My GPS unit died halfway through a hike in Shenandoah last month

I was out on the Old Rag trail doing some solo hiking when my handheld GPS just shut off. Battery showed half charge but it wouldn't turn back on no matter what I did. I had printed paper maps as backup so I wasn't totally lost, but it threw off my whole pacing for the day. Ended up having to navigate by the sun and trail markers which took me way longer than planned. Turns out the unit had a known firmware bug that corrupts the battery gauge after a few months. I had to mail it back to the company and they sent a refurbished one after two weeks. Has anyone else dealt with electronics failing at the worst possible time on a trip?

2 comments

2 Comments

drew_west5d ago

Honestly, quick correction on the Old Rag part - that trail's actually on the east side of the park, not directly in the main Shenandoah section. I've done that hike a bunch and the trail markers up there are pretty solid once you get past the rock scramble. Ngl, you got lucky having paper maps because most people just rely entirely on their phone these days and get totally screwed when something dies. Tbh the firmware bug thing sounds like a Garmin issue, I had a similar problem with an Oregon model a couple years back where the battery indicator would randomly jump around before just killing the unit.

harper_wells5d ago

That Garmin battery thing is such a pain, I feel you on that. Had my unit die halfway up a trail once and swore I'd never trust it completely again (paper maps all the way now).