[matthew]

Love this thread – from the title and all the way through.

If I can make one suggestion, it would be to add one of these to the string pod:



They're sold as cable organizers under the name "Bobino", but if that's not available (or if the $3-$5 pushes the materials cost too high) I'm sure a substitute could be found. At the expense of greater bulk and complexity, it can be used to store the string without tangling, and also to adjust its length. I just tried the small size (in red) with some narrow and slippery household string, and it holds securely under tension with as little as one wrap around its core, so length adjustments can be quite fine. I'm thinking that this could let it be adjusted for foot-standing or belt-clipping distances fairly easily.

The GPS intrigues me. I have an old Garmin, which manages about two hours of life under 3x AA batteries, and changing them would wipe its data. Not all that useful. I can't see carrying another dedicated electronic device with me for my next trip, but I'm learning how it works in my Canon S100 as well as trying out a program for my phone. (Time to pack extra batteries…)