7. Trimble AllSport GPS

by Ed Tittel

Serious outdoor types and athletes will find the Trimble AllSport GPS a real knockout of a product. When used with a properly-equipped cell phone, this product uses GPS capabilities to measure distances covered, time and speed, and from that data it estimates calories burned. It can also record route maps and elevation profiles, upload tracking results to an online training log - using a wireless call, so no cables are needed - and download routes so that owners can compete against their own previous workouts.

On a GPS-equipped phone, the Trimble AllSport software lets you plot your progress over time, and overlay it on a map or route image.

After seeing what this software enables a GPS-equipped cell phone to do, we now understand why competitors in orienteering events must agree not to carry GPS devices of any kind into the field - it makes plotting your motion on a map child's play. But the AllSport software also includes support for a training calendar, permits users to trade and share routes and supports logging of distances covered, routes taken, and more.

This package is available for a wide variety of phones from Sprint PCS, Nextel, Boost Mobile (a Nextel subsidiary), and Southern LINC Wireless, including various LG, Motorola, Samsung, and Sanyo models. Add-on AllSports GPS services cost from $6.99 to $9.95 per month, and a one-time $20 download fee for the software applies in some cases.

This is a fabulous and relatively inexpensive add-on for some dad or grad with the right phone, especially those who like to spend a lot of time outdoors hiking, fishing, or hunting or who run seriously enough to want to track and time workouts and plan cross-country routes. We think it's a really nifty use of GPS technology, too!