Originally Posted by backofbeyond

If you can get decent maps of where you want to go and are happy using them then stick with those. You don't have to chuck them in the bin just because electronics have come along.

I started by just using the lat /lon feature on my mid 90's Garmin (that's just about all it would do) as a means of working out where I was when my map reading went wrong. I'd get a lat/lon reading from the Garmin and just look it up on the map to work out where I was (you have to use maps that have lat /lon along the edge - so nothing from McDonalds ). I used that system for years until I got TomTom software running on an old PDA and started using that instead.

The main problem with TomTom style sat-nav is that with maps you made all the decisions yourself by looking at a map where you understood what the colours and the lines meant. Sat-nav is like having a very attentive but essentially idiot person map reading on the back and giving you directions. Without setting the ground rules they'll give equal weighting to a cart track and a motorway and tell you to take the second exit at a roundabout when the first exit is a footpath that you discount.

If you've got a smartphone there's loads of free satnav software available. I currently use NavFree on both my iPhone (on the bike) and iPad (in the Land Rover). It was free with UK maps and extra Euro country maps are about £2 each. It's slightly more awkward to use than TomTom but for free .... It just uses the satellite signals so it'll work anywhere - it doesn't need a phone signal (my iPad doesn't even have a sim card in it). Try something like that for a while until you get the hang of it and if you decide it's crap just bin it. Just be aware that in the same way that calculators mean that no-one can do mental maths any more, if you let the (tin) brain take the strain you'll forget how to read a map after a while.