahead of time and just start recording as I go. My biggest fear is of course, getting lost. Can you give me some information about the Trac-Back feature? The user interface is not very intuitive or use friendly. Thank you in advance and keep up your great informative videos..!!

[@Hikingguy]

yea it's not really easy to find --- Track Manager from the main menu Select Current Track Select View Map Press Enter1 to start

[@Watercooledguy]

Thank you for this video. Very informative and presented in an easy to understand manner.

[@laosgpsmapmidnitemapper9411]

Excellent content

[@stehume]

learned so much from this video. thank you. i have an old Garmin Oregon 600, i have a setting that says auto start and stop when recording, is this what i think it is, it will auto start to record my route when i move then stop when i stop, i will try it when i get time but it was not until i watched this video that i have given it any thought thanks again for all your cool videos have subbed and cant believe you don't have five times the amount that you do

[@Hikingguy]

thank you!

[@alexarevalo52]

Great pieces of advice! If you pause the tracking and then restart it usually you got a spike in the track, I think this is inevitable. But in some units can be tricky to pause, for example an Etrex 20 if you turn off tracking and then turn it on I get a discontinuity on the track, on the other hand if I deactivate satellites (demo mode) and then restart them I get a worse spike. The same happens if I turn off the unit and then turn it on. So what I do is to drop a waypoint where I stop and leave the unit working; then if I am in the mood will try to fix the track in Basecamp using the waypoint as reference point after erase the nesting and then connect the segments to get a cleaner track. But do you have a better approach with tricky units like the Etrex 20 in the matter of pausing tracking?

[@Hikingguy]

Oh man, yea, I haven't used a 20 in a while, and luckily I don't get the spikes with my 66 or Fenix. Guessing the logic in those will get a stable fix before recording. Maybe try the Satellite page and leave it there for 2 mins or so before you restart? That might get a fix for you.

[@alexarevalo52]

@@Hikingguy Thank for the advice!! I will try it. Glad to see the 66 and Fenix had this issue solved.

[@adamdeichert1686]

This’ll be FUN

[@randystalcup1248]

Great information, thanks.

[@Dennis63534]

Great!

[@justing1810]

Seems like it might be fun to play with but I don't know what practical use it has.

[@gordonwharton785]

Hi Chris track points , what's the best way to set up, distance ,Time , and if distance how many yards if leaving a bread crumb trail ,also will this affect battery .I've mine set to 1.5 mile an hour in the hope it will shut down when resting . Not sure if this is the correct way to do this .

[@Hikingguy]

Not sure I follow completely, and a lot depends on your unit, but recording a track will take up battery and memory, but this is what the unit is built for, so it should be fine unless your settings have you running out of either. I just make sure that I pause when I stop. If I'm stopping for a while (like overnight), I'll shut down. For recording settings on my GPSMAP - I usually roll with Manual > Time > Every Second and it's okay for an all-day hike.

[@gordonwharton785]

@@Hikingguy Hi I'm using the 66s , on recording I've come off auto and selected distance ,it's defaulted to interval 109.36 yd .I've entered auto pause 1.50 mile an hour and auto start . I'm hoping the tracks will fill in the gaps and pause when I stop to take in the vista's, so keeping the track clean without having to hit pause. Am I right in my thinking or do you advise different settings. Regards G

[@Hikingguy]

@@gordonwharton785 Ah, got it, understand now, thank you. So I would consider setting your recording to time based instead of distance, since a bad location fix could trigger the distance recording. I do every second but you can certainly get good fidelity with every minute too. And for auto-pause, 1.5mph can be a moving speed for hiking on an uphill, so I would set it much lower, probably 0.1 mph.

[@Rainstorm121]

Thanks sir, I want to do a track map around a little tribal land boundary. What is a budget handheld Garmin gps that I would consider to buy? Alternatively, is it advisable to use iPhone 11 Pro Max, say with decent gps app or related?

[@Hikingguy]

If you have an iPhone, download the free Gaia GPS app, record a track around the boundary by walking it, and then convert it to an area. Here's how to convert - help.gaiagps.com/hc/en-us/articles/115003638448-Creating-Areas-in-iOS#Measure

[@Rainstorm121]

@@Hikingguy thanks so much Sir. Sorry, one last question...which handheld GPS would you suggest to do a similar job especially for locations where internet is not available for iPhone?

[@Hikingguy]

@@Rainstorm121 you can use a phone without a connection, it's not a problem, you can record a track in airplane mode - otherwise a GPSMAP 65s is a great choice for what you described

[@Rainstorm121]

@@Hikingguy Thanks much for that.

[@jimsegars1391]

Hi Chris, have spent several hours watching your videos. Got from 0 to 60 very quickly! Noticed in this video that you are wearing a "chest (sternum) strap" on your pack. It seems that it has "alligator clips" on the strap ends to attach firmly to the pack straps so that the chest strap will stay in place and not ride up. Did this come with your pack or was it an add on? I'm looking for the identical type of strap. Amazon doesn't have the alligator clip style except for kid sizes. Any hint where I might find? Thanks!

[@Hikingguy]

Generally packs come with sternum straps - if it doesn't you may be able to get a third party one somewhere but generally most decent packs have them. Worse case tie small loop with a string and use a small carabiner to secure.

[@therealmorganfreeman2875]

Is the 66i multi band and how is the 66i compared to the 66sr in terms of navigation?

[@Hikingguy]

66i is multi-GNSS but not multi-band - it works fine for most folks - you'd only really see a difference with the 66sr if you're navigating through challenging environments like canyons

any promotional code for inreach ?

[@Hikingguy]

I wish I had that kind of relationship with Garmin... maybe in the future

[@fubarfest6234]

I bought 67; the shop included maps; and I messed something up; too difficult for beginners

[@squirelova1815]

So I can't "Broadcast GPS waves into your brain"? Hmm...How disappointing.

[@20Hikecdt23]

Thanks. I have 66i. Leaving for CDT this Apr ‘23 🥸.

[@Hikingguy]

Have a blast on the CDT - a dream of mine 👍