Navigation pain

[Glyno]

Apart from having a bar or stem mounted gps device with relevant mapping, what advise can other riders give as to navigating on moderate to long(ish) rides? The reason I ask is that having to habitually refer to a map I've printed off at various road junctions/crossroads etc is proving to be a pain at times and breaks up any momentum or continuity.
Obviously rides over familiar ground aren't a problem, but I'm ever keen to explore further afield.

If indeed a gadget with pre-loaded routes is really the only solution, what could people suggest (preferably without breaking the bank)?

Thanks very much in advance,

Glyn

[MattH]

For gadget, I use the Garmin etrex 30x. 20x is probably just as good for navigation. It uses AA batteries so relatively easy to sort out batteries running out (although they last for a long time anyway). One of my favourite features is being able to see where you are on the elevation profile of your route as you travel, find that of great use when on a long climb. Only recently found out about that one, usually take print outs so I know how painful the day is going to be.

[eileithyia]

https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/accessories ... ap-holder/

Makes light of the faff of using a map having to stop at junctions...

[100%JR]

I don't use any GPS mapping at all.I have tried it(and my unit has it) both on and off road and i just don't like it.I don't use Satnav in the car either.I am by no means a technophobe as I have Laptops/tablets/latest smartphones etc I just prefer routing the old fashioned way.I "memorise" the route I'm going to take.Usually it's the villages/towns in the order I will pass through them.I take a printed sheet of the route as back up but rarely refer to it.If I do take wrong turn I just follow the next sign to the place i should be heading for.I've never gone totally wrong or added more than a couple of miles to my route so I don't need a gps
Much more fun than staring at a GPS unit waiting for it to tell me when to turn

[Psamathe]

I hated the 1st GPS device after it let me down badly (separate review posted) but the 2nd GPS device navigator was great and meant I could cycle without bothering with navigation. I'd get a just audible been when I was getting close to a turn and a glance at the screen to show on map and state where to go. even told me about changing to cycle lanes on other side of road. 2nd device had it's shortcomings but it worked and made "navigation" easy (more following instructions than "navigation").

With the 1st device when it failed I found manual navigation much slower and made for more pauses and delays. Some people will enjoy tht aspect to cycling but for me I prefer to look around the countryside and be told when and where to turn to get me to my destination.

But, they are fairly expensive devices

Ian

[freeflow]

you can set up a smart phone to give voice instructions when following a route. I prefer a silent map display on my stem and a big battery pack to run it. I've happily done 300km audax in this fashion.

[atlas_shrugged]

The system they have in the NL works well. In a local area each point has a node number. All routes/junctions have signs (i.e. a number) that display the node number that that route you are on will take you to. At every node there is a local map with all the node numbers marked and one that indicates the present node number.

Navigation is then a question of writing down a sequence of node numbers or else consigning the sequence to memory.

E.g. 21, 42, 57, 2, 17 will take you from Den Hague to Rotterdam.

[PH]

These days I use GPS, a Garmin Touring which works fine for me, though not everyone gets on with them.
Before that I preferred to follow a routsheet alongside a map, rather than a map alone. The routesheet could be written in advance, or a few miles at a time with the map in front of you. It needn't be complicated, just something to mark the turns with a shorthand you understand.
Like:
L @ T
3rd R
SO RAB
cont 8 mile to ******
L @ X in town cen
...

[foxyrider]

Some form of map holder so you can see the route without stopping. It's also sometimes worth jotting down (on a post it maybe) the places you intend passing through.

I generally try to memorise the next few turns anyhow so I don't have to check at every junction. I'll be touring so stopping to navigate is all part of the trip.

Of course you could do what I did last week in Germany, look at the map before setting off then just winging it! You never know where you'll end up - I added an hour to my ride by going the way I thought I should instead of taking the road that was signed for my destination! But surely that's part of the fun of exploring new places?

I have a GP'S but I use that to see where i've been rather than where i'm going.

[mmcnay]

I make route books using cycle travel pdfs and plastic pockets - the sheets are held together so that I can turn the page as I go. I clip the route book to a home made map holder - see this thread.

viewtopic.php?p=1268339#p1268339

Others added their ideas too like using old chopping boards.

My last day trip I used an OS map clipped into the A4 holder. It worked well. It was windy though, so stopping and adjusting the fold was awkward. But, stopping next to a tree or a hedge helped with that.

Mark

[eileithyia]

I don't use any GPS mapping at all.I have tried it(and my unit has it) both on and off road and i just don't like it.I don't use Satnav in the car either.I am by no means a technophobe as I have Laptops/tablets/latest smartphones etc I just prefer routing the old fashioned way.
Much more fun than staring at a GPS unit waiting for it to tell me when to turn

Quite agree, Far more fun.... My first experience of first ever trip away with now partner...his satnag had us directed to a field......

A couple of times recently his phone satnag has taken us in an odd direction. I have recently relented over a satnag. We had been discussing getting a dashcam. More so since we got a caravan and have had a few incidents that could have caused a nasty accident. After Partner's phone satnag took us down a fairly narrow road with caravan, we got a camera / satnag combined that can be set for caravan routes....


The best way I found learning local lanes when I first moved north was just head out, and turn down a road to see where it went.

[eileithyia]

Some form of map holder so you can see the route without stopping. It's also sometimes worth jotting down (on a post it maybe) the places you intend passing through.

I generally try to memorise the next few turns anyhow so I don't have to check at every junction. I'll be touring so stopping to navigate is all part of the trip.

Of course you could do what I did last week in Germany, look at the map before setting off then just winging it! You never know where you'll end up - I added an hour to my ride by going the way I thought I should instead of taking the road that was signed for my destination! But surely that's part of the fun of exploring new places?

I have a GP'S but I use that to see where i've been rather than where i'm going.

+1 Plus I like looking at the maps and seeing the scenery unfold with interesting places i may not have noticed when planning the original route.

[Nigel]

Slightly left-field is the "Beeline" device, which links to navigation in a smartphone. At about £100.

I think that sometimes it would work, and other times it approach could be annoying. Depends where your rides and thinking sit on the scale of things.

Or a handlebar bag big enough to take a map and compass !


- Nigel

[Cugel]

I don't use any GPS mapping at all.I have tried it(and my unit has it) both on and off road and i just don't like it.I don't use Satnav in the car either.I am by no means a technophobe as I have Laptops/tablets/latest smartphones etc I just prefer routing the old fashioned way.I "memorise" the route I'm going to take.Usually it's the villages/towns in the order I will pass through them.I take a printed sheet of the route as back up but rarely refer to it.If I do take wrong turn I just follow the next sign to the place i should be heading for.I've never gone totally wrong or added more than a couple of miles to my route so I don't need a gps
Much more fun than staring at a GPS unit waiting for it to tell me when to turn

Me too. My belief is that satnav use will keep you ignorant and inept since you hand over the mental tasks of memorising a map, observing landmarks and the whole skill-set of orienteering to a device that will merely give you mysterious orders that might well be flawed.

There's a great joy in getting lost then finding yourself again - in life generally, not just out on the bike.

But many today wish to be "safe" in the hands of a mysterious god (the god GPS, in this case). It all has to be "easy" too. Cuh!

Cugel

[meic]

I can see your point Cugel. But I am sticking to my GPS Thank You.

I am also using my house lights (available at the touch of a switch), my electric kettle and other modern conveniences, taking the easy way out, rather than doing everything from scratch with tinder and matches.