All!
I'm considering this "Backpacking/Travel/Weather/Backcountry navigation advice" and there have been questions about phones and tablets for use as mapping/GPS devices in this forum, so hopefully you won't mind. But just in case there are folks here who don't read the General Discussion forum*, qumqats posted an article there about Earl, a backcountry navigation/communication device.
Earl was fully funded today, but there are still 17 days left to back it, and get the backers' discount. (It's a risk, yes, but I'm filing this under entertainment budget.)
It's too tasty not to know about, I think. I hope to see Earl succeed and wonder why Garmin or DeLorme didn't do it first... too open for them? grumble.
*It's only had 273 views as I write this...
And my humble thanks to qumqats for tripping over Earl so early and posting it in the first place!