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On 9/17/2015 8:27 AM, wrote:
On Thu, 17 Sep 2015 06:15:39 -0700 (PDT), DerbyDad03
wrote:

I mostly use them to get good paper maps (remember those?) and I have
had one road service call in the last 20 years.

I feel I have gotten my money's worth over the years. Mostly tows, but also some paper maps just for pre-trip reviews. My GPS and phone are my drive-time navigation tools, but I like to look for alternatives to the main routes. Sometime I program my way-points based on the AAA info so my nav tools take me on the route I want to go

I have not embraced GPS/Nav yet. It is certainly not what I want on
vacation. Some of the most interesting things we have found were
because we were "lost". I prefer a paper map so we can get an overview
of where we are and look for things we might want to see. Google Earth
is the new technology we use the most. We are mostly old school using
travel books and paper maps.

Businesses change so much that if you don't buy the updates every
year, your nav is not going to be right that often. It is pretty
discouraging to drive to a place that is out of business.

First of all, many GPS devices come with free updates so there is
nothing to buy.

Second, you can buy, for a one time charge of about $10, an app like
CoPilot for Android or iOS and it is updated frequently. I like it on a
7" or 8" tablet because the larger screen is nice but it'd be fine on a
5"-6" smart phone as well. I bought the European maps earlier this year
for a trip to England and Ireland. It was good for walking as well.
There are no data charges, the maps are stored locally on the device,
just like a stand-alone GPS.

I use a 7" Asus Memo Pad (ME170CX-A1-BK) that was $30 after a $60
rebate. Now it's $50
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=9561735.
Activate the McAffee subscription with a single-use virtual credit card
so you're never charged for the subscription.

Beware that the WiFi-only iPads don't have a GPS chip, but most
name-brand Android WiFi-only tablets do have GPS functionality.