I spotted an ad in the Sunday paper for an Ecco GPS Personal Pocket GPS Locator. 1.4oz, minimal features (stores 3 locations). I'm not a fan of depending on GPS over map and compass, but they can be handy. Anyone try one of these?

http://www.jr.com/ecco-gps/pe/EC_ECCO/

Having the ability to store only three waypoints will be awfully limiting.

--B.G.--

I hear that. I was considering it more for a simple location fix: "you are here." If you have a map, you should know where you started from!

I've seen similar units and they are definitely aimed at the "I can't find my car" consumer.

I never seen one that will actually display coordinates (they just tell you how far it is to your waypoint).
They don't record or display tracks.
You can't input coordinates (you can only mark a waypoint from your current location).
You can't create a route, so navigation is "as the crow flies" and with 3 waypoints, it wouldn't be much of a route anyway.

I'm surprised these things don't give a basic coordinate. Back to the drawing board.

Just looking at the design -- keychain and all -- this gadget seems to be for casual urban use -- such as when traveling. One can use it to find one's way back to one's car or hotel after a day exploring the town. For that kind of travel use, coordinates are completely unnecessary.

In a city where roads are everywhere, just knowing the direction of your car or hotel is tremendously helpful. OTOH, a gadget that stores just 3 locations will likely be very suboptimal out in the wilds.

for an ounce more (and more $ :)) you can get some of the more needed features w/ a Foretrex. The older 101 and 201 I see for very reasonable prices any more- they don't have as sensitive receiver as the 301/401, but from everything I've gleaned they are solid units

Yup, I was researching the 301 this morning. It's still more of a novelty. If you have a map and pay just a bit of attention, it's not hard to navigate. Identifying locations for photos and landmarks would be great. Other than that, it is more "how far have I gone?"

>> Other than that, it is more "how far have I gone?" <<

I'm heading out this weekend into an area that is still under 3+ feet of snow. The afternoon melts will obliterate any tracks in the snow, so I will be following my GPS tracks from previous years. It would be a lot tougher with just a map and a compass.

usually i just lurk... but this time i found something that might help:

http://www.cecompass.com/holuxm-24132channelbluetoothwirelessgpsreceiverdatalogger.aspx

displays your coordinates and those you have recorded earlier. maybe you could use that to set way-points by manually inputting them? it wouldn't tell you where to go or how far it is to a way-point, but with some good map skills you could use it to find your current location and just walk the rest of the way.

pecos

Here is the Holux GPSport 245 at 2.5 oz with battery. It has way more features and up to 28 hour battery life.