Originally Posted by
Carbonfiberboy
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.
I don't know how data plans work country-by-country, but I think where the prices get extreme is when roaming on your current plan while overseas. I have heard that you can often, with some phones, pick up a local, pay-as-you-go SIM to pop into your phone and pay local data rates, so that might be worth looking into. Also keep in mind that even if you completely deactivate your cellular data while overseas, a smart phone can do a lot when in wifi that a GPS cannot. If GPS routing is really the only thing you need, a dedicated device may be the way to go, but a smart phone can be have a lot more general utility if you have need of it.