Well, ever since the eighties I had heard about GPS, after the satellites had been launched, and after the Korean flight disaster I believe Reagan mandated the system for public use. After that I remember seeing the first devices, which only displayed the longitude and latitude along with the altitude. It wasn’t really until the later nineties I began to see the really cool stuff come out, where it had maps on those old LCD displays that were monochrome. Later on I finally got a cell phone after resisting it for years, and I decided to get one that would be a bit more useful than some dinky little phone that sends messages. I don’t like text messages – leave me a message on my voicemail if you want to message me. Anyways I got the phone.

I remember the first time I actually really used the maps and the GPS for much. I am an outdoors kind of guy, and I like to go hunting – and well this was a big trip for me because I planned to hike out quite a ways into the woods, and have only the cell phone and my equipment. The phone had a spare battery and I knew it would last me about three days, and that was perfect. I went out there, and the first day was really dead, I remember that because there wasn’t a single sound. I set up tent, slept an uneventful night and woke up the next day ready for more. After I had packed up my tent the clouds turned dark.

The weather had said nothing about any rain showers, so it surprised me that it began to rain. It began to downpour actually, and I had not packed anything for that except my small emergency umbrella. Of course my hunting equipment was safe and I could tote everything on my backside, since I pack light. Well it got to the point that it was raining so much that I couldn’t find the trail that I had used to get there, and it was made worse by the mud that started to loosen up. I whipped out my cellular that had the GPS on it while I was walking and looked at where I was, and where I had set a marker for my truck. If I hadn’t had the GPS I would have walked the wrong way!

I turned around and for about the next three hours I hiked through the mud and the storm until I was close to my truck and the road – it had become a miserable weekend. I was impressed with the GPS phone though, it kept me from having to wait it out in the rain and pray I could find my way back. After I had gotten back to my truck, thanks to the GPS – the rain stopped suddenly. When I looked back I saw a big buck just looking at me, then he ran off. So what did I do? I popped in the spare battery and got him. Then I used that GPS again to find my way right back – so that GPS phone is really useful to me now, and I plan to get one of those bigger GPS things in my truck later on.

Science Products on our marketplace

Buy your own portable handheld GPS system over at http://www.progpsshop.com/