GPS? Really

[not-fishing]

Dead Reckoning.

Sun, water flows, moss  I know to many decades backpacking

Over - yonder

And lastly those folded paper things called maps.

GPS is for younger folks who are not easily confused

Mark

[Farmer Dan]

I use GPS to find addresses in cities I've never been to.  Most other times I use memory or an atlas.  Don't have a state map.

[guzzisteve]

Do you still use a cigarette paper to check timing with contact breakers Steve, or have you caved in and bought a TIMING LIGHT !!!

Yes, I have a variable T Lite where you can use TDC if you want. BUT No I don't have lectrik gear of any kind, I do have sweaters though.  My phone is just a flip phone. I use puter for bikes cause it went that way and needed to keep up on it.

[Idontwantapickle]

And let the spellchecker correct it!   That way you wouldn't NEED a keyboard, the "c" would come from inside the machine!

Genius!   Next, "bolour supplements" .....

Lannis

Huh! I never thought of that before. What a silly bunt!

[wavedog]

I like gps and paper maps or charts. I usually write my driving directions in dry erase marker on the inside of my windscreen. Rode a couple times across the U.S. that way- no gps. I flew an ag plane from central Texas to Paragould, Arkansas with no compass, no nav equipment, just a wac chart. That was fun. Gps is great for in town. Nothing beats a map spread out on the table and dreaming of places to go and roads to ride. I have found that nowdays it is hard to find a road map with any detail. They show only major hiways and it takes a lot of searching to find the good stuff. I end up resorting to an online map for the good roads. I am too tight to pay high prices for a series of maps with that kind of detail, but I may change my mind soon. Maps have a magic that gps will never have.

[Diploman]

My Speedhut speedometer/odometer uses the GPS signal, and gives a precise, honest readout of both speed and distance.  Plus it doesn't need any wheel sensors and doesn't care if you change wheels or tires.

[nyITguy]

I hate relying on GPS. I'm good at staring at a map for a while and committing as much of it as possible to memory. GPS dulls my spacial awareness, sense of direction and time. Last trip I took where I tried to rely on it I wound up way off course because I was more interested in my surroundings than in paying attention to the screen.

But it certainly was helpful at the end of the day when I needed to pinpoint an address I'd never been to before.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Pop]

Oh fellas. I do not speak of something I do not know. My wife surprised me with one. After a couple of near disasters: wrong way down a one way street in a Phila. Suburb and the turn right here to no road. I have no idea where it is, and I ain't lookin!
Where old towns and new building occurs, GPS goes haywire. My own 100 year old house shows up on GPS 1 1/2 miles away because the new homes in the neighborhood did not use the earlier numbers. I tell people with GPS to go to #38 on my road and I am across the street. My number is 121. Happens all to frequently where old meets new.
As for maps, I do all my map reading in the comfort of home. Then I take my 5x5 plastic board and grease pencil all my route numbers and direction. Several soft fridge magnets glued to the plastic board hold my directions on the gas tank.
For bike weeks the maps stay cozy in the saddle bags.

[Lannis]

As for maps, I do all my map reading in the comfort of home. Then I take my 5x5 plastic board and grease pencil all my route numbers and direction. Several soft fridge magnets glued to the plastic board hold my directions on the gas tank.
For bike weeks the maps stay cozy in the saddle bags.

Since I'm not big on tank bags (they get in my way and in the way of putting gas in the bike) although I like the map pocket on top, I have a couple of Enduro map rollers that I move from bike to bike.   I load 'em up with directions and mileages from the maps and then just turn the knob as I go down the road.

Should be useful too if I get into the Motogiro habit next year ....

Lannis

[Huzo]

Yes it was , it's been co-opted by folks who aren't aware of the story .

 Dusty

No I wasn't aware of that actually.

[rodekyll]

Where I find I use the GPS most is pulling off the highway and calling it up to tell me how far from the next few towns or major highway intersections I am.  Handy when I'm considering a fuel stop.  Otherwise, unless I've planned the route for a reason, I'm more likely to piss her off (British robot lady in the GPS) by "chasing butterflies", as a guy smarter and more disciplined than I once said.

[jdgretz]

I keep a set of maps on the bike for the state(s) I'm traveling in (and probably a Tour Book from AAA as well).  My GPS is always on as that's were I have my music stored.  If I'm in rally mode, then the GPS is a necessity, but if I'm in tourist mode, the maps are my go-to.

On my latest trip to NorCal for the Tour of Honor, I found myself using the maps to find the funner roads between bonus locations and the GPS for final routing.  When all else fails, I tell the GPS to take me home and it will point me to the correct freeway.  At least from there I have a good jumping off point for my own directions.

jdg

[Sheepdog]

Whew...Luddite gazetteers are coming out of the woodwork! For a moment, I thought I was on the Airheads Beemer Club forum.

I like both maps and GPS. Neither works as well as both of them together. Maps are great for planning, re-living a trip, or finding your way in a deep canyon. GPS (along with Bluetooth audio) is great for providing directions that don't require taking your eyes off the road along with nearly infinite details regarding lodging, fuel, campgrounds, etc. I proved my map-reading chops in the Army Land Navigation course back in the mid-seventies...these days I prefer the belts-and-suspenders approach that I can achieve with both paper maps and GPS.

[Scud]

In packing for an upcoming short trip to Germany (with two-day detour into Alps) I immediately bought a paper map of the region - AND downloaded the appropriate maps to my phone (which syncs with my Garmin handheld GPS).

I plan to mark my desired locations on the map. Even if I get totally lost and have dead batteries, I bet I can find someone who (even if they don't speak English) can show me where I am and/or draw a line with best route to my destination.

Cool thing about the handheld Garmin I use - you can download your intended track as a colored line. Then all you have to do is glance at the screen to see if you are still on the colored line. If not, it's time to stop and figure out where you blew a turn.

I also like tracking my rides with the GPS. Sometimes I will start down a new road that I don't have time to explore - and it shows as a spur on my map that I can come back to another day. Or I can "mark" a location of interest at any time.

So yeah - I love using a GPS, but the idea of depending ONLY on it does not appeal to me.

Case in point... I was riding a dirt bike from Flagstaff, AZ to Sedona, AZ (following my colored line on the screen) and about to enter the only dirt road that drops down a major grade when I met a forest ranger. He flagged me down and said the road was closed to motor vehicles. A detour at this point would have caused at least a 2-hour delay back to asphalt. I pulled out my motor-vehicle-use-map for the area, pointed at where I thought we were and said, "are we here?"  He looked, agreed that was the location, saw the "motorcycle-only" designation on the road and said, "Well I guess it's just closed to cars. Have a nice day."  About a half-mile later, I encountered a locked gate across the road, with a motorcycle sized opening in it (and appropriate signage.)  Moral of the story: Map + GPS is better than either alone.

[screamday]

I use maps and I don't mind getting lost.   

I've gotten lost many times using s GPS. 

[Wayne Orwig]

I use a GPS almost all of the time.
But I SELDOM let the thing route me from A to B. Or when I do, I often ignore what it is saying.
Instead, I use it just as an e-map. I often ride down a road, glance at it, and see a road of in the woods, that I would not have even know existed if I had not glanced at the GPS screen. Off to explore I go.
I have often ridden with people that have planned out a ride on paper, and we have to 'stick with the plan'. And many times during the ride, I see interesting roads on the screen, that all I can do is hope to return to the area some day to explore.
People that think a GPS is only going to give you a structured boring ride, are doing it wrong.

It also helps that I have spent a lot of time editing OSM maps for public use. You tend to learn a lot about an area, when you edit and create map data.

 

[Huzo]

I've gotten lost many times using s GPS. 

Get a better one and latest maps. You can't lose.

[Pop]

Sorry if I offended anyone. Actually, I don't go enough places anymore to need or use the GPS. It just bothers. Me when people are going somewhere they have been before or a simple point A to point B. Oh, map directions don't stop me from altering a trip. If a road calls to me, I go.
Pop

[oldbike54]

No I wasn't aware of that actually.

 It's OK Peter , wouldn't expect an Ozzie to even be aware of Oklahoma 

 Dusty

[Guzzistajohn]

I use a GPS almost all of the time.
But I SELDOM let the thing route me from A to B. Or when I do, I often ignore what it is saying.
Instead, I use it just as an e-map. I often ride down a road, glance at it, and see a road of in the woods, that I would not have even know existed if I had not glanced at the GPS screen. Off to explore I go.
I have often ridden with people that have planned out a ride on paper, and we have to 'stick with the plan'. And many times during the ride, I see interesting roads on the screen, that all I can do is hope to return to the area some day to explore.
People that think a GPS is only going to give you a structured boring ride, are doing it wrong.

It also helps that I have spent a lot of time editing OSM maps for public use. You tend to learn a lot about an area, when you edit and create map data.

I've found a bunch of old roads I never would have ridden w/o the GPS.

[azguzzirep]

Yes, maps for the big picture, GPS to find the pub in Bugtussle.

I  always go to either Hooterville or Pettycoat Junction. Bugtussle waters their whiskey!😆😆

[Mr Pootle]

Okay, use a satnav in a car, but on a bike? Never. Billy and Wyatt didn't need one, and neither should you.

[charlie b]

Forgot my other land nav aid.  The gun stabilization system on my tank.  :)

Dark night, just a map and in a forest where I can't see hills or horizon.  Before entering forest, orient the gun north and turn on the stab system.  That way I at least knew how to keep going in same general direction  :)  No, compasses did not work when sitting on top of 60tons of steel :)

[Tom]

I've gotten lost many times using s GPS. 

Part of the "whole deal" is working your way out.  I like intermixing with people and asking for directions.    Sometimes, I really get lost. 

[Huzo]

It's OK Peter , wouldn't expect an Ozzie to even be aware of Oklahoma 

 Dusty

Yeah Doris Day told me where it was.
Thar's where the " Wind comes whistling 'cross the plain"

[ITSec]

Yeah Doris Day told me where it was.
Thar's where the " Wind comes whistling 'cross the plain"

You've got your casting upside down - to be expected, I guess!

Doris Day had nothing to do with it, as Laurie was played most notably by (but not first) by Florence Henderson (stage) and Shirley Jones (film).

Meantime, Doris was busy in Calamity Jane, The Glass Bottom Boat, and Please Don't Eat the Daisies.

[oldbike54]

 Peter , ignore the movie Oklahoma , read the play "Green grow the lilacs" to understand where I live.  Rogers and Hammerstein to great liberties in creating the original musical . We don't really break into song for no apparent reason 

 Dusty

[rodekyll]

And if you want a real giggle, discover what Jane's "calamity" was.