.JPG) I think the ideal item for a lot of people would be a small and light GPS unit that just gives map co-ords in the popular formats on a basic digital display with very little power/battery usage. I may be wrong but I don't think any company has made such an item yet. Au contraire Monsewer Rockie... Holux amongst others do that 'sort' of thing....though I've not looked at the formats; the M-241 is one of em.. Nah I emailed the UK site yesterday: Me: Hi Please can you tell me if the position on your GPS models is able to be displayed as an OSGB grid reference as used on UK mapping? Answer: Hi No afraid not. This is because Holux are selling worldwide and would have to make their systems work with every country's own grid system not just UK. These calculations are extremely complex and this would significantly push up the price of the unit. The display of specific national grid references including UK is the domain of more expensive units such as the Satmap Active 10.
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 As I said I've not looked at the formats.....
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 No afraid not. This is because Holux are selling worldwide and would have to make their systems work with every country's own grid system not just UK. These calculations are extremely complex and this would significantly push up the price of the unit.
Lazy buggers. The calculations are tricky, but not exactly degree-level, and I reckon you could run the whole thing on a few quid worth of modern microcontroller with acceptable accuracy and speed. The UK isn't the only country to have its own national grid, and the same hardware could be used to work with most of the world.
Maybe a 10% increase in price is just too much. I evidently don't understand the economics of these things, or the target market. Maybe you could run a coordinate system conversion tool on your phone, and carry that too 
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 Nah, if I'm carrying a phone and get lost I'd just ring mountain rescue and wait for them to find me.
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 I have a Garmin Foretrex- very small and does little more than mark locations and display a grid. It has OSGB, UTM, MGRS, Lat and Long, various datums and plenty of clever features that I have never got to grips with. I understand it is not dissimilar to a Geko in features but smaller. Not as small as Ed's....
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Nah, if I'm carrying a phone and get lost I'd just ring mountain rescue and wait for them to find me. I sense your wilderness is insufficiently wild. Either that, or you're out in such lovely weather all the time you can perch on a summit and always get reception.
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Satellite phone. Going anywhere without one is inherently dangerous.
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I've got "My Grid Ref" for 99p for Android: OS Grid reference and compass. I tend to use a map and non-electronic compass, I've only so-far only used the gps for finding 10-figure grid references.
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Satellite phone. Going anywhere without one is inherently dangerous. Pfft. I'll see your satphone and raise you a PLB. Walkers without one are clearly mad 
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Exactly, I mean why spend money on expensive waterproofs when you can just ring a whirly bird when it starts to drizzle!
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 Well, I've been in situations too often in my life (won't go into detail) where if I hadn't had contigency plans and had only depended on a single piece of equipment i.e. only GPS or only one map and one compass etc., I'd be dead---plain and simple---I love technology to include GPS but I'm not gonna put all my eggs in that basket---GPS is wonderful---most of the time I use it but sometimes I don't---oftentimes it just comes down to what kinda mood I'm in or how much of a hurry I'm in to get somewhere
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Sat phone is important if you want coverage within a couple of hours walking (remember coverage in a large wood is bad, you need a clearing) or need to be reachable all the time.
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