Originally Posted by
unterhausen
I would get a gps. I have seen too many cue sheets with errors to totally rely on them. And at night, it's just too stressful to try to follow a cue sheet with no backup.
It really depends on the promoter and how well they do quality control on the cue sheet. If there was no pre-ride or it was done by people who used a gps, give in and get a gps. I have also seen major problems with cue sheets if the person that did the pre-ride knew the course too well and didn't have to use the cue sheet. I like to follow a cue sheet and if a promoter releases one soon enough then I will use street view to do quality control on it.
My 830 will run for something like 48 hours on battery saver mode. Particularly if I don't display the map. I generally just use an external battery and display the map though.
Also, even if we're very careful about reviewing our cue sheets, as GPS has become nigh-universal, route design (at least in areas like New England where there are a lot of roads and nothing remotely resembling a grid system) is favoring the best roads rather than the simplest navigation. (I still try to make things not hideous, and doable via cue sheet, but there's choices I'd make differently if I was expecting the majority of riders to be running via cue sheet only.)