Compared to the electronic devices with "big" wheels, this device with its small brass wheel seems to get into tight turns and switchbacks better. That is a plus. However, with a tiny slipery metal wheel, there is little traction which makes it difficult to tell if you are rolling or sliding especially on slick waterproof maps. I'm thinking a rubber wheel would make this so much better. Sliding is an issue especiallywhen following a trail with many turns if the device is not turned to match the trail direction exactly. Sounds easy, but takes some practice. Got to have a hard surface to work on! Don't expect to use this trial side while holding the map in the other hand, at least not over long distances or curvy trails. Need a notebook, stump or other flat object under the map. Other than that it is no-brainer. Roll the wheel to set the meter to 0 and go. (no reset button). The outer scale is the 1:24,000 for 7.5 minute topos and is barely readable without my glasses, of course the topos are barely readble without my glasses too. So if you can read topos, you can read the scales. The scales on the other side of the device are metric. All in all, seems to work well with a little practice although I still run the route twice to make sure the distances match.

Well assuming that that buttons that only worked occasionally were due to a defective item and not how the device normally functions, it "should" actually do a decent job. With that said... The device is small, which is what I needed for backpacking but its shape was combersom trying to follow a winding trail and I was not prepared for the ittsy bittsy text burried off to the side in the shadows for things like km, mi, and knots. In my opinion, virtually unreadable without having to take my glasses along too..even with the back light on. The actual numbers are easy to read and most functions are easy to understand and set (when the buttons work) and it does more than I expected function wise with respect to times, alarm, etc. Sadly I did have to send it back because of the button issue and have to use the analog one I also purchased due to time constraints for my trip. Its a shame I wasted 2nd day air shipping on Brunton's Quality Control. Do note that the wheel is large compared to the anlog wheel making it much harder to follow a very winding path. Also don't let the many digits fool you into thinking "accuracy". The last three digits don't appear to offer much. For example, in 1:24,000 mode, the last three digits were 222, then jump to 447, etc. But who needs trail distance to the nearest half a foot or better anyway?

Avid packpacker. Teach Map and Compass.