GPS on Tour

For the last two bike tours (small, two- to four-day affairs), I have carried along a cheap TomTom gps unit. On previous trips, there were several occasions when, despite detailed local maps, we didn't know where we were, either because we took a wrong turn, or because the map was not detailed enough. (This happens fairly often in towns and cities.) So I thought, Wouldn't it be nice to have a gps unit to consult at times of uncertainty?

Obviously, there's no way to keep a normal portable gps unit turned on all the time, even if I wanted to. The battery would last about an hour. But as a supplement to maps, and to help find stores and restaurants, it might be nice to be able to turn it on and have a look.

The verdict? I have found it useful. Not a substitue for county maps, but useful. I keep in in my handlebar bag. It takes about a minute to power up and find the satellite, so I don't consult it often. But several times on our Door County trip, I gave it a quick look to tell us which road would take us out of town in the right direction, and it did successfully predict several restaurants and gas stations. Unfortunately, one very unfortunate time, I did not allow it to find the satellite before I consulted about restaurants, and it used the previous coordinates. I didn't notice because I was looking at the list of restaurants, which does not show the map, and I wasn't familiar with the streets that the restaurants were located on. So we went in pursuit of a much needed breakfast stop that wasn't there. Whoops. If I had waited patiently for it to find its satellite, the problem wouldn't have happened.

I suppose the ultimate solution is to use the new Nokia adapter that allows a bike generator to charge electronic devices (supposedly arriving in the U.S. soon). With a generator hub providing steady charge, a gps unit could be mounted on the handlebars and the nice lady could narrate every turn.

Nice, or not? Not, I fear. It won't replace a good map. (But it would be very handy for keeping electronic doodads charged on a long tour.)