GPS solution - $74.95
 

A Bluetooth GPS puck you can carry on a keychain - use it with a BB or PDA or eee or whatever...

http://shop.crackberry.com/freedom-k...10A95A2869.htm

Why people scrimp and save on lodging and transportation and meals, then blow $300-$700 (or more) on a GPS is a total mystery to me.

Maybe not everyone has a BB or PDA or even needs one. I'd rather have a dedicated GPS unit such as a TomTom or Garmin than a PDA. I'd use it far more often too. I have the most basic mobile phone I could find, it phones people and sends text messages. Full stop. No camera No Windows no diary. Don't need all that stuff.
Given the battery time on things like the eee I wouldn't want to use it as my navigation device.

Depending on where you go, the time you save with a GPS is more than worth the money.

I've driven many times in Northern Europe with no problems but Italy is another story.

I got good practice on my language skills and enjoyed talking to people to ask directions, doing it every ten minutes from people who don't really know how to get where you want to go gets old fast.

In Italy street signs don't exist and the freeways never say, "this way to A13 West." Instead they point to random towns you have never heard of instead of the bigger cities you would expect.

Oh an most modern PDA's already have a GPS device built in to them.

Robes, I've been wondering where you were. You couldn't possibly have been directing your remarks at me, could you? I know - I flatter myself to ask this question.

But since you asked, my Garmin Nuvi 370 (which mounts better on my car windshield than my PDA) was worth its weight in gold the five weeks I recently traveled in Europe. (That' a bit of an exaggeration.) In fact, I plan on posting a review of my Garmin GPS when I get a little time.

Our Nuvi is so important that my wife and I have a name for him - Jack. But because we have a good friend named Jack, my wife says we need to find him/her (its hard to tell the gender by looking at its underside) a new name.

I'm thinking Robespierre would be a perfect name. Because, honestly, when I turn it on, I often wonder, "What would Robespierre say about this?"

But I'm not trying to start yet another GPS fight. So you won't see me saying anything thing more on this thread.

Incidentally, have I mentioned how much I enjoyed my two iPods and my Macbook computer on my most recent trip?

Yeah - but the only navigation advice my namesake ever gave was to the tumbril drivers. :))

Okay - go ahead and carry a dedicated GPS <u>and</u> a Blackberry or phone. I don't care. If screwing around with obsolete firmware and <i>buying</i> map data floats your boat, knock yourself out. I'm just offering a suggestion to people who want to travel as light as possible.

The way I navigate on foot with my iPAQ is to only turn the power on when I need to establish where I am and/or where to turn next. I can run it for days with this regimen. I have no problem sticking my iPAQ to the windshield with a gooseneck holder I bought for $1.99 from Hong Kong.

Update - $70.99 shipped on eBay.