Are you still a map master?

Both. You get no context from a satnav. On a long run it won’t tell you where might be interesting to take a break or choose a more scenic route. But a satnav is perfect for getting you in and out of cities, avoiding blockages and jams and for the ‘last mile’ .

Maps are wonderful but you cannot manage them while driving, nevertheless I still don’t use a satnav. If I don’t know where I’m going I go somewhere else.

You need both. Maps are both useful and interesting to get an overall view of the route, and landmarks. Also good if your wife (or passenger) can read them and tell you when to turn off (before rather than after the junction 🙂 ) And, as I said elsewhere, if your satnav fails or if you lose your signal. But, for driving more safely (you can’t put the map book on your steering wheel) I listen to the commands from the nice lady and, a great boon, I have head up display which keeps your eyes on the road whilst key journey information appears in front of your eyes. Sat navs also score if you have to deviate from your map plan – a new route appears instantly. But more so, no map gives directions to addresses – so finding 53 Warren Street, Badgertown, unless you have an A-Z of all places you visit is very hit and miss without a satnav.

No question in my mind; both have their place. Incidentally, if on holiday and you want a mystery tour around an area, put in your destination with shortest route. It can be entertaining.

I agree with the others about using both. I plan journeys using a map, albeit an online version such as Google maps. I also plan using MyDrive from TomTom and Tyre (both can export to my TomTom Satnav). On the road I use my TomTom satnav for the fastest route to avoid jams, but I am basically following the route I chose earlier. I also have my car satnav set to shortest route as it has a bigger display and gives me more context. I also have a paper map in the car if I want to reassess a route I want to take or for my wife to refer to as we drive. However we don’t tend us the paper version much these days.
For a recent journey in a hired car in France I had my TomTom preloaded with destinations, and my wife had the iPad showing offline Google maps for the wider scale/context.
Yes I do like to know where I am and how I got there. I also enjoy the research and just love maps.

After a major service unbeknownst to us our sat nav default settings had changed such that it was programmed to avoid tolls. On a trip to the South of France it was only when I saw the sign “welcome to Belgium” that i realised something had wrong. After fruitless attempts to reroute we resorted to a physical map. It was then that we realised what had happened. We learnt two lessons
1. When switching on sat nav don’t switch off brain. Check with a proper map occasionally, and
2. France has a hell of a lot of toll roads !

There should be a button for both.

Sat have are brilliant at the end of a journey, when you are looking for an address and cannot take your eyes off the road because of traffic density. Remember trying to use the A-Z books?
On long journeys, a map book gives you total control over which route you choose, and what diversions you may wish to make. Plotting an over the hills and far away route on a satnav is next to impossible. So both have their uses, but always be aware of where you’re heading and your approximate location. Don’t blindly trust technology!

Really need both , plus a little common sense. Sat nav very good if driving alone or in towns. If driving with a passenger/navigator , occasional reference to map confirms you are progressing to your chosen destination.

As has been said by many above – both! They compliment each other and not a question of ‘either or’.

We drive a lot in Europe. I like having the maps but we need detailed town maps and could not possible carry them all with us! The sat Nav is perfect for this.

Yes, I prefer maps but still use the Sat Nav as a back up. My wife does not like navigating. Especially in difficult terrain,e.g. , Welsh mountains.

Both. Navigators are sometimes wrong and can break down.

I prefer navigating to driving, but my efforts are not appreciated when I say “Look at that windmill, or castle, over there”. I am also accused of sounding like a driving instructor on approaching roundabouts, etc. – “Move to the right-hand lane and take the third exit . . . ” .

It is always better to get a rough idea of your best route by using a map rather than blindly accepting the route calculated by the sat nav. It can often add long detours which are not necessary and sometimes you can avoid being sent down unsuitable lanes. Where the sat nav comes into its own is when you enter large urban centres and it counts you down into junctions, gets you in the correct lane and gives you a representation of the junction so you can anticipate your way through it.

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The on-line AA Route Planner remains a very good way of planning a journey and working out an overall route in advance and, unlike the average household road atlas, it is bang up-to-date. It also provides a printable stage-by-stage description of the entire route with distances and timings. I don’t always agree with its choice of route, however, and insert a ‘via’ option to use the sort of roads or countryside that I prefer rather than the shortest journey time but longer distance sometimes suggested. But there are many easy options to customise the route.

I am in my late 70s and have navigated with maps for many years. However, I find satnavs a terrific boon and now only very rarely get out a paper map when motoring. Using the satnav is so much more relaxing than map reading.
When going on a long journey or into London, I check for hold-ups using the “Directions” facility on Google maps and use this information to supplement the (sometimes inaccurate) traffic warning/renavigation system that came with my satnav.

As many others have said, you need both a sat-nav and a map when covering long journeys. The map will give you an overall idea of where you are heading, and what towns and junctions to expect. An OS map gives highly informative details of an area, such as height, and terrain, should you need them. A sat-nav tends to take you by the shortest route to your destination, which as I found to my initial cost, can lead you across a very large city, whereas a glance at a map may reveal a ring-road, or nearby motorway which you should take instead.

I use a sat-nav even if I know the route because sometimes the road may be blocked whilst a diversion is in place. This is especially true of motorways where you may find yourself side-tracked along country roads looking for “diversion” signs, which often are not well presented.

Another reason is that negotiating complicated junctions in heavy traffic is made easier because you are told and shown exactly which exit to take before you reach it. Changing lanes in heavy London traffic, for example, is then less stressful as the need to carefully observe the road signs becomes unnecessary.

I have sometimes travelled across a small town at night, with little or no street lighting, and have been grateful for my sat-nav.

It goes without saying of course that you should know how to operate it, and have chosen the right options before starting off.

When all else fails, read the operating instructions! 

I think that there is a case for sat navs, but I prefer to choose my own route and then memorise it, so that I don’t have to keep looking at a sat nav, or be told what to do! If there are any difficult sections, then I either print out a copy of the map or look in the map book ( which is 1.5 inches to the mile, and very accurate!)

With a map you learn the area, not just a fragment of it. Having no idea where you are in relation to anything else means that you have no map in your head to use when thinking about journeys, landmarks or points of personal interest.
People with satnavs have argued with me about country roads I’ve been using for years!

plan with maps execute with satnav

I always plan the route with Open Street Map, then view my destination via Google Street View, then put Miss Streetpilot (The Satnav) on.

There’s nothing like a Satnav for getting you through the awkward places, and there’s nothing like already knowing where you’re going the rest of the way.

You need both! Reliance on a sat-nav alone will have you taking the long way around on boring motorways and you may also find yourself on unsuitable country lanes rather than a more direct and interesting route. You cannot always rely on the sat nav to find you the best route.

I fairly regularly visit a somewhat remote location in mid Hampshire and the first couple of times; using my Tom Tom alone: near my destination I found myself on completely unsuitable, rough and very narrow country lanes and one dark November night I broke an expensive alloy wheel on a massive pot hole in one of them, which was barely more than a farm track. Furthermore, from my departure point (near Bristol) at around 17.00 hours on a week day, my sat nav wants to take me via Bath – an appalling traffic jam black spot, second only to Bristol in the South West. For an unfamiliar journey I find it is far best to first check the route by drawing a straight pencil line to my destination on a map and then selecting the most direct, suitable route. I then list the pertinent way points so that I can check the sat nav instructions as I drive. Since I mostly travel alone and cannot read a map while driving (which could be very hazardous), I find this combination of sat nav and listed way points; gives the best navigation solution.

Furthermore, I found with great irritation three years ago that Tom Tom did not include the Isle of Man in its UK and Ireland maps – how ridiculous is that? Anyone intending to visit the IOM, Channel Islands etc should check that their sat nav will cover them.

I use satnav these days but I sort a route out using a Philips map book which is a large scale. I then input waypoints into the satnav and it makes life easier as I don’t have to keep stopping to check the map. I also set the satnav to use either shortest or fastest route and also use the optional omit bits where you can avoid motorways, ferries etc. I still love maps though and can immere myself in a good map for hours.