dlq04

After 5 months with GPS, I can't say I'm overly impressed with it. I still prefer a good Road Atlas. Does anyone have a good recommendation; I need to update ours?

So far nothing I've found can compare to one I've had since 1976. It was a Rand McNally published for moving companies. Mine came from Allied. I contacted the local Allied mover and he said Allied no longer provides them as they once did. As you can imagine after 31 years it is worn out and dated . . . yet it is still the very best over others that I have such as AAA, State Farm, etc. For example it showed Wintergreen, VA. I wonder how many maps showed that. The employee at Allied suggested I try looking at truck stops; so that's on my to-do list but I thought I ask here as well.

goblueS2K

The Rand McNally web site has an online store that sells all their Road Atlas versions, including the Motor Carrier version with laminated pages and spiral binding. I've seen this version at Pilot truck stops.

I usually buy my annual copy of their regular version of the Road Atlas at Sam's Club.

For Wintergreen, I used my GPS almost exclusively and it performed flawlessly until the trip home. It directed me to a 30 or 40-mile stretch of 2-lane highway (Rt. 35) off of I-64. Looking at the Road Atlas, I would never have taken the route, but it probably was the shortest route.

Lainey

We did like the GPS for our road trip, We gave it about 98% for getting us where we needed to be, but we always checked the route it was giving us before the long distance parts of the trip, and entered a "Via" stop if we wanted to be near a different route than was being suggested.

That said, we were glad to have conventional maps with us as well. On Sunday, I must have "fed" the GPS something incorrect as it was sending us towards Washington. Having the conventional map (along with Rick's good sense of direction) was a good thing. God knows where I would have ended up if I had been alone.

We also have an older Atlas on hand. When hitting the road, we usually just get the AAA maps for the areas we will be traveling in, and I'm pretty certain the VA map did show Wintergreen.

dlq04

Dah, thanks. Lots to choose from. I'll look in Sam's and truck stops to do a little touchy feely comparisons if I can. My present one is about 110 pages; looks like the newest ones are double and triple that. The one highlighting places of interest sounds promising.

CitadelBlue

Large Print Helps Too........

S1997

I keep late editions of the State Farm Rand McNally Road Atlas and the AAA Atlas. I always pick up the free-to-members AAA maps before leaving on a trip. For pleasure rides in the S or for cycling and offroading I used to use the more detailed AAA map books of Texas and Colorado -- they show all roads, every little alley way and off-road dirt path in the state. Normally, too, each state's Hwy department or tourist information department will have extensive map books that you can order for free on the internet.

But on the trip to Wintergreen I enjoyed using the Garmin -- especially after Lainey's tutorial. It constantly announced ahead of time which interstate lane changes to make when passing through a city, and it predicted to within a minute the arrival time to destination. It keeps a record of average times, highest speed! (wow, that S will go!) And it didn't say <impossible!> as I had reported. She was a little grouchy, though, at times, and would say recalc...recalculating.. -- when possible make a U turn! And she knew that I didn't follow her instructions...

Still, I sometimes needed to pull out the paper maps from under the passenger seat to have a look. And I even impressed Patty on our cross country route by stopping to ask directions once or twice! Real men don't ...

Dr. J

We have a fantastic store in Ottawa called World of Maps. You can literally spend hours wandering around the store and browsing through the maps, books etc. I have attached a link to their web-site. It is definitely worth a look. I have purchased Atlases and maps from them; one of the favourites is a map of "back roads", as they're often the most interesting and scenic routes.

World of Maps

Enjoy and good luck!!

dlq04

Going up to Canada to get a map would be like going up in the attic.

Thanks for the link.

Jim, getting older and wiser . . . . I too have no problem stopping and asking for directions. I'm not a member of AAA but I have seen & used their layout maps. I'm not impressed with their Road Atlas which I bought new but never use; most of it is too small to read.

DrCloud

We're about to head for New Jersey in the car with the navigation system, and it will be interesting to me to see how I like it for a long trip. (Around town, it's fun; on our trip to FFFII in March, it was useful.)

But I really like the large format pages of a paper atlas. It just seems like a map should be a big piece of paper.

We've been updating our Rand-McNallys every few years and, last time, got the large-print version. Thing is, it has no more real information than the regular one, just more white space.

What I really like are the DeLorme state-by-state atlases. We don't have all of the states, but we always take the ones we have as appropriate. They show everything. Still, that's "zoomed in" too far for getting the big picture on longer trips, so something like the R-M one is useful, too.

All this adds up to carrying a small library along in the car. It's a good thing that Claire likes to keep the passenger seat slightly forward when we take the S! HPH

Dr. J

You know.........it's often those times when you wander up to the "attic" that you discover those "hidden treasures"!

Or..............you could always order the maps on-line.