GPSs

I'm still looking around for a good GPS system for the boat.

I liked the look of the color Garmin CSx, especially with their recent plummet in prices. It has a lot going for it: waterproof, rugged, easily attached to stuff with the lanyard, good quality maps, ridiculously long battery life, floats, accepts additional SD cards for unlimited track and waypoint data, USB conectivity, etc, etc.

Then Garmin brought out the Colorado 400c. While it looks sexier, has prettier graphics and a fancy jog wheel, many of the user reviews complain that the Colorado is a step backwards in many ways from the previous model: http://garmincolorado.wikispaces.com/Review
Big issues include the poorer readability due to poor backlight (despite a higher resolution screen), and the lack of a lanyard (duh!), and it doesn't float (which is a nice feature for expensive handheld boat electronics).

I may be better off with a binnacle mounted unit rather than a handheld. These have the added advantage of being permanently wired to my VHF for DSC emergency position transmission. However, having something non-portable means that I'd need a second GPS to work as an anchor alarm.

It also comes with a wireless capability for transmitting data to other Colorado units. Its too bad it doesn't wirelessly connect to a PC (where I can install a descent chart plotter with up-to-date maps), or wirelessly talk to a boat's NEMA system (to drive my auto-pilot and run to my VHF). Its hard to think what the rationale for this feature was. Unless you happen to be at a Garmin cult convention it seems pretty useless. It could so easily be awesome.

Closed systems suck!