Interstate Exit Guide Deathmatch!

When I'm on the road, one thing that I always keep handy is The Next Exit. This is a big book listing everything that is at every Interstate exit in the country. In case you were unaware that such a thing existed, yes, it is as useful as it sounds. If you're hungry, why settle for a lame Subway if there is an Applebee's a few miles down the road?

There are few things you'll find more valuable on a trip. I still had the 2007 edition, so I went to Amazon to pick up the latest version, and made an interesting discovery – competition! We now also have Exit Now: Interstate Exit Directory vying for the same market.

Now, I could have perused the reviews, maybe done some Googling, and figured out which one to get. Instead, I just got both of them, so that I can tell you, my ten loyal readers, which one you should get.

I'll reserve final judgement until I've used them for real, but I can tell you right now: it's not looking good for The Next Exit.

The Next Exit, my old friend, is printed on low-quality newsprint, which is really not such a big deal; these things are going to get beaten up no matter what, and have a short useful lifespan anyway. Truckstops, and other places with large-vehicle accommodation, are in red, but otherwise, each exit just has a block of text listing the facilities.

Exit Now is printed on somewhat higher-quality paper. The listings are more structured, and color-coded – much easier to read. More to the point, Exit Now is arranged by highway; The Next Exit is arranged by state, then by highway within each state, so you have to skip to another part of the book as you cross a state line. If this doesn't sound like a big deal, well, it is, in practice. I expect the by-highway listing to be easier to work with.

There are strip-maps in Exit Now for each stretch of highway so you can get a visual idea of where you are in the scheme of things. Listings have little icons to show pet-friendly locations, RV-friendly accommodations, gas stations offering diesel, etc. Rest areas are visually delimited, campgrounds are color-coded, and overall, the layout is much easier to glance over.

Even more importantly, Exit Now is spiral-bound, so you can keep it open to the page you want while tossing it on the seat. Sure, you say to yourself, you can fold the pages of The Next Exit back to keep it open – that sounds good in theory, but I'm here to tell you, from years of experience, that it doesn't work out well in practice. My heart jumped when I saw that this one is spiral-bound. This is a big deal.

Of course, all of this doesn't amount to a hill of beans if the information isn't any good. I'm going to refer to both of these once I hit the road, and will report back on that.

Just from spot-checking, the coverage does differ. Although all one- and two-digit Interstates are represented, inclusion of three-digit (spur) highways varies. For example, I-195 in New Jersey is not included in Exit Now at all. That's the main corridor to cross New Jersey east to west, so that might matter. Also, Exit Now does not include the New Jersey Turnpike. The Next Exit has both of these roads. (Neither tome includes the Garden State Parkway, which is also not an Interstate highway.)

The Next Exit has served me well all over the country for years, so I'm going to give it a fair shake. But Exit Now is looking pretty nice. Stay tuned.

UPDATE June 25: It comes as little surprise that, after real-world use, Exit Now is by far the winner. There is no reason to buy The Next Exit, and in fact I have already stopped using it.