Beats a sextant in whiteout and easier to dash-mount than an astrolabe: I've used an olander for 2+ years with no issues throughout North America. It is not the smoothest tool for easy onroad/highway nav, esp. in urban areas and won't tell you if it's raining outside or where to secure the best café au lait, but you're probably using your phone there in most cases because no one else I'm aware of keeps data updated and tells you what to think as expertly as google. I mainly use the olander when I'm looking for/enroute to offroad features (routes, campsites, water, etc.), the roads/wx get bad or I'm on a track/trail and want to get a quick look at topography. IMO, better than relying on a cell-based system that can drop out on trips, always when most needed, though this might not be an issue in a lot of the cell-tower dense parts of the US. Call me old-fashioned but the best thing about this device is you are carrying a complete, loaded North American mapset in your hand. There very well could be other devices that provide this out of the box but I haven't seen one that isn't reliant on cell, satellite, etc. to a large degree and the need to regularly download&update map info. Olander needs no connection to any network to show you decently detailed maps/topography for the continent. It handles the cold reasonably well for an electronic device but like all things, your battery life beyond the world of heated garages and/or handy plugs everywhere, will be cut in half if you're not plugged in. I usually haul it back to the heated camper at night to peruse the next day's adventure but on the occasions when I've left it mounted up front after a cold night, it fires up and runs with no problem. Not a common scenario, but if you somehow found yourself in austere conditions, with just a compass and knowledge of how to ascertain your own location (and having some means of keeping it charged) your navigation is going to be limited only by your ability to do basic land nav and determine your own position. IME, it offers ultimate self-reliance and easier to haul around than a bunch of paper maps...and as a big a fan of paper maps/gazettes, they admittedly eat up a lot of space, esp. when laminated/wxproof. I'm considering buying a spare in the event Garmin replaces it with something "smarter" and user-friendly that is less capable. It works well with the In-reach as well.
