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Like WiFi, Bluetooth is another consumer-electronics wireless scheme that’s finding its way onto boats. Delorme’s little 2"x3" Blue Logger can sit on a boat’s dash and send WASS-accurate position info about 30 feet to my Bluetooth-enabled PDA or laptop, both of which are easier to use untethered from a “normal” GPS. The gadget worked well with a wide variety of charting programs, though setting up Bluetooth for the first time was a bit fiddly. These days there are numerous Bluetooth GPSs available—some, I suspect, built better than this one—but Blue Logger is distinctive for its ability to work by itself, collecting up to 50,000 position/speed/altitude data points. I don’t know how this would be useful to normal navigation, but if you want to know what the kids or crew did with your tender or just how far and fast you skied one day, Blue Logger can tell you. It comes with a true eight-hour rechargeable battery and a choice of street or topo mapping programs and starts at $150.

Delorme ( (800) 561-5105. www.delorme.com.

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