Do you use a paper map?

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by LeonardS

Doesn't AAA still give out free maps? I haven't asked for them in a while.

Not exactly free, but included with membership, within some limits.

I get auto club maps before - or during - each major road trips, but their selection is somewhat limited. In some cases you need to get the maps when you arrive in the area, because auto club offices at home might not have the same selection, particularly of city maps.

I like the official government maps for provinces, which were better than the auto club and privately published maps in the past, but some provinces' maps have gone downhill.

[ihwild]

Both for me if I'm doing a long trip that I'm unfamiliar with. If I am going to someplace unknown locally I will try to bring it up on an online map to verify its location then plug it in the GPS but I've already got a mental route in mind. I have yet to find every single address I put into my GPS exactly where it claims it too be. I've seen a few that were a couple miles off. I look at it this way on a long trip. If the GPS or the satellite conks out or your gps unit gets stolen odds are they will leave the map so you aren't totally screwed. Also I just hate trying to zoom out on that gps screen to look at the Big picture and see exactly where everything else is. I really need to remember to teach my kids how to understand a basic map. Oh and I remember AAA would make trip ticks for people which were shrunk down maps in a binder just for your basic route you were taking and some of the surrounding area.

Rich

[Byron Kinnaman]

Originally Posted by LeonardS

So those folks in Northern California and Western Oregon years past that somehow got themselves on snow closed roads and stuck for days....were they using GPS or paper maps?

Most paper maps show winter road closures.

If you're talking about the Kim family in Oregon, they weren't using a GPS.

[Joy A]

I love paper maps. My Atlas is about 6 or 7 years old.

I bought an Atlas cover at Camping World some years ago. The cover has pockets in the front and back. I have about 2 maps in each pocket. I've got all 50 States and Canadian Provinces plus a 1/2 dozen regional maps and of course several United States Maps.

My Eastern Maps are probably 10 years old so if and when I decide to get out past Ohio, Kentucky and into the South I'll go to AAA and get current maps. The old ones I'll use to plot my basis route. I by-pass Big Cities, freeways and certainly Toll roads so my old maps are likely still good at least for general planning.

I've found a couple of times that newer maps no longer have some of campgrounds indicated with the red tent, so the old maps are still good keep.

When traveling I fold my maps into 8 1/2 by 11 so the route I'm taking is visible on both sides and then place it into a plastic sleeve. When my route continues off the page I stop and re-fold it or prior to starting out the next day. I usually have at least 3 States folded in their sleeves on the passenger seat.

[floyd]

When entering just about any state in the union by interstate highway, there is a welcome center with state maps for free and more. That is where we get our updated individual maps.

[Roger C H]

I like to use the GPS with a grain of salt. Too many times I have been misdirected by GPS and so I like to have a paper map for confirming or checking the GPS directions.

I can drive to any major city in the US on my own but when I arrive in the city, a GPS is invaluable to find an address.

At all times GPS is useful in finding a specific store, Wal Mart, In n Out, etc.

Hollywood killed our Magellan so we have a Garmin now.

[carlkeigley]

All my GPSs have been Garmin so I can't compare between brands.

[Carol H]

Mine is a TomTom. It's been pretty darn good. No voice repeating over & over its recalculating!!! That some of the other brands have should you dare to turn someplace it wasn't expecting you to. It just remaps quietly.

[D Davis]

TOPO, is how I go, Printed. Especially pulling a trailer. I want to know how steep the Mountain is. Or take the low road scenic route. "DeLorme" Atlas is my choice.
TOPO Quads when hiking or biking.
GPS when Not pulling and going to visit out of town or as a Realtor, It helps me find the house, I get lost in the city. HA!

[Adrian W]

Have a GPS, use Google Maps, DeLorme Steet Atlas, but want a paper map to be able to check things on my own.

In March on the way to Newport Beach, CA, we didn't have a paper map. Just following the GPS.

The Voice told us to turn, we turned & had to pay a few toll fees. If we had a California map with us. We would have know not to turn & keep going.

Need to know just where the Voice is telling one to go. Actually, we had the voice on low & were just reading the print out.

Some of the roads they have want me to take, no one would want to be on.

Give me a paper map (I like the "Freeway" Maps from AAA). But never use Atlases (magazine like things).

[gmw photos]

A month or so back I bought, for $5, the Rand McNally road atlas app for the iPad. It is the identical maps as the large paper atlas. Love it.

[Carol H]

Originally Posted by Adrian W

Have a GPS, use Google Maps, DeLorme Steet Atlas, but want a paper map to be able to check things on my own.

In March on the way to Newport Beach, CA, we didn't have a paper map. Just following the GPS.

The Voice told us to turn, we turned & had to pay a few toll fees. If we had a California map with us. We would have know not to turn & keep going.

my TomTom will tell me when you first plug in the destination address if there are tolls on the route it has planned & ask if you would like it to find an alternative route with no tolls.

[Jared J]

Originally Posted by Carol H

my TomTom will tell me when you first plug in the destination address if there are tolls on the route it has planned & ask if you would like it to find an alternative route with no tolls.

Motion x GPS has an option to avoid tolls. I don't know why it bothers people, if it costs me a few more bucks to get there quicker and start enjoying vacation, so be it.

[honda03842]

Ginny uses maps. Our only GPS is in our phones. We do use the phone GPS to find specific places, it works extremely well. Our phones are taking over practically every electonic function.

[Cathy P.]

I could never live without paper maps! I even keep one for our city in my car and in the house plotting out trips. I am a "visual" person and one of my biggest challenges is locations and getting there. I can also tell you that when we lived in our last city that people coming in using GPS found that it was unreliable in locating our house. I always thought that was a good thing because "big brother" would also have that problem!

[Janb313]

I love paper maps! I like to be able to highlight my route with my marker and feel more secure checking it against the computer stuff. Just got a Garmin and an getting used to it - maybe I will eventually trust it....

[Evergreengirl]

We use GPS, paper maps and road atlases. Of the three, I could most easily get by without the GPS. It's nice for finding a specific address in an unfamiliar city, but for trip planning and finding the best routes, the maps and road atlases are best, at least for us. Someone above mentioned the fact that a printed map or road atlas will tell you the elevation of mountain passes and that's often valuable information when towing a trailer. We also like the DeLorme Atlases for all the extra information they have, like showing campgrounds, boat launches, the site of old mines or ghost towns or other interesting places. And a map or atlas is invaluable for just day dreaming and route planning. We like to get off the beaten path. I also like the fact that if you can't get a satellite signal or cell phone reception a map is still there to guide you. I don't like to be too dependent on technology! Also, no one has mentioned that sometimes it's fun to get a little lost. Some of our best adventures have occurred when we took a wrong turn!

[Vickie B.]

Have had nothing but headaches with Garmin---from trying to upload new maps to being sent on ridiculous routes! The last straw was our trip to South Dakota last week. We now have good ole PAPER maps! I will say Siri on my iPhone seems to do a bit better job, but she scolds me if I swear at her !!!!!!

[Eddie Longest]

I use maps, atlas, GPS and phone GPS software. Since we had a new tablet (Cell phone cap.) I decided to download Copilot as suggested by Thom (Parkliner). I ordered USA and Canada maps for about $15 (USA only about $10). The only issue was the initial map download takes quite a while.
With a 10" tablet the display is really great and eaisly readable. It really helps if you have a real copilot to manage the tablet. What I like the most is trip planning. When I asked for a route it ploted me three differnt routes and gave me mileage and time for each route at the bottom of the screen. You just select which you want one you want to take. It also lets you drag and drop your route if you want to take another route. We have only used it on one 250 mile trip but so far we are impressed. Thanks for the info. on the program Thom. But I still will keep my atlas and maps as back up.
Eddie

[Steve L.]

As a single traveler, I’m all about GPS. I want spoken confirmation of the next direction, an option for automatic recalculation, a color display with the route highlighted, at least a 7” display and I want a rich POI database.

But once there, I want to roughly plan the local wandering on a paper map. I like the DeLorme Gazetteers and I’m slowly expanding my library as I travel to new states and buy a new gazette in the state.

I would gladly spend serious money if I found a wire bound (lays flat) atlas with DeLorme-like detail of the whole US and Canada. Perhaps 4-5 volumes with a volume per region. The whole box set of Gazetteers is $650 which is too much (I said serious money, not crazy money). The regional sets are $75 each which are certainly doable, perhaps a region at a time over time.