Bushnell GPS BackTrack: Find Your Location with Personal Locator Technology

Bob Fox: Exactly as described. Arrived on time usual good packaging. Very good for the job it was designed for. Buy now you won't get lost.

United Kingdom on Nov 29, 2013

TM: I am 6 months in to a round the world trip. I saw the backtrack on a suggested list from another traveler and i'm very glad I brought one with me!

Most backpackers nowadays (including me) have smart phones with GPS etc. So in a sense it would seem redundant to carry something like this. However, using something like this has some distinct advantages over a smartphone:

- Its really really simple to use, you set a favorite point and it will point you in the direction back there. Sometimes you just want to have a simple way to get home, without have to mess around with maps on a smart phone, and this does the job.

- Battery life is epic. I haven't used it every day, but I have used it fairly consistently for 6 months, and the display is still showing that the 2 AA's n there are still full. I did buy Energizer Lithium AAA's which are definetly more expensive, but for this I think it makes a lot of sense. I don't have to worry about the battery running out or keeping it charged (if it did run out i have a spare set of AA's in my day pack), I can keep it in my daypack and rely on it to work.

- It doesn't look expensive. If you pull out an expensive smartphone...

United Kingdom on Mar 20, 2013

たそがれ７０６: １月はじめに入手。寒くて外出する機会が少なく、３回ほど使ってみただけです。
A地点とB地点の直線距離を測るのに便利です。ただ、ポケットに入れるのには少し大きい。
もう少しコンパクトであれば良いと思う。
日本語説明書について、「電池交換方法」となっており、電池が入っているものと思い、Aボタンをいくら長押ししても電源が入らずで面食らった。「新しい電池を入れてから」の文言を入れるべきだと思う。

Japan on Jan 26, 2012

Marcello: Si le fonctionnement par lui-même est sans grand reproche et rend de précieux services pour peu que l'on prenne la peine de mettre l'appareil à l'horizontale, le temps de recherche des satellites peut être impressionnant: il lui arrive de se mettre en veille, au bout de 10 minutes, sans s'être connecté!!! Ce qui oblige à le mettre en route dans la voiture avant d'arriver. Défaut rédhibitoire.

France on Nov 19, 2011

Hobbit: Received the BackTrack earlier than predicted.

Nightmare getting it out of the "clamshell" packaging, nearly sliced my finges several times in the process. WHY do manufacturers package things like that? Sigh!!!!!!

However, once in my hand, it was one of those things that gave a nice solid feel to it which personally I always take as an initial impression of quality.

Operation is simple; the instruction leaflet is basic, but you don't really need any more with only two buttons and limited functions. Oh, and "limitied functions" is NOT a criticism - I bought it because I did not need or want "bells and whistles". I just wanted it for what it is designed for - to find my way back to a particular location.

I took it on holiday to Mallorca with me, knowing that sooner or later we would go on a coach trip somewhere and would have to find our way back to the coach. Unfortunately, it just so happened that it was easy to find the coach again WITHOUT the Backtrack as there were convenient landmarks nearby.

Despite that, I used the Backtrack anyway. I thought it was a good idea to use it when I WASN'T lost to get used to how it worked.

In each case...

United Kingdom on Sep 17, 2011

Mark M. Monteleone: Real GPS technology is a large number of satellites 12,500 miles in orbit sending a very weak time signal for a computer processor to calculate the holders position in space. Most users don't know or understand that the receiver is not getting blasted with 50,000 watts from their favorite rock station ten miles away, or even a cell signal two miles away. Interference from structures will stop the signal, period.

I recently purchased a Backtrack as an economical aid for deer hunting and travel cross country. At the price, Brunton and military compasses can't and won't do the same job without a geodesic map and literally days of training - training I've had repeatedly in 22 years in the US Army Reserve. Much of where I hunt has no decent map, and overhead satellite photography is remarkably low quality in these less densely populated areas. If there is any difficulty in the woods, the real issue isn't which way is north, it's the actual distance and heading from a known point.

For the price point, the Backtrack works fine. It does not have an extremely fast response time, but given reasonable patience, it will orient you to the compass and let you know what heading and...

United States on Nov 30, 2009

DangFineGuy: The Bushnell Backtrack is an interesting concept. An idiot simple dirt cheap GPS intended to do only one thing... Get you back to your starting point. If you're constantly losing your car in huge mall parking lots, then Bushnell thinks it has a solution. Simply set your Backtrack and go shopping. At the end of your day of mall bliss your Backtrack should lead you right back to your car. Does grandpa get lost on walks? The Backtrack hanging from his neck is designed to get him home. At least that's how it's supposed to work....

I'm a long time user of automotive GPS systems so out of curiosity I took a Backtrack device to the mall. Before I left my car I turned on the Backtrack and within five minutes it had located itself. To be fair it probably would have taken half that time outside my car but how many customers, especially seniors, will stand outside in the rain so their GPS can find satellites a bit faster? I set the location of my car by finding the car icon and holding the set button until it memorized the location, and then I went shopping.

While I was in the mall my Backtrack went into sleep mode. No big deal, and I just woke it up as I left the store and...

United States on Sep 14, 2008