A GPS unit is great. Used them on occassion
In my area(most I suppose) you still have to carrying a working compass or pay a hefty fine.

In NY you'll find some guys carrying a compass but their isn't any State Mandate that you carry one. I find using Trimble Outdoors to mark my truck location or camp site to be a huge help..

I've been hunting with GPS for years, and nothing beats it. I generally carry a Garmin Etrex Vista now, which allows me to upload topo maps onto it and has a built-in compass that works when you're not moving. It also has a pressure altimeter/barometer on board.

Aside from finding your way back to the truck or to your kill, they're great for logging things like tracks, scrapes, food sources, etc. It really helps your situational awareness and gives you a much better picture of how the area is laid out. It also makes it possible to bushwhack cross country through dense territory with confidence your shortcut will come out exactly where you want it to.

I've even used GPS with my son when hunting in timber when we'd be in stands far enough apart that we couldn't see each other or where a hill might be in between. By marking the two stands into memory, I could take a bearing on my stand from his and set up safe fields of fire for him -- i.e. don't shoot anything left of that tree -- that would let him shoot with confidence that he wasn't sending lead in my direction.

I'm not familiar with the Trimble phone solution. I've become pretty hooked on the features available on my unit, and it's about the size of a cel phone.

I use the Garmin Etrex whenever I head out. I the Extrex is just your basic mark a spot and come back it version. It is easy to use and is pretty accurate. I like the simplicity, you can't get confused using it and it will only run you about $100. I use it much the same as expatriate, to mark trails, bedding areas, water sources, etc.

Expatriate,

I’ve seen the Garmin Etrex a buddy of mine has one… it’s a great little unit.

What I liked about Trimble is I always have my cell phone with me no matter what and it does all the things a traditional GPS unit would do.

For example:
You can load TOPO, Street, Aerial and Marine maps right to your phone in Color
You can create routes and mark points with it.
It gives you a digital compass relaying heading, altitude and speed.
You can download any map type ON THE FLY to the phone.
You get a trip planning mapping application with it..

They also have a site allows you to research trips. Although I haven’t used that yet

It’s a great… Plus you can’t beat the price…

You can get the basic unit for $20 one time fee and it will do what the Etrex will does.

If you want the maps on the phone its $9.99 a month that is billed right on the cell phone

That sounds pretty slick. Do you have to be in an area that has cel phone coverage for all the GPS features to work?

the GPS portion works both in and out of cellular coverage.... the only reason you'd need to be in coverage is if you want to download maps on the fly... obviously you'd have to be in coverage to do that... But you can pre plan the trip or send maps to the phoen straight from there mapping software before you go out of coverage if you know you won't be in coverage..

It's pretty slick..... and what I like is everything is in one unit....GPS, Cell Phone, Walkie Talkie... it's great