Browsed through the thread a bit but is very poalarized and gets very repetative. What pisses me off is the assumption by the "anti" lot is that the rest of them are clueless in the hills (which undoubtedly there are people like that) and a danger to themselves and to whoever has to go find them when their battery runs out.

I would consider myself a pretty decent navigator, but I have often gone off in the mountains with my GPS device becasue it allows me to cover a lot more ground in the limited time I have due to a young family.

I would not need to have my nose in it for every step but as a reference every so often to ensure I am going in the right direction.

I would always have my map and compass in the bag (and know how to use them)


The nonsense of the debate is that a runner follows somebody he knows will know a good route for virtually the whole race then sprints past him near the end has not cheated. But somebody who knows the route pretty well checks his plot once to ensure he takes a particular turn has cheated.