Paper maps vs GPS

True story: helped a friend drive his new-to-him- Class A from point of purchase in Texas to Kentucky. On the way out we used the GPS (Tom Tom) for a campground while traveling in Arkansas, it took us off the highway 5 miles through bean farms until it said we were there. We weren't there, we were in the middle of no where.

I like paper maps, I like GPS, not dependent on one, just balanced on both.

completely and blindly trusting either will get you into trouble. common sense and a general idea of where you are headed is a pre-requisite for their use. it also doesn't hurt to preview the planned route in the GPS.

I don't know which is more accurate, but the paper maps don't get to the level of detail that the GPS' do. And I'd have to add a trailer to carry of maps needed. Having said that, we do carry one of the road atlases for overall general usage.

Bill

A few years ago we were traveling through Connecticut, our Garmin told us to turn left.
A left turn would lead directly into a river. There was no bridge and no evidence of a bridge ever being at that location.
There were no bridges in either direction for several miles.
My paper map verified that there was no bridge or road crossing the river at or near that location.
I trusted the map, not the GPS.

A GPS is a great tool but, maps are also tools.
And, I agree, putting your total trust in either can get you in trouble.

Enjoy your travels.

It is not that the GPS maps are wrong. It is the fact that the GPS software that attempts to create a route from point A to point B are sometimes much less than ideal. And sometimes the result is simply mind boggling.

I had one take me down a road that went across an unpaved low water crossing. Would have eventually gone where I wanted IF I had been in a high clearance 4 wheel drive.

A different GPS tried to get me to take the 4 wheel drive unpaved back way into Great Sand Dunes NP. Fortunately I knew better.

Another bad thing about GPS, when in a different city and I select to take me back to the airport for my trip home it seems to route me through bad neighborhoods. There is no set up menu that takes you otherwise :B

Not saying that paper maps can keep you out of the hood.

I don't use either one, I listen to DW.

Paper maps don't mislead you because they don't "know" where things are. You have to know where something is in the first place to use a paper map. I haven't seen a paper map that has millions of points of interest on it for every state.

Just over memorial day I had two paper maps (2015 national geographic road atlas and a 2015 rand macnalley) which didn't agree about the location of a State forest campground, and both where at odds with the GPS. I did get to tow my trailer down a beautiful two-track road, and luckily there was enough room to turn around at the dead end (at a river, which the maps showed a bridge spanned.) The maps didn't show the State had the bridge gated and was posted "non motorized traffic only". The GPS found me a different campground, but I never did find the original one I was looking for.

Trackrig wrote:
I don't know which is more accurate, but the paper maps don't get to the level of detail that the GPS' do.

Is this true???

I've never used a GPS, but my paper maps have far, far more detail that google maps, for example. Do GPS systems access government topo maps?

We use both...
It's good to have a back up plan.