Handheld GPS Units & Accessories

If you are an avid ATV camper or outdoorsman you have no doubt lost your bearings while trying to find your campsite in the wilderness. In addition to being frustrating, it can be a dangerous situation if you are not prepared. Well, there is no need for the directionally challenged to get lost anymore, with the introduction of handheld Global Positioning Systems or Handheld GPS units.

These handheld GPS units answer the question of what trails head where, and more importantly, which trail leads back to camp. These units receive positioning information from satellites, so you always have a signal. Portable handheld gps units are very useful for marking a trail head, a favorite fishing or hunting spot, marking your campsite, navigating toward previous marked points, and tracking your speed, distance, elevation, and much more. The handheld gps can record your whole ATV camping trip which allows you to reverse navigate to the starting point or store it for future use. Most of the basic handheld gps provide the capability to store a limited number of waypoints or coordinates, tracks and routes. This allows you to the capability to plan a trip (route) by previously storing the coordinates (waypoints) from a map or other sources like Google Earth. Most handheld gps units are consistently accurate to less than 20 feet and if the GPS receiver is WAAS (Wide Area Augmentation System) enabled you can have position accuracy to less than 10 feet.

With so many handheld gps devices on the market today and with each manufacturer claiming to offer the best accuracy in a gps device, selecting a handheld gps can be confusing. The two main types of handheld gps units are non-mapping and mapping units, non-mapping handheld gps units are designed to compute basic gps information only and are the least expensive of the two types. If you do require maps as well as location details, you should opt for a mapping handheld gps which has the capability to download maps from cd-roms and other sources such as Garmin MapSource, and Magellan MapSend. The maps are stored in lat/long wgs-84 coordinates, so they wont need to be updated. Almost every mapping capable handheld gps will come with a rough basemap to get you started.

You want a handheld gps to fit comfortably in the palm of your hand and have all the buttons positioned for easy for one-handed operation that won't get in the way of your view of the screen. For ATV camping you will want a handlebar mount and a DC power adapter. The cost of a handheld gps will vary any where from $100 to $700, depending on the make, model, and features that the exact unit has. Some of the best features a typical handheld gps has is a long battery life and rugged design. Typically most units require two AA batteries and the life expectancy is typically around 72 hours of uninterrupted use. The rugged design helps protects the unit in the event on a mishap on your ATV.

So now you can have the capability of knowing how to get to that remote ATV camping spot efficiently and knowing where you have been, all in a small compact unit. Get yourself a handheld GPS unit with the features you need and understand, you will be surprised how inexpensive and easy to use they really are. Click on an image for more information or Click Here for all of our ATV camping electronic accessories. Let us help you properly equip your ATV for your next ATV camping adventure.