[Closed] I just bought an OS map, an actual paper map! Anyone else not do 'devices'?

Devices, not since it fell of the bike no!

Love paper maps, the battery never runs out and you don't have to scroll around to find things.

I always carry paper maps as a backup, but mainly use the OS App on my iPhone when in the hills.

another one here

Nope, I get them from work. I can sort people if they want some.

1 map? got a box with about 70 in.
but i have managed to load the Jennride route to my garmin. i am now a IT god....... 😆

every time I look at my phone I yearn for a simpler time.......but not enough to make the leap and ditch it for a cheapie - FOMO and all that

Maps are fine if you're going on short rides.

Maps(lots) and a satmap on bike. Happiness is a new map, a highlighter and a cup of tea.......

Use apps but love paper ones too.

Moses I'm doing another charity challenge walk this year and some maps would be great for that for those taking part.

I tend to use paper maps for planning routes and transpose onto electronic to navigate on the bike. If I'm somewhere I don't know that we'll I'll usually take the paper map & a compass.
I do have a groovy Splashmaps cloth printed map of the Isle of Purbeck with all the bridleways pre highlighted on it that I think I got from CTBM.

depends what you mean by short 🙂

Like ton I have a stack of paper maps and they get utilised heavily in route preparation, and get taken along as backup - my GPS as above takes a lot of scrolling to get the layout and I dislike that.

Heavily used maps - like 36, 43 and 41 - have been upgraded to weather proof ones 🙂

1 map? got a box with about 70 in.

Happy birthday ****! 😆

I've got boxful as well but no 99 was fubared!

Maps are fine if you're going on short rides.

You never done any long rides without OS maps then Col? 😉

Not looong rides, no. I much prefer a GPS. I have the whole of the UK at 1:50K and 1:25K plus a substantial area on Open Street Mapping, all on my GPS.

Love paper maps, the battery never runs out and you don't have to scroll around to find things

I like maps but tend to plot on my PC. Massive monitor and the ability to scroll across all of the UK and switch between map type is a real bonus.

Things like where's the path help provide much more detail by comparing satellite images and OS side by side.

I do like paper os maps but never let anyone else use them as they get abused and folded back the wrong way new creases everywhere i don't want
My favourite maps are Bartholomew half inch nice shades instead of squigly contour lines everywhere there's a hill

Paper over digital every time!

Paper maps user here. I have pretty basic mapping on my phone but there is no way I would stick it on the [s]handlebars[/s], oops, cockpit.

I do both. I use Garmin Basecamp and my Etrex 20 to plan and follow rides but I usually consult the 1:25,000 OS map to confirm routes / bridleways before, and I always carry the OS map as backup.

I use both, paper map and compass to fanny about with, showing off at what a fantastic navigator I am and living in the past. Then get my phone out when I haven't got a clue where I actually am.

Paper maps here too - I just like them, that & I'm rubbish with tech.

I love paper maps too. I read them like a book - trying to spot interesting features etc. I've a stack of brand new Landrangers that are about to be the wallpaper for my study. But for actually using while out and about, nah.

I always print out a paper map and carry a compass as a back up but I doubt I've needed to use the printed map for 3 or 4 years. Bike rides are mapped onto the garmin before I go and walking routes are either read directly off my phone or from a handheld GPS if I'm being cautious about battery life.

all on my GPS.

The question was Dear Colin, 'anyone else NOT do devices' 😉

Walking, always use a paper map, had two delivered today as it happens, OL4 & OL6.

Biking, if I don't know the area I take the map as a backup to the gps.

On foot always a map. Y2K Etrex at the bottom of the sack but never used.
Bike. 1 day rides if pre planned on the Garmin but a totally new area sees paper in my back pocket. Always buy a new OS when I go to a new area. Got all of Wales at 1:25,000 and All of Scotland at 1:50,000 plus about half of England.
I have a really handy double sided map of the Uk showing every OS map and have great pleasure in colouring each map in as I buy it.

Paper maps are a thing of beauty, they totally fascinate me. But for on the bike I have viewranger and my Garmin 810.

Using devices for navigation is all well and good but if you don't use those old fangled navigation skills reasonably regularly then they definitely fade. I guess it really depends on where you ride and how you think you will need this skills.

Me!

I have a Garmin which I only use for confirming coordinates on my paper map!

My phone is definitely not smart!

I also never post on Facebook, I don't do strava and have zero interest in instagram!

You are not alone my friend. 8)

Where they are available I prefer Harveys to OS: printed on plastic and without distractions like county boundaries. And I have a secondhand basic Garmin to check grid refs and show miles covered, if I've remembered it.

And a compass: I wouldn't be without that.

I have a full set of 1.50000 most old 1 inch maps and about 60 1.25000

I've got backcountry nav on my phone. But thats mostly as a just in case or a quick look up of something as i think of it. Will always take a paper map in the hills. Never even considered relying totally on the phone.

I've got a couple of paper OS maps of my local area that have a few years worth of work in them. Every byway, bridleway and rideable track is highlighted. They're great for route planning but I hate wasting time standing on the side of a track looking at a map working out which route I meant to take. I tend to plot stuff on Basecamp and follow the GPS, it's a lot easier.

Paper map lover here too. I used to have to share some of my OS maps with my class when they're learning about mapping. I practically forced the dirty handed tykes to wear white gloves before they handled them.

Thankfully I've just acquired a stack of local OS maps from a school that has just closed down so the kids can fill their boots next month when that comes up again in our topic.

I love OS maps, a thing of beauty in my opinion.

Anyone ever see the BBC 4 documentary on their history?

That said,I use digital too. Both OS and others.

Even on digital I love OS but I think im right in saying other mapping types scale better without losing their detail? Vector maps or something? Long time since I bothered to look into all this. 🙂

My friends think I'm old fashioned for having a road atlas in the car but I feel better for having it there.

Seems like a good excuse to post this:

Map and compass for me, all the way.

Paper maps are wonderful, an essential tool for a real adventure, a backup even on a simple ride / walk, a source of excitement while planning an adventure and a souvenir if a past trip 🙂

I always have a paper map inc custom ones but I do use tech too, navigation apps and an online OS Maps subscription.

I think modern devices are of much more use for cycling than walking. You're covering bigger distances cycling so it's more likely you'll fall off the edge of a paper map. Plus, it's easy enough to keep walking, pull a map section out your pocket and have a look but less straightforward on the bike!

I use both.

A paper map is way better for getting a good overview of an area for planning, although with typical displays getting bigger this is also possible with a PC but totally beats tablets and phones.

For road stuff I really like the 1:110,000 maps published by Sustrans.

Paper ones for me. There is something quite fascinating about looking over a paper map, especially the older ones.

I have a few Victorian maps I'd like to get framed, along with some huge First World War linen trench maps of France and Belgium.

On a funny note I bought the Dartmoor Map and opened it on the floor and discovered it only covered half the moor. I then had a bit of mantrum about scheming robbing/needing the other half of the moor map, barstewards etc when Mrs M calmly picked the map up and turned it over.........

having a road atlas in the car but I feel better for having it there

Me too & when I tell people I use 'Mapnav' they often say, 'what's that' 😀

I memorise routes for the car before heading off.

I use 'Mapnav' they often say, 'what's that'

I bet.

OS maps are my first port of call when planning a cycle or dog walk. And the necessary maps come with me - it's not like they weigh much.

That said, I've used the backcountrynavigator app to get me out of a few sticky situations over the years. It has real time 1:25000 OS maps and the screen rotates as you turn. I don't know why everyone doesn't have it as it's only seven quid and it gives you zoomable OS mapping of the entire UK.

always use paper maps, never had a gps and don't want to use my phone. i use them for planning routes and like looking on them for interesting tracks and dirt roads, love a bit of exploring. i'm getting quite a collection now.

As others have said, paper maps much better for general overview and planning and always carried as back up even if using GPX files, but tbh, much prefer a paper map rather squinting at a tiny screen.

Also, always look at road atlas before following SatNav -- try it sometime and you might be amazed at some of the routes a SatNav tries to send you on!!

By all means use a GPS but it's essential to still be able to use a map and compass. Ever wondered why, if you do your ML or BC MTB Leaders award that you have to navigate with map and compass?

I buy the maps that include the free download version, use the paper map to plan and the app to accurately place me when out & about.

, if you do your ML or BC MTB Leaders award that you have to navigate with map and compass?

, if you do your ML or BC MTB Leaders award that you have to navigate with map and compass?
I agree that's an essential skill but they're not always the best exemplars of good practice.

Going off topic here a little, but agree with that comment which is why I think both Mountain Training and BC are pushing CPD a lot more now.

Having been to CPD events organised by both, I think the challenge is that it's only the keen ones that turn up to these events and there are many award holders resting on their laurels and aren't current with best practices etc.

mainly paper here too. I have Viewranger with 50k and 25k mapping of all the areas I ride, plus OS locate on iphone, but like the look ad feel of a proper map.

Recently completed MLBA course and it requires map based navigation throughout, with Garmins etc only allowed for odometer readings

agree with Spin. walking: paper map with phone app as backup. Biking: phone app with paper map as back up.

if you do your ML or BC MTB Leaders award that you have to navigate with map and compass?

If you do Winter ML you'll have to navigate by map and compass at night in 80mph winds on a featureless plateau surrounded by cornices for several hours and not only not get lost, but be extremely accurate....

Have got quite a collection of paper maps but I don't use them now. I find the whole process of unfolding and laying out a sheet of paper that's partially obliterated by creases/water damage/marker pen totally antiquated.

Much prefer a digital map zoom out and hide detail to see the bigger picture zoom in to plot a route. Digital updates also let you see stuff that's not on paper maps.

OS map preffered, many an evening plotting local epics and out next day! although recently i have started using strava's "create route" function......from what I found on the OS map of course 😀

Ever wondered why, if you do your ML or BC MTB Leaders award that you have to navigate with map and compass?

having just completed my MBLA L2 at the weekend there, I think the map and compass discipline is good. The tutor was very aware that some of us had mapping on phones/Garmins, and laid down some basic rules about not consulting these while under assessment, but fully accepting that we would use them in normal riding. Having the map skills is, IMO , essential for being in remote hills, as a back up system to modern tech, which can fail/go flat/get dunked in a river.

I love maps. Paper maps with phone backup for me.

I also have scotland at 1:250 000 on one wall of my flat, europe at 1: 4 000 000 and the whole world at 1: 35 000 000 ( or something) on another

I too love paper maps and have a large collection. Some of my old ones are purely to memorialise my glory days of trail questing (ahem) with the day's route/checkpoints highlighted. They do take ages to use though, when I did the Coast to Coast a couple of years ago, they added hours to each day. Nowadays I abdicate responsibility while sneering at my younger mates' digital navigation, ready to step in with device - free skills when batteries fade etc. Whatever I use, reading glasses have become a necessary accessory these days. I do like and use OS Locate regularly too

Both have their uses.

Paper maps are for planning routes on the kitchen table, whilst sipping a suitable libation and listening to appropriate music.

Devices are for out on the hill, used in conjunction with a decent sense of direction and reasonable knowledge of where you are/should be going.

YMMV 😀