I don't pay attention to % grade while I'm riding (I had the display once on my Garmin, but got rid of it, as the screen was far too busy and I felt there were other, more important things to have on the screen). I have my "hilly" routes and my "flat" routes, and if I hit something new, I might go back and look at the % after I download the file onto my p.c. But I don't sweat whether it's an 8% grade or a 12% grade or something worse or better. I just want to be able to get up it without dying or falling off the back of my group completely.