Road Map or Sat. Nav. - Which do you prefer?

[DSK]

I used both.

Modern day, SatNav tends to work just fine for the major parts of the UK. Only let down was when we used to have M1 night closures between London and Midlands and you had to find alternative routes to guide you around say between Luton/MK upto the midlands. The bloody Tom Tom stated there was a quicker route so I accepted thinking I was smarter than the convoy of HGV drivers at 2am. The bloody sat nav kept leading me to farmers locked gates from which I could see the M1..... So, after 3 failed attempts I told swore at the sat nav and put my faith in the HGV drivers and followed them! SatNav's are only as good as the men in white coats that program them!

Also, what bloody use is a satnav in London, damn thing looses its signal every 10 yards leaving you to drive around in circles.

Its times like this I prefer the old maps. Yes it takes longer to read and plot a route but, you know what route you are going to take and also, little town names stick in your mind so when you're on the road you know you are heading in the right direction. This is why not matter what, my boot has a proper AA map road atlas.

In all honesty I think in modern days very few people will be able to map read.

[green van man]

Both.
Paper map for the route, sat nav for the final miles in town.

Used to navigate rally chase cars, it was all 1:50,000 OS maps back in the day and still use them along withe the bigger scale OS maps for the green lanes in the landrover.
Do use electronic means to check legality of the lanes beforehand, GLASS Trail wise 2.

Paul.

[Simmy]

i just set off and put sat nav on when i get near for finding location . i did a road trip in california and never used any thing.

[DaveNP]

Originally Posted by DSK

I... So, after 3 failed attempts I told swore at the sat nav and put my faith in the HGV drivers and followed them! ...
In all honesty I think in modern days very few people will be able to map read.

As an HGV driver with 35 years experience it saddens me to say a lot of those HGV drivers you followed were also probably just following their SatNav. The number of new staff and agency staff we get in who can't cope without a SatNav is appalling, all of our routes have what we call an 'Idiot Sheet' which is a tried and tested route we've been using for years, it has written instructions and a map of the destination area but still they will just read the postcode from the address and put it in their SatNav, that then causes a problem as some postcodes will not take them to the delivery door and, depending on the settings on their SatNav, they will take a longer route.
As a part of our HGV qualification we now have to do ongoing training, equivalent to one day a year, and the last time I was on a course they felt it necessary to include half a day on map reading!

[Wagon Sailor]

And it gets worse when the satnav the truck driver is using is designed for cars.

[EssexExile]

Originally Posted by Simmy

i just set off and put sat nav on when i get near for finding location . i did a road trip in california and never used any thing.

I've done road trips all over the USA before satnavs were invented! Great fun.

[c1800]

“ anyone who relies on just a sat nav, is going to end up being a problem driver sooner or later,”

Satnav or not, aren’t we all?