>>2338133I concede that you might have been trained to use GPS like that for aviation or maritime use, I wouldn't know. But for your basic hiking GPS, that is not using the tool in the way it is designed to be used. In this context GPS is a blank slate where you place waypoints wherever you want. Then it gives you the bearing and range to each waypoint. That's it. Nothing more. It's that simple. All other features are simply straightforward automations and abstractions built on that functionality. It's so simple that by comparison your process of plotting coordinates on a map is almost a Rube Goldberg level of complexity.
It's just a coincidence that you can plot waypoints on a map (since they are both based on projections of the surface of the same planet). The false association you have between GPS and mapping was invented by certain people who want you to think it's complicated so they can sell (((apps))) and (((algorithms))). They claim to make life easier but the more you buy into them, the more complex things get and somehow your freedom slowly fades away. You are right to feel aversion to those things but you are misplacing the blame. Just plot your point(s), then put the thing in your backpack until and unless you choose to consult it. Unlike an (((app))) it will never tell you what to do or how to do it, nor will it purport to do your thinking for you beyond relieving you of some tedious calculations and record keeping.
It's a great technology. Not even a map gives you this level of freedom. Unless you make your own, maps are full of censorship and manipulation just like everything else. Embrace the waypoint.
