Granted, I have my own run, but I now know one end of the country from the other. They have their place. When I was on the agency, they made me look as good with the routes as the guy/girl who had been their years. But sometimes I think they take the “driver” out of the driver 
.
Good on yer, mate…me and my 50-odd A-Zs quite agree. A driver without maps is like a plumber without spanners.
(Tin 'at on… 
)
The sat-nav things have become a fashion accessory, my wife wants one!
We live on a main road, perhaps a couple of miles long. At one end of the road are her business premises, at the other end are her sisters’ home and business premises - we live in the middle of the two. She only uses her car to go to work and have her hair done at her sisters’ shop. Why the [zb] does she need a sat-nav?
As I’m agency, in a different vehicle every day, I tend to take as little as possible out with me - usually pen. tachographs, gloves, hi-vis jacket, road atlas and a book. I tend to mostly rely on my experience, referring to the atlas on some occasions so I don’t have any real problem getting from one place to another. However, I think they could be pretty useful for actually getting you to the door!
Sorry Brummie, putting the [zb] in the middle of the word still doesn’t work…Denis F
I think they are great, had my TT since christmas love it only now and again does it ■■■■ up, and i still look at where i am going on a map. so when TT does not work in the future i will have an idea, i have now been driving 24 years and it beat’s holding a map while trying to find somewhere, and the time i save is mine.
Sorry guys but sat nav is the way forward, no doubt many years ago when the first AtoZ was coming out there was the same sort of conversations going on “I get by on my wits and asking the locals, why would I want one of them new fangled map thingys!!!”. As an agency driver you are never quite sure of where you are going, and even if you do it quite often changes, so anything that can save space and time is a bonus, and you can update the maps easily without having to buy large bulky books. Give it 10 years and all cabs will have them in as standard just like the radio.
I’ve got perhaps a dozon A-Zs, delivering to building sites means most of my addresses arn’t on the maps anyway. Just a case of follow my nose, best satnav going 
Oh, don’t get me wrong, I think they’re fantastic bits of kit, if you use them the right way. I bet most of you have the countrywide map in your head, anyway. My prolem really, was that I wasn’t learning anything from using it, well, bar pushing a few buttons anyway.
Remind me of this next time I post about getting lost somewhere .
My prolem really, was that I wasn’t learning anything from using it, well, bar pushing a few buttons anyway
What do you want to learn■■?
Its like like using a pair of scissors to cut the lawn when you have a lawnmover in the shed.
I would find it hard without my sat nav as I don’t
have any A - Z only the truckers atlas. By using
it I have learned a few routes and in time would
probably use it less and only use it for towns
and areas I don’t know.
Good luck Liberace and did you get a good price 
What do you do when you come to a reasonable sized town that’s not covered by A to Zs? THere’s plenty of them around. OR what about the farms in the middle of nowhere down lanes that not even the locals know the name of?
Whilst you’re asking the Village Idiot the directions, I’ll be already at the place.
And whilst you’re trying to navigate busy traffic with an A to Z in one hand steering with your elbows and changing gear with the other, I’ll be driving in complete control of my vehicle with my eyes on the road and occassionally glancing at the Satnav as it gives me voice prompts.
What about your “Up to Date” A to Z? I know many of mine were woefully out of date. My A ot Z of Manchester didn’t even have Sir Matt Busby Way on. My A to Z of Birmningham shows the DC near the railway yards under the elevated M6 as “Estimated Date of Completion 1995”. For me to renew all my A to Zs it was going to cost me £200 more than Satnav to renew maps that only gave me coverage of the main towns and cities whereas with Satnav I get nearly all the roads including those in 10 house hamlets.
If I were doing national driving I think I’d consider one cos like Conor said the cost of comprehensive paper maps would be comperable, if not more.
As it is my Phillips Norfolk and Suffolk atlases have never really let me down so far, like my London A to Z and Phillips Surrey Atlas did before when I was down there.
For the odd longer journey I use my National Atlas and hope for the best, or ask for directions from my office.
A driver without maps is like a plumber without spanners says Lucy
i agree reading maps builts a better mental picture. a bit like using a hand saw before your let loose with the circular
But i’m an expert now so i mostly use the tom tom
i have been looking at the pda satnavs, as i am now doing removals around france and other parts of europe i think this would save me loads of time and hastle.
ever tried driving around paris juggling the map, steering and gearbox and a drunk opo at the same time
think i will get the satnav
chris
The sat-nav things have become a fashion accessory, my wife wants one!
What to find the kitchen
thats a bit brave kitkat
chris
caveman:
thats a bit brave kitkat
chris
Well i’m up here she can’t get to me.
Have you sold it yet if not i might be interested.
I might be a luddite, but I want to keep my maps, I can sit and read a map book, I have a decent picture of the major routes of the UK and Europe,but a map lets you see the bigger picture.
You can see a river or a railway, and it makes you wonder if there is a low bridge or a weight limit, you can plan an alternative route a long time before you get there.
What will future generations make of a bit of plastic with flat batteries. A map is something to treasure, it will reflect changes to the countryside such as coastal erosion and quarries.
What does your sat nav show of Spurn Point? or Lindisfarne Island
Wheelnut I couldn’t agree more. My wife will testify I can sit at the kitchen table and read a map book . I love them, have even bought them just to look at. The satnav would be more for finding the place when I get to the town or city as they take you to the postcode. I have found before that the address I’m given is sometimes incorrect but the postcode is usually right.
I have even been directed to the wrong town by a planner who was looking at the map on the computer. He swore blind the addy was in Wrexham when I found it eventually it was about twelve miles away. He said go over the river and its on left. I said I would but there isn’t a river in Wrexham.
to find the best street atlas in France other than something for Paris go to
amazon.fr/exec/obidos/search … 66-4451353
its a pity mine dont get any use