This is a dilemma I thought over for about a year, until I finally gave in. I have to own up and say I am a man who likes gadgets. But I had inherited an old Garvein V GPS sytem that works perfectly well. But I really wanted something a bit more modern and a bit more veratile. In the end I gave in and spent approx £300 on a PDA with built in GPS receiver and software. I haven't looked back. This is much more versitle that a normal GPS, the downside being that it is probably not so rugged, although you can spend more money making it so.

I love the options the PDA gives me, including chosing which GPS software I use. I currently have Tom Tom or I-GO for everyday use. then when I am hiking or biking I can use Memory map and the 1:25k maps with that. Finally When further aborad I will use Ozi explorer to either scan in my own maps or buy, quite cheaply other maps.

I have paid for some of the above software, other bits came with the PDA, although I didn't get a receipt! You can download easily and (relatively) safely all the above software.

So, in summary I would say I haven't looked back since purchasing it, and have been given a great deal of satisfaction from using it, not just when travelling long distances. But it is a lot of money to spend, which like most things, could probably be spent in a different area. Only you can understand how your budget works, and how much satisfaction you will get out of such a device.

I hope this helps.

Cheers

Ollie

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Ollie

www.jollyfollies.com

Land's End to Sydney 2009