The early handheld or portable GPS units were designed for military personnel. They tended to be bulkier and somewhat cumbersome to use. Now that GPS technology has been made available to civilians, the GPS units themselves have improved in one essential area of design: portability. The new portable GPS units allow consumers to have as much GPS power as soldiers have and in some cases have more features. This article will discuss the three types of portable GPS units available on the market: GPS units used exclusively for tracking purposes, GPS units designed for navigation and portable GPS units which can be used for both.



Portable GPS units designed for tracking are available in a variety of forms. The first are known as GPS auto trackers. The portable version of GPS auto trackers are usually battery-operated and can be conveniently put in the car's glove compartment. The next type of portable GPS unit with tracking capabilities are personal GPS systems. They can be a small device that looks like a cell-phone, (which can be placed in one's pocket, purse or backpack), built in special GPS watches or even in tennis shoes. These systems can be used to track loved ones, (especially children), or for exercise performance purposes. The latter is done by allowing a person to track how far and fast they might have walked or jogged. Finally, there are GPS units that can track expensive personal belongings, such as laptops. These types of portable GPS units can be placed in a USB or flash card slot.

On the other end of the spectrum are portable GPS units designed for navigation, also known as GPS navigators. GPS navigators can either be handheld or designed for use in a car. Handheld GPS navigators look similar to a cell phone. The graphics can either be in color or in black or white. GPS navigators designed for the car are generally rectangular and can be connected to the windshield by suction cups. Both types of GPS navigators allow a person to obtain directions and maps as they are on the road. Sophisticated portable GPS navigators communicate directions through a computer-generated voice.

Combination portable GPS units are designed for both navigational and tracking capabilities. An example can be seen through GPS-enabled cell phones. The downside to these at least in comparison to GPS navigators is that they only work in areas that have that particular cell phone company's coverage. If the area does not have coverage, the cell phone GPS won't work well. However the portable GPS units navigation capabilities are not affected by poor cell phone coverage.

Portable GPS units can be used for tracking, navigation or a combination of the two. Indeed, these GPS units offer quite a bit of GPS power, considering their reduced size. With a device that is small enough to fit in one's pocket, people are offered two things: the ability to get to their chosen destination on time or the ability to keep a ?virtual' eye on expensive possessions or loved ones. Price-wise portable GPS units with the tracking capability will be a bit more expensive, but in the long run when one is ensured that everything and everyone most dear to them is where they are supposed to be, it won't take long to realize the money would be well-spent.