These are the darnedest gadgets I have ever owned. I keep finding uses for mine I never intended. For a handheld, though, I've found an external antenna Velcro-ed to the top of my pack essential. If there are trees around trying to use a GPS while walking is difficult, as the body blocks a significant part of the sky.

Of course, I have hard copy maps of where I'm going. However, in snow and timber the GPS is essential, as the trail can be lost in 2 footsteps. And I've lost logging roads I was following in timber due to snow.

The track and average pace help me plan the next day. I have a good idea as to how fast I might meander over the territory. In dense, featureless woods it can be a bit of a problem knowing for sure where you are, even with a map and altimeter. Which, by the way, don't take batteries and are essential.

Finding out where I am when I wake up on the train. Crank up the GPS.

Finding my way around a strange city when waiting for a train. Finding my way back to the motel, to the train station, bus station, etc. Someone says they will meet you at a certain place, plug it in and you know where, and how to get there from where you are.

When there is cell phone coverage, more available than one would think in remote areas which are high, I call a friend with the coordinates and at least someone knows where I was last seen, if I am last seen. I usually do this with my brother-in-law, and he doesn't have to have the same maps I do in order to track me.

Invaluable. Saves hauling around more maps than you ever would. I'm addicted to the darned thing.

Arf

By the way, mine is a Garmin 76 CSx. I had a top-of-the-line Magellan, and the first day I tried to get it to work I left it on top of my car to initialize, again. Drove off with it there, and it was gone. Saved me from sending it back. It was slow, difficult and the maps inaccurate. I live on a dead-end street, for instance, and it showed my street going through.