If you take a lot of digital photos, you've probably wanted a way to archive images in the field in order to clear space on your flash memory cards. One of the choices you have in this area is the SmartDisk FlashTrax FTX30 and its brethren, the FTX40 and the FTX80. They are portable, battery-powered, Linux-based devices that contain 3.5 inch LCD displays and hard drives of 30, 40, and 80 megabytes, respectively.

When I'm shooting digital photos at a sports event or a family gathering, I often find that I'm with someone who wants to look at recently taken photos even while photo opportunities still exist. With a FlashTrax, I could simply swap two flash memory cards, copy the photos into the FlashTrax, and let the person who wants to review the photos use the FlashTrax's photo browser.

This looks like a good deal compared to very high capacity flash memory cards. It gives you an extra browsing device, and the 30 gigabyte model can store about 15,000 1.6 megabyte digital photos. This means you could leave the laptop home when you go on a vacation, if you want to.