Originally Posted by
timdow
As for the digital maps, I used them when I was on the Great Divide route. They were wonderful for this route, as the signage is not always there and they can resolve a "should I go left, or right," or "how do I get back to the route" dilemmas . That said, I did not purchase the digital versions for the Pacific Coast route because I already had the paper maps and find them to be sufficient. Maybe someone else can ring in on using digital instead of paper on some of the easier to follow routes.
I've only relied on GPS for a couple of long-ish day rides. It saved me once, when the guy I was with turned about 100 feet before the correct road, and screwed me up once when I added about 15-20 miles with a "turn right" that persisted around a hairpin, and should have been "stay on the road as it curves and then turn left."
I only was shaky about following the paper TransAm three times. The first was probably user error, to be honest, coming into Charlottesville, VA. The second was "turn right on unmarked road" in Kentucky; I was pretty sure the first three rights were wrong, but missed the correct right turn. Fortunately some locals just up the road, sitting on their porch, possibly watching for stupid touring cyclists, set me right. The third, and I think the classic, was the one in Missouri with the notation, "Turn right on unmarked road. Just beyond turn is a power pole with the following number: " I got off the bike to check, that number was none of the metal tags on the pole, but I turned there anyway, and it turned out to be correct.
FWIW, rechargeable power packs have been a game changer in keeping phones or GPS devices charged in the last 5 years.
So my take is, paper is good 99.9% of the time. Electronic navigation is good 99.8% of the time. Remember it's an adventure, not a race, and take your pick.