Ah the lot of you have been spoilt. I believe that all initial pilot training ought to be GPS free. Only after you can gain a PPL with full nav capabilities less the GPS demonstrating that you can 'WAC' it to anywhere that one can be used for supplementry nav. I've heard that a lot of instructors are bringing along a GPS on navs just to make sure, bunch of girls !
Dr you would be amongst the few that remember when it was s skill to nav GPSless to a point way out west, not to the new breed. As`long as they have a good supply of batteries their home free !
The Garmin 100 was in it's day the best thing sice sliced bread !
For someone learning to fly, when is a good time to invest in a GPS? After PPL and before CPL? After CPL when you land the first job?
I know from threads here that people are critical of "new age" pilots putting too much reliance on automation etc. Whilst its tempting to purchase one, especially if it could get you out of trouble one day, would you lose basic nav and map reading skills as a result?