Any point in basic GPS reciever?

[ridetheworld]

Hi all,

Apologies none of this makes much sense to me... I've got some really nice Reise maps and a decent working compass which always shows north. I guess that's a good start? I am doing a loop around S.America, or intending to anyway! I don't want to be glued to a high-tec GPS/Satnav screen. My reasoning was more to keep in the thing in the bag and only pull it out when I wasn't happy with having absolutely no idea where I was. I want to do things basic and simple, and I'm on a budget. I can pick up a very basic GPS receiver cheaply (Garmin eTrex H) but what will it do exactly? Will it give me my exact co-ordinates which I can then trace on the map and correlate my position? All my map has is the basic grid of longitude and latitude - am I right in thinking even with exact co-ordinates I could really hazard a guess whereabouts I actually was inside the 'box' on my map? Sorry if this sounds dumb but I'm a total novice and can't even claim to have been in the boy scouts.

:confused1: