I believe GPS to be an excellent tool enabling an unskilled person, who has taken a couple of hours to get to grips with it, to navigate in unknown terrain with little to no assistance.
And this is where the problem lies, untrained people out in a possibly hazardous enviornment. Just imagine the possible outcomes:
Ooops, didn't put fresh batteries in before I left - Result, totally lost.
REPLY=Oops, didn't keep my metal kit far enough away from my compass - result, totally lost
Oops, I've just dropped the damned thing and the screen is totally knackered -Result, an unscheduled night out in the woods.
REPLY=Oops, just dropped my compass over the cliff - result Oh Sh**
And besides from relying on it and getting lazy with our core map reading skills, it takes some of the enjoyment away from the walk. Constantly looking down at a screen instead of the panoramic view in front of you whilst taking a bearing is not my idea of fun,
REPLY=Learning new skills with new gadgets can (and should be) part of the fun; after all our ancestors thought real navigation was by the stars and only a fool needed that newfangled compass.
and waiting for a satellite fix when you could have got a map out and done the job just as quickly
REPLY=If maps of your area exist; accurate ones don't exist for some of the areas some of us go and also the closer you get to the Arctic regions, the less accurate a compass is.
seems like a good way of holding yourself up. Maybe I should get my brew kit out at the same time!
I spoke to a guy in Currys when I bought my PDA who said they were great because you can put a GPS on them and you have all your navigational needs. Wrong attitude matey.
I do think GPS has a place in bushcraft and all outdoor pursuits, and I own a Garmin 12 which is still in a brand new condition (possibly due to me not relying on it), but people should consider that if they own a GPS but not a map of the area and a compass, then they shouldn't be going further than the local shops.