I purchased this unit for use hiking and climbing and use a Mac (OS 10.5) to download my tracklogs in Google Earth Plus. It's very easy. However, I had to use a PC to download the MapSource maps but found that process was easy as well. The battery life is excellent. I've used Ni-Cads for day trips and they had juice left after about 14-hours of run time. I use lithiums in the cold (30s) and have yet to run low on juice on 3-day trips. The microSD card was convenient for storing maps and 1GB holds a LOT of tracklogs. The newer, high-sensitivity receiver seems to be better than the older model that I replaced with this one. Regarding the questions about using it overseas, it works fine. I'm using it in Ecuador and have used GPS units around the world. If you're going somewhere the military may go (anywhere), it will work if you can get a decent horizon for satellite views. Finally, a note on tracklogs: I'm mainly saving these now in hopes that geotagging software will come along that will match up my tracklog locations, GPS and camera time and write the coordinates to the metadata in my photos.

This is the one piece of clothing that is always first in my pack - if not on my back. I bought a second one to wear around town and on short trips because it's so versatile, packs into a ball and weighs so little. It does in fact shed a light rain as advertised although the Durable Water Repellent (DWR) does seem to be wearing off after a year of heavy use. I especially like the longer cut in back that keeps the drafts at bay when climbing (reaching up). I've worn it as a base layer and as a sort of soft shell and think it falls somewhere in between. In short, if all of my gear were stolen, this would probably be the first piece I would replace.