GPS Allowed in Carry-On Baggage
 

I've looked up and down the TSA website which is totally useless. I also don't like the wording "A permitted item that is considered dangerous will be prohibited" basically leaving it up to the TSO to not allow anything they desire onto a flight.

I'm wanting to bring my Garmin GPS with me on my trip IAH to PHX today, but can't find out if the current security level and all that mess will allow me to bring this on with my carry-on luggage or if I'll be forced to check it.

Obviously due to theft at the airport I would rather not check an expensive item like a GPS that also might be damaged from transport, so only method I want to do is carrying it on.

Anyone have any recent experience bringing a GPS on-board in a carry-on luggage, and not having to check it? I'll be flying Continental as well, not that should make any difference....

Don't check it; carry it. I haven't had a problem when I have taken mine.

mine stays clipped to my belt loop on every trip -- why would you think a GPS is not permitted? It's not a liquid, after all...

keep it with you.

as a reminder about how unsafe baggage handling is, here's what happened to me on a flight from PHL to LGA last week...

this last segment of my flight was on a CRJ. as always with those planes i had to gate check my rollaboard as i was boarding. when i got it back plane-side at LGA i noticed that it was partially unzipped. when i got inside and looked, it had obviously been rifled through by one of the guys placing it inside of the aircraft at PHL. no, i am not overreacting to the natural settling of things inside of the bag during travel, i pack my bag the same way EVERY WEEK, it was pretty full, but when i got it back it was completely rearranged.

nothing was missing, mostly because there was nothing in there to steal aside from dirty clothing and a few non-liquid toiletries. but still, be aware that you cannot trust anyone who touches you things during travel. i now lock my rollaboard when i know i will have to gate check it.

Well, after the Christmas Day bomber scare and all... I know that TSA was a little uptight a few places... have flown a few times since but never brought my GPS since... don't want them to say it is a security risk as I'll know where I'm at and all... LOL

Just figured to be safe and ask as I'm not checking a nice Garmin GPS in my luggage as I know it will either be broken or be missing when I arrive...

Take it with you. I used my Nexus One with GPS on my DTW-LAS flight this week. I admit I was a bit worried about a chicken little freaking out that I was holding an electronic device against the window. Nobody noticed either way.

Note, the N1 sucks at getting a GPS lock in flight. My Garmin Nuvi is much better. It is faster on the ground though, I assume because of the use of phone towers to narrow down the rough location.

There is no restriction with taking it on the plane. Many airlines do not allow the use of it during the flight, but there is no prohibition on having it.

Never had a problem with it in the carry on.

Many high end cell phones have GPS and navigation capability and that doesn't seem to bother anybody.

TSA should publish the rules they require us to follow
 

It's ridiculous that you're forced to feel this way. That a government employee is "a little uptight" should have no bearing on whether or not you carrying something will result in you being prevented from going where you were headed or being forced to surrender that item. We are a nation of laws, not of men.

Please join me and other people in calling for TSA to publish all the rules we are required to follow at their airport blockades in order to avoid having our freedom of movement restricted by them. If they would simply show us what we're required to do and what we're required not to do, most of this confusion would go away. We'd know -- not have to guess -- what our responsibilities are, and we'd know when TSA staff are lying to us about the rules. To date, TSA refuses to publish this information.

Note that I'm not asking for tips for travelers, suggestions on how to pack our bags, hints, clues, guidelines, or press releases. I'm not asking to see TSA's super-secret procedures (those that thousands of lowest-level-of-TSA airport security guards who turn over at a rate of somewhere around 25% per year, are allowed to see), not a pointer to the entire TSA "guidelines for travelers" page, the entire TSA Web site (filled, as noted by TSA blog readers and staff, with inconsistencies and inaccuracies), the entire U.S. Government Web, or the whole Internet -- just a list of the rules TSA imposes on travelers at a U.S. Government airport checkpoint.

I've taken my GPS in my carry on on both international and domestic flights since Dec 25. No one has batted an eye. No need to declare them, have them screened separately, or anything.

The only issue I've ever had is with my garmin friction mount. it fascinated the CATSA for 25 minutes in YYZ

THey are permitted onboard for sure but some carriers (Delta twice with me) refuse to accept them in checked baggage. It's a risk to do that anyway. Take it onboard and it always works. I've never even removed mine from my carryon.

Not only can you carry it on board, you can use it in flight on most airlines.

Now that's out of the way, maybe someone can tell me why my iPhone refuses to get a GPS signal when it's in airplane mode - and if I take it out of airplane mode, it still refuses to get a GPS signal because it can't get a cell signal.

Very frustrating...but the compass works.

It's discussed a bit in this thread

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...hats-harm.html