Guest Jeremie Posted May 17, 2010 Share Posted May 17, 2010 Took a long hike today, to find this Brook trout lake... never did find it but apparently got really close. The back roads mapbook and the alberta fishing guide failed us numerous times. So we want to find this lake, but we need to get a Hand held gps with good detailed maps. Anyone have any personal experience with this? LMK! Jeremie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bowbonehead Posted May 17, 2010 Share Posted May 17, 2010 Get your self a GPS (I like the Garmin 60csx) load your Canada Topo maps either from a disc or a site like Ibyscus and your good to go. Of course learning to use your GPS first would be smart! <")>>>>< Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jeremie Posted May 17, 2010 Share Posted May 17, 2010 thanks for the reply so fast! I looked on google earth today and looked at the trail we took. Too many forks in the hike and we didnt know which one to take, according to the maps we would end up at the lake if we walked straight.. satellite image shoes at a 3 fork turn, the far left one goes to the lake... we went straight... missed the lake entirely and hiked 8km with heavy U-boats strapped to our backs.. All for only a small brookie i caught the night before at a different lake.. (in two days, we got 2 1/2 hours fishing.. when we planned the whole trip about fishing) ... God i feel stupid. Shouldve done more research.. oh well, next weekend is the weekend! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enigma Posted May 17, 2010 Share Posted May 17, 2010 Well, I'm not a "fishing" pro . . . but I am a professional cartographer with a background in land surveying. The Garmin 60CSx is a good unit, I use the 60Cx however. The difference between the two (aside from price) is that the CSx has an electronic compass and barometric altimeter. I prefer to use an "old school" compass in the event I need one, and I don't like barometric altimeters, so I went with the Cx. Garmin finally got on the USB cable bandwagon and ditched their silly proprietary connectivity cables. One of the things that makes the CSx/Cx a unit worth considering is the antenna. The antenna will insure better communication with satellites in heavily forested or mountainous terrain. I have never lost the signal using the Cx, though that is absolutely a possibility that you MUST be prepared for (that, and dead batteries). Also, remember that a GPS is not fool proof. A satellite that is faulty can really mess with your readings, especially if you're not connected to many satellites. I've only seen this be a problem once in 11 years . . . and the error was obvious enough that it put me in Siberia. You need three satellites to solve horizontal positioning, and four satellites to solve vertical positioning. Ideally you want to be connected to a lot more than four, as this will help solve any errors from faulty satellites. Once again, an extended antenna on a handheld unit will aide in this. You will need a dataset. If you go with a Garmin the Map Source data is absolute garbage. I've looked at a variety of data sets for the handheld units (OilTrax, Ibycus, and Topo Canada), and I've purchased a couple of them, but I typically use Ibycus Topo (which is provided free by the creator and is downloaded via torrent from PirateBay). I have yet to encounter a situation where the Ibycus dataset was not correct. I have encountered a couple of situations where the Topo Canada dataset was incorrect. OilTrax is spectacular (a little slow to load), but the 2K price point puts it out of range for the average user. The only downside to Ibycus may be that it doesn't do routing . . . I don't consider this an issue but some people might. Don't trust a GPS with your life: have a map (you may have to mark up a map by hand using Google imagery) and compass. GPS units are an excellent tool, however, and with a little planning you shouldn't miss your destination again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reevesr1 Posted May 17, 2010 Share Posted May 17, 2010 I have a 60CSx and Ibyscus topo. Just started really playing with it, but so far so good. You can get everything ready before hand, lay in your trip route, and just upload it to your GPS with as many waypoints as you want. I haven't really hiked with it yet, but I do know people who use it for back country ATV'ing and swear by it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jayhad Posted May 18, 2010 Share Posted May 18, 2010 I use the Garmin 60CSX as well deadly, just deadly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
126barnes Posted May 18, 2010 Share Posted May 18, 2010 another one the Garmin 60 series Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrianS Posted June 23, 2010 Share Posted June 23, 2010 I noticed the mention of Ibycus on this thread. Has anyone got this figured out for Mac? Not sure where to begin since I don't own a PC no more! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ÜberFly Posted June 23, 2010 Share Posted June 23, 2010 Iasgair was working on it, but never heard back from her... P I noticed the mention of Ibycus on this thread. Has anyone got this figured out for Mac? Not sure where to begin since I don't own a PC no more! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enigma Posted June 23, 2010 Share Posted June 23, 2010 Oops! I totally forgot about this. My bad! It is now on my written "to do" list. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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