When I’m riding locally, exploring new routes is part of the joy of riding. However, there’s plenty of dead ends / links to an horrible road bits round here. So I tend not to just wing it, as I enjoy the flow of a route that goes somewhere. Besides, I quite like the time spent with a map to do the planning. So GPS for me for leisure rides.
The commute, I know my way.
A few years back my GPS died in heavy rain, and didn’t come back to life. I spent a year or two riding with a bit of map in the top of the bar bag. This gave a much better sense of where I was and what’s around me. I still do that to tour. Bits of map tend to get wet and need swapped too, so are a bit of a faff for more familiar areas.