I only do it when I do not want to be lost (not often)tried that option in Mexico city and after a couple of hours of frustration I decided taxi man was my only option.........It is great if under pressure for time or light and need to find your way in a hurry

Guet a decent G P S ....

A tip to those who work with maps and refuse to use gps.........

Just curious why you refuse to use a GPS? I've found that they are most useful for exactly this purpose, getting into and out of large, unfamiliar cities.

I've often enough gotten lost following someone with a GPS--one-way streets, construction closures, local holidays, ridiculously inaccurate maps….. I've gone around in circles pointlessly in blistering heat for an hour or more with someone who refused to stop and reconsider their reliance on the little electronic box.

Sometimes merely stopping and asking directions is sufficient. Sometimes paying a pittance to the taxi driver is by far the best solution. This includes those late arrivals in strange cities when your only real concern is to find a secure place to sleep for the night--grab a taxi driver, tell them your price range and needs (parking, no hookers, private bath, whatever), and save yourself endless hunting when you'd rather be relaxing over a meal and a .

Of course, I've also spent long, frustrating times in strange cities trying to follow verbal directions or maps, wishing I had a GPS. This seems most characteristic in Europe, and for me was worst in Italy. I've had times when I left my hotel in the morning, couldn't find it on my return and was reduced to begging strangers to guide me there. The number of potential humiliations in overland travel is infinite…or is that just me?

Mark

And if your GPS unit gets stolen or breaks..?

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Bruce Clarke - 2020 Yamaha XV250

Heh, no I don't think it is just you. I've just returned from a couple of weeks in Italy (with my GPS) and that was part of the context of my answer--it was incredibly helpful having the GPS in Milan, Tuscany, Naples, Bari, etc. The only frustration in Naples was usually I pick hotel in the center off the GPS (and am guided right there), but in Naples the first three hotels didn't in fact exist, at least at the indicated places. So then I turned off the GPS and drove in a straight line until I found a hotel; not complicated.

Where there are good GPS maps, I can't resist the convenience of using a GPS. I was also glad to have one in Ulan Baator (and Mongolia generally) and most other unfamiliar cities. On the other hand, if the GPS map sucks, there is not much point in using it--the maps I had for Morocco were abysmal and I soon turned them off altogether.

Not to mention the fact that in many places it is rather difficult to communicate with locals with any great accuracy because of language issues.

But the easiest way to avoid the problem is to avoid big cities altogether.

Is that a reason for not using a GPS? That could also be a reason for not riding a motorcycle, using a cell phone, etc etc., all of which could be stolen or break.

Of course if it is stolen or breaks you don't use it anymore! Although I've used GPS for tens of thousands of kilometers in all sorts of places and have only lost one. No big deal.