Bushnell GPS BackTrack Personal Locator

Bushnell’s GPS BackTrack Personal Locator is simple GPS device designed to do a couple of things which will assist those with a poor sense of direction or in situations where the terrain makes finding your direction difficult. The unit is designed to provide a directional heading and not to follow a track.

Bushnell Backtrack GPS Locator

The Bushnell GPS BackTrack Personal Locator has a quality high sensitivity SiRF Star III GPS receiver which is used in a large proportion of the more complicated and expensive GPS navigation devices. The high sensitivity of the receiver will help obtain GPS satellite locks in some of the poorer signal strength areas such as urban canyons or under foliage.

It’s possible to mark the location of up to three positions for the unit to guide you back to using a directional arrow combined with a distance countdown. The unit also has a digital compass which works even when you are stationary. There are only a couple of buttons so it’s not an onerous task to learn how to use the device.

The unit is reasonably compact (not watch size though), takes a couple of AAA batteries which will last for 130 uses or up to 20 hours which means it would be fairly difficult to drain the batteries in a single days use. The unit comes with a lanyard to hold it more securely or hang it round your neck. Sensibly, given it is for outdoors use, the unit is water resistant. For poor light or darkness the gray LCD display is backlit.

Although it’s a fairly functional piece of technology the Bushnell Backtrack GPS locator does come in colors including; Tech Gray, Green, Gray/Orange, Camo (camouflage colors) and Pink.

Video – Bushnell Backtrack GPS Personal Locator

A survey of customer feedback on this product reveals that it is more appreciated when used outdoors for tasks like locating a trail head, mooring point or parked car after hiking. While it has been used to find parked cars at shopping centers, it is important to realize that it will not work undercover and will struggle when close to buildings. The grid like arrangement of parking lots is also less suited to directional arrow guidance and some basic common sense navigation skills are also needed.

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