I suspect the majority of answers here are representative of the average age of bike riders these days rather than a decent mean sample of what people use to navigate.
Anyway, for me, I put the destination in the sat nav but have a map to veer off to intersting bits. I really only pay attention to the gps in the last 10 miles or so
Navigating
Re: Navigating
My first go at touring Europe was using maps, was hit and miss really. My second trip was agin using maps but with route napoleon and route de grande alpes on the itinerary, so it was much better.
Sat navs became more popular by my third biannual trip, but my car based sat nav died after going through a monsoon in Germany, second day into the trip. So I bought maps and plotted my own routes between mountain passes. We "stumbled" across Slovenia on that trip, which was a revelation. You couldn't possibly do that with a satnav. Great memories from that trip.
Further improvements to sat navs, social media and route sharing have now brought the best local knowledge of biking routes directly into your satnav' memory before leaving. I often wondered while touring with maps was I missing a "must do road" by choosing another route.
So, the choice I guess is yours, maps = adventure at the expense of possibly missing a great road, satnavs give you downloaded biking nirvana from all the best the Internet has to offer.
Me, I've gone with the Nav, biking nirvana and the knowledge that I won't discover a country at the top of a mountain pass by accident again, all because I like scratching round mountain passes. If I ever get the chance to be lucky enough to have more than a two week blast round Europe, the maps will come back out.
My tip if using maps, the best flowing biking roads usually follow rivers in the valleys and of course the passes in the mountains.
Sat navs became more popular by my third biannual trip, but my car based sat nav died after going through a monsoon in Germany, second day into the trip. So I bought maps and plotted my own routes between mountain passes. We "stumbled" across Slovenia on that trip, which was a revelation. You couldn't possibly do that with a satnav. Great memories from that trip.
Further improvements to sat navs, social media and route sharing have now brought the best local knowledge of biking routes directly into your satnav' memory before leaving. I often wondered while touring with maps was I missing a "must do road" by choosing another route.
So, the choice I guess is yours, maps = adventure at the expense of possibly missing a great road, satnavs give you downloaded biking nirvana from all the best the Internet has to offer.
Me, I've gone with the Nav, biking nirvana and the knowledge that I won't discover a country at the top of a mountain pass by accident again, all because I like scratching round mountain passes. If I ever get the chance to be lucky enough to have more than a two week blast round Europe, the maps will come back out.
My tip if using maps, the best flowing biking roads usually follow rivers in the valleys and of course the passes in the mountains.
Re: Navigating
I have a Garmin Sat Nav and Google maps on my phone, but generally find that my nose is my best route planning tool. You can get pretty much anywhere just by knowing if it is generally North or South and following the signs.
Nav is really good for the last 5 or so miles to an out the way destination, if you have make an appointment, or if your nose gets blocked. And of course if you don't have signs or can't read them, but following your nose is much more fun.
Slovenia is beautiful, spent a week going between Ljubljana (yes, I spell checked that) and Maribor a few years ago, many glasses of Lasko downed.
Nav is really good for the last 5 or so miles to an out the way destination, if you have make an appointment, or if your nose gets blocked. And of course if you don't have signs or can't read them, but following your nose is much more fun.
Slovenia is beautiful, spent a week going between Ljubljana (yes, I spell checked that) and Maribor a few years ago, many glasses of Lasko downed.
