Thanks for the great advice Bob.

To address your questions:
What navigation software?
WinPilot for gliding, CoPilot for driving.


do you use ship power
Whenever possible - but we all need solutions for those times
when in another 'vehicle'.


Careful with the unit between flights, pressing ANY button
powers it up
Reminder popups turn the unit on too! (precipitating my main
question).


check manually later using the calendar (#2?) button
Mmm - I tend to often set reminders for longer than a day
("Fred's renewal proposal due in 10 days"). I have a feeling that
if such a warning occurs when the message displays are turned off
then the silly thing dismisses my reminder altogether . . .
Although I could expect to see it on the desktop - I worry that
the synch process will dismiss it there too if I don't remember
to look carefully before synching!!


get an SD card
Great advice, along with learning to use the backup program (easy
once you release what it is doing and DO send the backup to the
'storage-card' and not to the default location).


so I could borrow any pda and go flying
Nice benefit - I hadn't realised that! Obviously any licence
codes would need consideration.


Buy a spare unit one day
Bliss!


Here are the ways to reach the settings that I have determined
need consideration:
I have not been definitive as they need to be checked before and
after flights.

(for Windows Pocket PC 2003 - but not 2nd edition which may
differ)


Start.Settings.personal.sounds&notifications.notif ications.select
an event: 'reminders' (scroll right to the bottom) change
"display message on screen"!!

Settings.system.power.main:
When on battery power:
TURN OFF DEVICE if not used for [3] minutes.

When on external power:
TURN OFF DEVICE if not used for [30] Minutes.

Start.Settings.system.power.USB CHARGING:
Make sure tick is on [I use 'fast']

Start.Settings.system.backlight:
When on battery power:
TURN OFF BACKLIGHT if not used for [3] min.
TURN ON BACKLIGHT if button pressed, etc.
When on external power:
TURN OFF BACKLIGHT if not used for [10]min
TURN ON BACKLIGHT if button pressed, etc.

Start.Settings.system.backlight.BRIGHTNESS . . .
(brightness affects power consumption)

Some of these settings need to be different when NOT
flying/driving - so need changing frequently.

Hope this helps. Are there any other points Bob and I have
overlooked?

Cheers,

Jim Kelly