John Payson wrote:

> What do you think of something like this circuit?

  All points noted and agreed.  If you are going to use the capacitor,
I'd do this:

           +--------|<|--------------+
           |                         |
 +Vunreg o-+--VVVVV----+---UUUUU-----+----+
                R      |   Relay          |
                      ===                 \|
                      --- C                |----O BASE DRIVE
                       |                  v|
                       |                  |
                       M   Ground         M

  As before, R limits the continuous relay voltage and current.  C
allows pull-in at a higher voltage than the maintaining voltage, and
the diode limits kick-back.

  What's really good about this version, is that C isolates the relay
from the power supply also, at least to some extent.
--
  Cheers,
        Paul B.