I recently bough a bluetooth Ipaq / Navman combo, and its brilliant. The GPS unit has a 10 hr battery life on a couple of AAAs, and the battery life of the Ipaq was sufficient to drive all the way to Le Mans without charging (it reports 6 hr battery life). You can get an expansion jacket which contains a second battery if you want, or power it from the 12v socket. On the Ipaq I have Memory Map with the UK charts, as well as Anywhere Map (EFIS type display) which I use in the states, and I am seriously impressed.
My mate bought a 295 for around £1000, and although it is an excellend GPS, it is large, eats batteries, requires an external antenna mounted in the cockpit window. I just stick the GPS in the window using its suction mounting, and you can use the IPAQ anywhere in the cockpit. I've got a windshield mount, but equally you could stick a bit of velcro to the back and stick it to you kneeboard. The screen on the Ipaq is great, visible in direct sunlight, which was a problem I found with older PocketPCs.
I personally wouldn't buy a "dedicated" handheld aviation GPS for the reason that its very easy to update the software on the Ipaq, its cheaper than many GPS units (at around £500-£600 all in)........
Just my view!
Cheers
EA
