Actually, what you suggest would be a good addition to pinwiki. In fact, I just looked on pinwiki under WPC and there is a small section under 4.9. Which, in fact, is incorrect as far as my knowledge goes. It is suggesting the use of the simtek 12c68 but makes no mention of having to retrofit it to have the required power down capacitor and proper pull up resistors added. My guess is the author meant to refer to the Ramtron/Cypress FRAM parts or the Simtek STK16C68 which are plug and play.

I agree it would be useful to provide documentation of ALL possible alternatives to using the factory batteries and holders without necessarily referring to any particular product or pricing. Simply ball park estimates for each technology.

No offense, but its funny to me you would find a coin battery ( which many other manufacturers have used onboard), to be a "hack" but accept a remote battery holder as not?

I too would use NVRam in every possible chance but as was mentioned, that's not really the subject of this thread

There are low power devices ( often labeled L or LP) and Ultra Low power Devices (often labeled LL). It may be the type of ram as opposed to the brand.

LL, ultra low power devices are specifically designed for battery back up uses. Its often the difference of using a NiCad or 3V lithium battery verse using a coin battery.