Road Maps

[true blue]

Satnav hasn't failed me for directions yet, but I always have a map for casual browsing/alternate (scenic/fun) route selection if I'm going out for a recreational drive. The AA easy-read map I have of France is excellent (2.8 miles to 1 inch) - so good in fact that I'll get the UK version to replace my ageing and battered smaller scale copy as soon as get around to it.

Wouldn't trust a phone - battered and torn as my road map may be it will never run out of battery / freeze / crash / get dropped in a puddle and obstinately refuse to work. To each his own...

[onlinegenie]

On a holiday in France once my sat-nav tried to guide me into two rivers - my own fault for trying to save money by buying the amphibious landing craft version. Another time it kept telling me to drive the wrong way along a one-way street.

A second vote for Google maps - much better than a sat-nav. I have a car charger for my phone so the battery never runs down while I'm driving.

[TheInsanity1234]

Wouldn't trust a phone - battered and torn as my road map may be it will never run out of battery / freeze / crash / get dropped in a puddle and obstinately refuse to work. To each his own...

Well, I've got a rather powerful phone (Galaxy Note 3 for those that are interested), so freezing is never an issue, and nor is crashing.
Last time I checked, dropping a map into a puddle would just make everything seem like the Alps, due to the paper going all wiggly when it gets wet

A second vote for Google maps - much better than a sat-nav. I have a car charger for my phone so the battery never runs down while I'm driving.

This is my solution for the battery issue. Think about it, your satnav would be plugged in all the time you're using it, right? Well, why would it be any different for a phone being used as a satnav?
The bonus of using your phone as a satnav is that it means you're never tempted to quickly check a text message at the lights, because then the navigation screen goes away and you're left with the knowledge that dinner will be chicken, but without a clue which way you're supposed to go to get home

[Carbon Based]

Just come back from a little trip around Spain and France.

The whole thing used a bit of everything - old and new for planning in advance, on the day navigation and scenic detours.

It highlighted the difference between the respective Atlas' qualities/scales quite well!

UK: Philip's @ 1:112,903 and derived from OS is rather good.
France: AA @ 1:200,000 - passable. Fortunately this overlaps into Spain so covered most of what we needed.
Spain: AA @ 1:400,000 - a bit poor TBH.