Many great ideas: http://www.meetearl.com/ but could never hit the market. IMO, $300 seems to be way too optimistic for such a wonder.

Hmm, yeah that's too limited. A separate solar panel with a USB plug and you can charge the battery on the tablet or smart-phone you already own.
I have a Goal Zero Guide 10 which is fairly small and backpack portable, but there are other products with larger panels and bigger inverters/more storage. REI has a few, Amazon probably has a bunch.

and I was thinking this would be a thread on field expedient dietary supplements.

+1, LOL

I just don't associate electronics with survival gear. For the military, where they are in a bounded area of conflict with backup, sure, electronics are good. But when an EMP takes the power out everywhere, or when the zombies come, this thing would be useless. Spend your $300 on ammo instead.

FWIW, I also checked out this thread to find out about the newest dietary supplement! I guess that goes to further illustrate my bias that electronics (tablets) != survival gear.

I am vastly unimpressed. I tried their everytrail.com link and I would describe the data available there as superficial and not particularly useful.

I don't think I need to monitor my heart rate or cadence. With lots of experience, I can tell when I am tired or not (no flies on me!).

Maybe it's years of carrying one while on duty, but a low priority item in my gear on a normal recreational hike is a radio. A full fledged PLB would be potentially more useful.

Precise knowledge of your location, elevation, etc. can be potentially useful, but more often I have known exactly where I was located The problem was "How do I change my location?"

All in all, it seems like an attempt to substitute technology for judgment.

"Survival Tabs" - is the brand you were confused with, I guess (I have original bottles sitting in each of my three BOBs still, and even got samples of their new offerings in four flavors recently).

But no, this is about a single electronic device you have to care for in a bug out situation, instead of a multiple ones we are usually want to have at hand when away from home.

I'm tired of carrying a bag or a vest with 20 pockets full of various essential gear. I'm sure a single device could be made which will allow to cut weight and bulk on unnecessary diversity of cables, cases, lanyards, clips, handles, covers, lids, batteries, screens, knobs, and pouches for each in a concise enough way, making room for other less compactable essentials such as food and water.

Forget for a moment the intended use of that tablet declared (camping/hiking), but consider the bug out potential in such a small and universal device. Some still having an AM/FM radio, which is bigger and heavier than this thing in their BOB.

A rugged, long-lived and easy to recharge device that combined a tablet's functionality with an AM/FM/WX (and I can wish for shortwave) receiver could be worth having. Since such a device is currently vaporware and I'm a radio nerd, I can (and do) carry a dedicated receiver or transceiver as appropriate.

A small device like that will be safe in just a couple of wraps of aluminum foil. Try that with your laptop in a hurry. Same with the zombies, they will be thinking exactly like you - who needs a smartphone now when there is no service, internet, or power? Regarding the general usefulness of a smartphone - it is equal to saying that books will be useless after the SHTF. Sure thing, that solely depends on what you have on your smartphone besides your business contacts. But even primitive children games on it are something precious already at TEOTWAWKI.

paper maps!