Alternative to OS Maps app – with os maps!

I have OS Maps on my phone, but it doesn’t get used that often. I first subscribed for £18 for the year, last year it was £28 and this year it seems to be £35…I’m not sure I use it that frequently to justify the price.
However, now I’ve not got it, I’m feeling like I need something.
So what is there out there that costs much less than OS Maps? That shows os maps.
I don’t want to use Fatmap as that also gives me Strava and it seems to be about £55 – I’m fine with free Strava as all my rides are logged on Garmin and Strava just allows me to see what my mates have been doing.
I got it initially so I had an online copy of my paper map for after I’d passed my MBL2 assessment – but I’ve not booked that yet. That would be a good reason to get it again but I need to sort my fitness out before I do that!
Basically the OS version isn’t giving me value for money and as I’m not using it much, I’m not seeing the value of spending all that. The advantage is that with the sub I have all os maps to hand (with a data signal if out and about or download and save before I go).
Clearly I’m too tight to spend the readies! I couldn’t find a previous thread on this as I was sure there was one.

Outdoor Active is around £27 per year, if you can find a valid code you can get it down to under £20. Much prefer it to the OS app as well.

Ta, will take a nosey…

Ignore…

Maverick – it is free and has an OS map option

Another nod for Outdoor Active. You can link it to your Garmin account and any routes you create on the Outdoor Active app will sync to your garmin via Bluetooth or WiFi. If you track yourself using the Garmin, OA will sync the route so you can view it in the app.

The base maps are built from OpenStreetMap and have a lot of Mtb trails baked into the maps. There’s also an overlay feature that highlights MTB.

Route planning is pretty good. Choose a start point, choose another point in the map and it does the ‘snap to track’ thing that’ll follow the trail on the map. Just keep adding points along the route if there’s anything specific you want to build into the route.

Cycle Travel? The basic app is free, but for a £2 a month Patreon sub you get a choice of map overlays including OS.

Basically the OS version isn’t giving me value for money and as I’m not using it much, I’m not seeing the value of spending all that

Use it more?

I think it’s a brilliant app, I’ve access to all the 1:50000 & 1:25000 OS Maps across the UK and can download them for when I’ve no mobile signal.  A couple of weeks ago I did this for a offroad bikepacking route west-east across Scotland.

I use them as a backup to my Garmin when I’m unsure, where I need to look ‘further’ or where for example there’s a diversion and I need an alternative.

And now they’ve improved the route making, that bit works really well to.

I reckon it’s a bargain.

Map.me any good to you? Works well for me.

You’ve not said your phone type or how you want to use it.

Back Country navigator is free or a one off small payment for life. Was a £10 when I got it.

But it is android only and it is essentially on on line map that you can also use to log tracks or upload and see gpx tracks. It does not allow track creation. It does allow caching of maps so I download them ahead of time.

If you are 🍏 then tough, buy a proper phone 😂

Another long time back country navigator user here. Does everything I want. Don’t know the current price but as said, it’s one off. There was a 30day(might be less) free trial app version. Full os maps down to 1:25k, you can plot a route, save a map area to your phone memory to use off line.

Fatmap is closing down anyway and just going to be a part of Strava Premium soon.

Backcountry navigator 3rded. Works well, you can either run it on line or download maps for offline use.

Another BCN user here. Paid £12 in 2015ish and had it on each of my phones since then with all the UK & Overseas I’ve ever needed stored locally.

If you want a “sat-nav” for offroad then OSMand+ is pretty good and easy to download the relevant chunks you need.

How does the Outdoor Active £27pa mapping compare to OS 10k? The only reason I still use this app is because it’s the only one I have found with a partner watch app that actually has a visible map layer.

If you’re happy with 1:50k mapping, try TopoGPS.  You can buy OS Map “squares” for very little money (most of Cairngorms was £1.99), overlay a GPX route and record an outing if you so desire.

I find the Landranger scale more than adequate for most stuff, particularly on the bike.

Do you already own the paper maps? How big an area do you want to cover? I’ve just bought the paper maps for the area that i’m interested in (home area, FOD, Devon, Cornwall, South wales etc.) and used the one time code that comes with the new maps. Download is the same area as the paper map but one time purchase. If you regularly travel around the country it could be expensive I suppose, but for the 7 or 8 maps I have (some were gifts) there are normally vouchers or discounts to be had (either from OS or Voucher Codes etc) so works out not too bad over time.

TBF not sure if there is any difference compared to OS Premium, other than the mapping area. I don’t know if there are any features missing but as a navigation tool for walking/riding etc. they work really well.

If you don’t need offline maps, bing maps has an OS layer.

Backcountry Navigator is great for the price. I think I paid a fiver for the full version about 10 years ago and have been happily enjoying offline 1:25k maps ever since. It’s good for looking at to figure out where you’re going but not great for planning a route. It let’s you draw a route, but it’s just connecting up the dots with straight lines and doesn’t offer a navigation feature like Outdoor Active so I use both.

It’s works well for tracking and you can import GPX or KML files to overlay the route onto a map. Where apps like Outdoor Active start to shine is that they have a nav function built in so you get a voice prompt to ‘take the track on the left in 100m’.

Not always helpful. It seems to change it’s units of measure at will so sometimes it’ll tell me that I need to turn right in 370 feet. By the time I’ve worked out how far that is, I’ve usually missed the turning.

I still don’t think the perfect off road mapping and navigation app exists.

noneoftheabove

Free Member

How does the Outdoor Active £27pa mapping compare to OS 10k?

It’s doesn’t. Not really. The premium subscription gets you 1:50 and 1:25k OS maps. There’s also the free OpenStreetMap layer which is a vector based map so you can zoom and zoom all you want without losing any detail. I find them hard to follow though so not much use to me! There’s also Harvey Maps which I think have more detail than the OS but only cover the nation parks.

As up there ^^^ maverick GPS navigation app for android is free and has OS layers 1:50k and 1:25k that will caxhe on your phone for offline use, as well other layers like OSM and satellite.  I’ve used it for a decade and would be gutted if it ever stopped.