I'm going on holiday tomorrow and realised I must have left my last road atlas in the Vectra when I got rid of it, or have otherwise lost it somewhere so I bought a new one. Most people I know under 60 don't seem to have them any more so I'm curious to know what sort of proportion of people do.

I know a lot of people rely on satnavs and phones but I've had enough problems with that kind of thing to have learnt the value of a physical map.

I've not had one for years and don't really see the point.

I don't even have a London A-Z now.

Stu

I try to keep one in every vehicle - it keeps SWMBO busy (and quiet)

Yes for Fury, no for Tintop (built-in Satnav)

Proper maps are so much better for looking at what is around you. satnav will get you there, but you don't get a feel for anything apart from the route. Look at a map, and you see what towns are close and so on. Much better IMO.

In fact I prefer a simple routecard to a satnav for long distances. Satnav damn handy for the last few miles finding a specific location.

I carry one in every car, although I have a sat nav I use my head to get near then the the twat nav for the last few miles

I live in a rural area and as said the sat-nav may get you were you want to go, but you may need a map to get out.

My sat-nav (Garmen) has several times led me the long way around when a quick look at a map will save gas and time.

On one occasion when I arrived at the destination the nav said I was in the middle of a lake!

I have one in the garage, but it's currently serving as a beer coaster...

proper maps, and a sense of direction,..

no satnav,.. not even in my 14plate tin top

The satnag is magic for getting to a destination but sometimes we go out to visit a place and, once we've finished, we like to find another place of interest. Only a road map can give that sort of information.

Sat nav's are great for getting you somewhere you don't know, but on a long trip i like to have an idea where i 'really' am along the route rather than just blindly following the sat nav.

I know several people who rely on sat nav's so much that they actualy don't know where they've been or how they got there and couldn't point to where they are on a map!. Maybe i'm getting old, but i like to have an idea where i am along with using a sat nav.

Ian

Satnav every time for navigation - no trying to find a place to stop while you check the map and no relying on the wife to read it in between! Atlas for deciding where to go and getting at least an idea of the route so that I can overrule the satnav if I think it's not going the best way.

Keep one in each of the 3 cars, always have and probably always will. No substitute for browsing a map to plan the route.

Google maps on the phone and if im going anywhere I might not have signal I take the tablet which has Navfree app with all maps preloaded.

In my last Beemer the google maps / sat nag integration was fab....find where you want to go on maps, right click, send to car....

..get in car... follow satnav .... avoid traffic jams ... even had Streetview on the dash...

...but as some say, it's easy to not have any idea where you really are!

[Edited on 8/7/14 by stevebubs]

I have an old Navman sat nav which is great but the maps are out of date. My mobile phone has a great up to date sat nav built in but it also does loads of other stuff, music, phone calls, email etc so I mostly use the old Navman with the phone for pinpointing the last few miles. I like an atlas as a belts and braces failsafe though and get a new one at least every couple of years.

All the Tomtoms I've had have been rubbish! So now I have my phone and a road atlas to make sure the phone isn't takingvthe pi$$

Yes a 1982 (?) OS gb atlas, the proper one that uses the os grid references not the customary a1 grids, unfortunately no longer made.

Satmap is for losers without brains

Having been in situations where technology has failed miserably I don't like the idea of being somewhere I don't know with out an actual real map that won't run out of power, run out of signal or delete itself. A point hammered home around Christmas when I went (as a passenger) on a trip to Dorset while there was flooding and we had endless going down roads to find they were blocked with no diversions signs visible (If I'd have been driving I'd have gone back via the motor way given how hard it was to get there in the light).

There do seem to be an awful lot of people these days who can't get anywhere without satnav. It makes you wonder how so many people got about in the days before satnav, mobile phones and the internet.

I'm lucky in that I have an almost photographic memory when it comes to maps but I still like to carry a map as well as a satnav and the nokia route finder on my phone.

The main reason for the sat nav is often the additional GPS data such as speed, distance and time.

We once fell foul of sat nav data in Europe, I had preloaded it with France and Spain but didn't think to load Belgium or the Netherlands before a short trip there so was surprised to find that it only had the major routes, luckly we had a European atlas in the car and the city maps loaded on to the laptop that I'd been pouring over before the trip.

Atlas every time, never had one stop working or go wrong, no batteries and never had one stolen and only cost £2.99 to replace. Best practical use for a sat nav is when needing to find a very specific address but usually I find out where Im going before setting off! Technology is fast becoming a poor replacement for knowing what you are doing. I.E. self parking cars? learn to drive. I asked a student (looking to go to Uni) if he knew where Norwich is, he said "bottom of the premiership."

I'd only use a sat nav as using a map in the middle of motorway traffic is nuts and just asking for a crash. I have a Tom Tom with lane change info which is very good. Some are not, my last one a Garmin was utter rubbish.

I've always carried one. I tend to look at the map before starting out and sometimes ignore the sat nav until I get near to the destination.

I've just been on a caravan trip from Aberdeen to York and could never have manage it with just a map, hard enough with a satnav dealing with all the lane changes. I mind years ago before having one, putting cutouts of road maps on my dash to try and follow the route, even harder when on a motorbike

Never need one, generally I can satnav and if I cant I just follow my nose, never got lost in my life.