GPS rangefinders???

[Dirtyboy333]

Im not sure if this is the right forum but it seemed close at least.


I recently inherited some land and after checking it out I was surprised to find out that i might be able to take some 1,000 yard shots with my new MWS. I went to Google Earth and measured the scale and it seems as though I'll have around an 1,100 yard range (in SW PA that's RARE!!!). Of course, this method of ranging wasnt meant to be accurate and i'm not going to place my targets according to my "on-screen" measurements but at least I now have an idea of what i'm working with.

So, i have a Nikon LRF but its maxed out at 550. While trying to figure out how to range my targets i ran across some mentions of GPS. What kind of GPS do I need? I'm really not in the mood to spend $1k on a Swaro LRF considering i'm only going to use it once to range and mark off @ 1k yards and 800.

My only concern with the GPS is that im going to be shooting over a deep valley (hilltop to hilltop) and i'm hoping the GPS will measure the line of sight distance and not the walking distance since the walking distance would be much farther.

Basically i'm just asking for any info and opinions on this and if the GPS will or will not give me "line of sight" distance. I'm open to other suggestions for ranging the targets as well.

Thank you for any advice as i'm clearly way over my head.

[Keydet08]

You can just take the grids that the GPS gives you and do a little Pythagorean theorem to determine the exact distance. I would do overhead imagery analysis via google earth and check it with the gps. If you can, set the units on your GPS to MGRS and the datum to WGS 84. It will be much easier to do the math. Otherwise if you use Lat/Long you will have to convert minutes and seconds to decimal degrees then figure out the distance conversion for the degrees.

As for what GPS will work I have a Garmin Foretrex 401 that sets to MGRS and has the WGS 84 map datum. The only way the GPS might give you a walking distance is if it actually has maps in it, which usually cost extra. Other wise if you used the shooting position as a waypoint it might give you a distance that also includes elevation change between the two points i.e. you are setting up a target halfway up the second hill. Using MGRS grids and doing the math will give you a horizontal distance with no regard to elevation change. If you bought a Foretrex it would do the trick.

[Dirtyboy333]

Excellent info!!! Thanks alot thats exactly what i was hoping to hear. I'm going to bookmark this page so i can remember all of the terms like MGRS etc.

Thanks again