[amazon B001IMJV0E thumbnail] There are plenty of photography and camera specific GPS devices, and of course lots of hand held and car units, but the iGot-U family of GPS dataloggers from MobileAction Technology are unique as a truly "pocket friendly" gizmo that do one simple thing very well--track and share where you've been...
The units are smaller than my thumb and feature a single button which turns it on and off. They come with a small USB cable for recharging and uploading data, and a software suite which allows for photo tagging. But the simplest way to use one is to turn it on, drop it in your pocket and forget about it until the end of the day. They are remarkably good at keeping your location and track which it then automatically uploads once you plug it into your computer and launch the software--@Trip PC.
This screen shot shows the @Trip software displaying a track from an East Coast car trip. I threw the small iGot-U in my pants pocket before we left and simply plugged it into my computer at the end of the day. It was in my pocket while I was driving all day and as you can see was able to keep track of our trip flawlessly. I found the same thing true even in cities and with a reasonable amount of tree cover--although like any GPS if you are under enough cover or far enough inside it will lose its position until it can "see" the sky again.
The software (which is only available for Windows) integrates with Google Earth so you can see your route immediately with full satellite imagery in the background and with Google Maps if you prefer a map view (of course you need to be connected to the Internet). The software also has some blogging and sharing features and integrates with MobileAction's online trip sharing site.
The unit also comes with a Sports Analyzer utility that lets you track your athletic achievements and a photo tagging utility which is excellent if you want to tag your JPEG format images with their locations based on the time and places the unit recorded during your trip. It does not directly support Raw files so it is in no way a full replacement for a dedicated camera unit, but if you have a point and shoot or shoot Raw+JPEG and are happy keeping your trip albums with JPEGs the utility should work for you.
The entry level i-GotU GT-120 is water resistant and can hold up to 65,000 waypoints, selling for under $70 at Amazon. The upgraded i-GotU GT-600 adds more memory to store up to 262,000 way points, full water-proofing, a larger battery and a motion detector to save power when you're not traveling, all for under $120 from Amazon.
I've included a screenshot of the included Sports and Activity Analyzer below. It's a very cool tool if you want to track your hiking, biking, skiing or other travel related athletic activity, including where, when, and how much exercise you're getting:
Note: B&H normally sells these units for the same price as Amazon, but they are currently listed as unavailable on their site.