I've decided I could make good use out of a pack shovel for everything from 1 day to 3 day hikes. It's three most important features need to be the essentials...  compact, lightweight, and good for digging. I don't mind spending money on good gear either. I've seen a few shovels online that come with a ton of extra bullshit features (compass in handle, hex head wrench, strobe light...) that I don't need and will add weight and cost. I'd like to avoid most of that. If it has some genuinely useful extra features like a saw or knife blade, great, but I don't want to sacrifice too much weight or size for such features as they'll mostly be redundant anyway.

So, what do you guys like and use? Anyone try titanium?

What do you plan to using it for? If it's just cat holes, then just get one of the small garden trowels.

Cold steel.

I'd use it for digging cat holes, fire pits, trenching tents, digging bedding pits, digging up fat wood roots, campsite snow removal,...
I'll put it to serious use so I want a good one. Just trying to keep it light.

Cold Steel is the most versatile, but not the lightest.  If you can accept the weight, it's really the best value to do everything you need plus serve as an axe, machete, paddle, etc.  Tubular handled trowels are not a bad option.  You can just pack them without a handle and add one to the length require for leverage and digging as needed. I have experimented with the titanium version:

Titanium Trowel

It works quite well in softer soils, but the soft titanium doesn't work well at all in hard, compacted or rocky soils.  For most soil types around here, the worst is the harder Georgia clay, but the top soil is pretty easy to work when digging cat holes, tubers, or shelter drainage ditches.  I cut and punched out the pin and secured a wood screw in the handle for packing.  I just use it as a hand trowel or trim down a sapling to make a longer handle as needed.  I do like a metal trowel if I'm using an open fire and coals for cooking; they make it far easier to maneuver hot coals.

The heavier CS shovel is a weapon in it's own right and could also have the handle removed for packing and one added later as needed.  I keep a CS shovel in my primitive kit; the versatility as a tool is worth it's weight if I'm in need of significant shelter building, foraging and excavation.

ROCK6

Not light but I have and use the cold steel shovel.  Of course I don't take it hiking with me, more of a car kit type thing.

If I felt the need for a tiny shovel type thing while hiking and camping I would probably pick whichever tool in the gardening section fit my fancy!  

We have soft ground in my AO so a stick works fine when needed.

I just pack with a cheapo plastic trowel from Amazon.  Cost me about two bucks if I remember right.   Works great for anything you need a shovel in your pack for.

I have the iPood camp shovel and found it to be adequate.  

I use one of these in the summer and it holds up for a lot of camp tasks. It is very light:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002YVDSW?tag=vglnk-c102-20

In the winter I carry one of these for snow removal:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ZPKCLRA?tag=vglnk-c102-20
FYI, the above shovel broke on me over the weekend. I no longer recommend it. I am going to try an MSR Operator shovel for my next snow shovel.

Also, the Glock E-Tool works well for a general purpose shovel. I believe it is the lightest military-style E-tool:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000KOOUOS?tag=vglnk-c102-20