UKH

Any recommendations for printers for OS maps gratefully received. I'm looking for nice crisp output, reliability, cost c.£100-£150 and not too expensive on the ink.
Thx in advance!

In reply to olly.climbs:

For £150 you could buy 23 maps. (Best quality printing and paper, and no extra ink costs!)

More seriously, in my experience it's the paper which makes most difference for crispness of printed maps. Feed cheap 'bleedy' paper into the best printer in the world and you'll get something pretty splodgy.

In reply to olly.climbs:

I agree, any printer will work ok, just get a deal.

I will recommend toughprint waterproof paper, works on any inkjet printer and is way more durable than OS laminated maps.

In reply to olly.climbs:
I laminate good quality A4 and turn up the resolution for the print if needed.

In reply to olly.climbs:

are you scanning and printing or printing from an app/website?

In reply to Glyno:

Scanning?
No need for all that hassle - just go here and select Ordnance Survey from the map formats and print for free:
https://www.bing.com/maps/

In reply to 99ster:



do bing print to scale (ie, grid squares 25mm and 40mm for 1/50k and 1/25k respectively)?

also, when I did a print preview the area printable was just about 2.5km x 2.5km @1/25k. Zooming out gave me a 4km x 4km @ 1/50k ...unless I'm doing something wrong

In reply to 99ster:
Printing out to scale from Bing Maps is a massive hassle, and Bing doesn't even support printing a map at full-page size (it forces you to print a 'notes' area and an extra map thumbnail at the top for some reason). It's a complete non-starter. Literally any other option is better.

In reply to olly.climbs:

The best printer is of course the one at work Failing that I'd just get whatever is on offer, the models change pretty regularly anyway. Even on a fairly good laser printer I find the quality is some way short of physical OS maps - I think it's more down to the resolution of the digitised maps than the quality of the printer. I do find printing them is useful for relatively compact areas I visit a lot but for larger areas I find it better to buy (or borrow from the library) the relevant OS sheet(s).

In reply to olly.climbs:

Seems to depend on the programme as well. Anquet is better than Routebuddy on the same printer, as the former do a high definition version. Good quality laser seems best, but you'll struggle in your budget to get a colour laser.

In reply to olly.climbs:

for anyone interested in plotting routes, printing hi-res 1/25k etc, there's Ordnance Survey's very good 'OSMaps'.
https://osmaps.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/osmaps/
Annual subscription is £24.99,

HOWEVER... if you, or someone you know collects Tesco Clubcard points, then it costs you just £8 - brilliant!
https://tinyurl.com/jkkl9l9

In reply to Dan Arkle:

Genuine question Dan - does the paper 'fix' the ink? As in - would special waterproof ink also be required, so as not to end up with pristine paper with all the ink smudged or washed off?

In reply to mangoletse:

Buy a laminator ! £35 and upwards from somewhere like Argos.

In reply to mangoletse:


I'd also be interested to know

In reply to mangoletse:

I use waterproof paper and a laser printer, with ordinary cartridges, and I've never had a problem with ink smudging or washing off, even when I'm carrying an A4 sheet in a sweaty hand when I'm running in the rain. Definitely my preferred choice.

In reply to robhorton:


Especially if it's an A3 laser printer.

In reply to olly.climbs:

I have just bought some Toughprint inkjet paper A4 £17.99 off Amazon(comes in laser paper as well) I signed up to the OS free trial 1 week, this allows you full access to the maps and allows you to print them, for future use there is a £3.99 month long payment that would be fine if your taking a trip somewhere new.
I printed of a good quality Pixma Pro 100s with canon inks, I didn't try on my cheap printer with generic ink (although I may try to save on the canon inks).
It is worth noting that on A4 1:25000 is quite restrictive especially if you have printed of the map before deciding which route exactly your doing that day, I do print the 1:50000 on the reverse side so you should have enough info to get back to the car park (OS fits to scale )
I haven't put the maps through the full wet mountain day pulling out of pockets and scrunching up etc, but I have left a copy outside in the rain then given it a not too gentle wipe down and it was fine, paper pretty resistant to tearing and folds well without the creases ruining the map.
This thread gave me a bit of a nudge because I did my ML assessment recently and found the whole map case thing a real pain in the ass, the assessor had a bunch of old maps he had cut up and laminated so they were a convenient pocket size, but this if it takes the full mountain test will be better.

In reply to olly.climbs:

If you're going inkjet my personal strong recommendation is to go with one that has the printhead on the cartridge. The ones that don't often get blocked, are a nuisance to clean and very expensive to replace.