While I didn't need one, I've seen folks with them in their cars (built-in or temporary mount) and thought they are pretty cool.

So, as a toy, I picked up the Mio C220 Digi Walker a few weeks ago for well under $200 US.

It's handheld, or can be mounted off of the dashboard or front window, and tracks you on a map as you travel. It locates itself by interpolating certain satellite signals and the service is free.

I would say that travelling salesman or someone that does on-site support should certainly have one of these. Not only does it give you the route to your destination, but it also gives an estimated time of arrival, making it handy if you have to call someone and let them know when you'll be there.

Mostly, for me, it's just interesting and fun watching it track my progress around town and this part of Florida. The other day I was in a city that I don't visit frequently, and using the GPS's Points of Interest feature found out that there was a Sonic's drive Inn close by. Just had to have a cherry limeade.

It is truly a Space Age device.

I've been using a Garmin eTrex handheld for a couple of years.
I use it when I go into the woods, scouting for hunting locations.
When I find a likely spot, I just set a waypoint, and save it.
That way, I can always return to the same spot.

I have one that I use when we go fishing on new lakes, took a wrong turn and didn't get back until after dark once.

Most excellent.

Mine gives almost 5 hours of "on time" battery life, so I can see how that would work, although I believe those handhelds are designed to make that a little easier. I can see putting in your starting position, too.

When not in use, I'll turn it of, so if I use it every day, I can get 2-3 weeks on 2 AA batteries.

You also have the option of back-tracking to your starting point, straight-line to your starting point, or back-track/straight-line to any waypoint.

Some of the other features include:
speed
average speed
max speed
heading
bearing
elevation
location
sunrise
sunset
trip time
trip odometer
time & date
time to destination
store up to 500 waypoints
store up to 10 tracks (collections of waypoints)

Cool.

There are quite a few differences between the handheld GPS's and the ones designed for vehicles, that's for sure.

When my brother was home between Boot Camp and A.I.T. he helped with recruiting in Lynchburg ,a city we rarely went to as kids, so they let him and the other Marine use the car to go from school to school. The car had a TomTom GPS in it. Well Christmas Eve we were going to go from Dads house to Mom's new house in Burnt Chimney, where my truck was, in his new personal car he gets in the drivers set and says "TomTom, Burnt Chimney." it took him a few to realize that he didnt have a TomTom in his new car.

Lmao@blackspyder's story. I don't have a GPS, but I've used my uncle's occasionally. He has a Garmin, i forget which version. It hooks up to your laptop and he uses it with Microsoft Streets to get where he needs to go. The few times I've used it, i won't lie, it's pretty frikkin neat. I might get one when I start driving, which is pretty soon, because i'm not great with directions.

Regards,
TheYoda

i too hav a tomtom, waste of money ,mine sits in by glovebox as i usually know were i am going

Yeah, but if you turn that Tomtom on,

you'll know where you are!

thats the point john
i don't want to know were i am

Ah,

the old:

"Where ever you go, there you are!" philosophy!

Well we used one to get here (TopSail North Carolina from Akron) and it worked great, found out a faster route than th AAA maps had. Was easy to set up and use. I love it, gonna get one when I get my license haha.

-Steve