Sat Nav v Maps
- Thread starter YorkshireBiker
- Start date
Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.
Rhythm Thief
Veteran
I'd just tear the necessary pages out of a 4" to the mile road atlas. Fine if you're not using anything smaller than a B road and they weigh bugger all and take up no space.
slowmotion
Quite dreadful
- Location
- lost somewhere
Maps have a sense of romance and adventure, that GPS can never come even close to. There is a sense of satisfaction about using the paper ones, and getting to your destination , even after you have made a load of mistakes.. GPS is rather like cheating in exams...no fun at all.
CopperBrompton
Bicycle: a means of transport between cake-stops
- Location
- London
The other huge benefit of GPS is that you get a record of exactly where you went, which is great fun to look back on and to share with others when suggesting routes. Here are a few examples from my LEJOG.
The overall GPS track, imported into Google Earth:
An example of a day's ride in map form:
The same day's ride in GE form:
There's a lot of almost religious fervour for or against GPS. Personally I take the view that paper maps and GPS each have their strengths and weaknesses, and using both allows you to benefit from the strengths of both.
The overall GPS track, imported into Google Earth:
An example of a day's ride in map form:
The same day's ride in GE form:
There's a lot of almost religious fervour for or against GPS. Personally I take the view that paper maps and GPS each have their strengths and weaknesses, and using both allows you to benefit from the strengths of both.
Gixxerman
Guru
- Location
- Market Rasen
Matthames said:
Very good advice. I have memory map on my Mio PDA with OS maps loaded.
I use this for hill walking (an activity at which I am very experienced). At first I used to take this and paper maps. But as I got more and more confident with the PDA I started to use the paper maps less and less, until I eventually didn't bother with the peper maps anymore. This worked fine for ages until one fateful day.
I was hill walking in the lake district on new years day. The weather was dry, but very cold. For the non-engineers among us, the cold seriously affects battery performance. I was late starting my walk due to getting up late and traffic problems. You can see where all this is going. I was about 3/4 round my circular walk, and it was starting to get dark. So out came the head torch. Then I got the dreaded "main battery low alarm" on the PDA. Not long after that, the battery failed completely and I had no map, and the light was really starting to fade very fast now. So I decided to make my way down immediately using a compass bearing instead of finding my planned decent path, as getting off the hill anywhere is better than being benighted on the tops. Then my headtorch started to fade, then soon after I was in total darkness, as the headtorch batteries failed. I am still quite high up (>2000ft) and on rough, steep ground, and lost. After some rather unsucessful attempts at walking using my phone as a torch, which resulted in a few falls (not serious, but worrying nontheless), I had to swallow my pride and call out mountain rescue. It was extremely embarassed and apolagetic but also very greatful (so much in fact that I sent the MRT a donation, which though generous no doubt did not cover the cost of my rescue). I now always carry a paper map (and spare batteries).
Cathryn
Legendary Member
- Location
- Marlborough, Wiltshire
slowmotion said:
Exactly. Maps ARE romantic, I could stare at them for hours! I can imagine GPS are useful, and checking maps all the time on a bike IS annoying...but it's all about maps. One of the best bits of any tour is getting the new maps and starting to plan. It gives me the shivers!!!
CopperBrompton
Bicycle: a means of transport between cake-stops
- Location
- London
Though rather less so in the pissing rain at the end of a knackering day when you just want to be at the campsite now ...Cathryn said:
Cathryn
Legendary Member
- Location
- Marlborough, Wiltshire
Ben Lovejoy said:
Agreed.
ComedyPilot
Secret Lemonade Drinker
- Location
- The Kingdom of Yorkshire
Ben Lovejoy said:
A lightweight tarp and a trekking pole provide me (and my bike) with ample shelter to sit out the rain, read a map, drink/make a brew and carry on later.
Arch
Married to Night Train
- Location
- Salford, UK
Cathryn said:
Nah, get a bar bag with a map case on top. Unless you're very unlucky with your route cutting across corners all the time, you can get a good long stretch in, and then you have an excuse to stop when you need to turn it over.
samid
Veteran
- Location
- Toronto, Canada
psmiffy said:
On my Garmin Vista HCx, you can set the routing so that it avoids motorways. Combined with Garmin City Navigator maps this works a treat - e.g. when I was riding to Edinburgh on A1, it knew exactly where it became off-limits to cycles and directed me to A199 (IIRC).
Generally speaking, I agree with people saying that the combination of GPS and paper maps works best. I find it next to impossible to plan the next day's route on the tiny GPS screen - but once you have the plan, GPS makes keeping to it easy. As well as keeping track of where you have actually been. Also, on several occasions "custom POIs" with campsite locations saved my day.
