Current non-GPS-user here, but have decided to become one. We tour on a tandem. Our current system is to create cue sheets with bikely.com online mapping software, put them in Stoker's bar map case, from which she navigates using her Cateye cyclo computer. This works very well. The cue sheets take up very little space and weigh almost nothing, even for a longish tour. We do need to define our route ahead of time, but we enjoy that. We also carry simple maps, for when the cue sheets don't resolve a question.

However. Our next tour will be our first European tour, 3 weeks mostly in the Czech Republic. Bike routes in the old Communist countries follow obscure country byways which may or may not be well signed. City layouts are not simple, and we probably will want to deviate from our planned route. So I'm thinking GPS. I don't think smartphone because the phone part will be useless. There may not be coverage, and even if there were I understand the data cost is crazy. So if we're going to preload maps, including a track, it seems to me we should have a device intended for that use. So I'm thinking of cue sheets, some paper maps, and a Garmin eTrex 30 with City Navigator for that area. Our plan is to mostly leave it turned off and only use it if we are off route, getting through a city, or if there's some question. We won't be in a big hurry, so we'll have time to stop and stare at it for a while. We plan to camp 3 out of 4 nights, but of course that may or may not work out.

Comments? And thanks for the thread.