Far Out or old-fashioned paper guidebook? Opinions?

[One Half]

the map set is essentially what I call a "strip map." While it's good for planning mileage it will do you very little for up to date trail info or if you do get lost (like in the White Mountains) or need to bail in a place like the WMNF due to serious weather etc.

I wanted to add that I prefer WB pages for this as the "map" doesn't really add much that the guidebook doesn't have other than pretty colors.

[foodbag]

First, I am planning a NOBO section Daleville to (maybe) Port Clinton, beginning mid-September, so perhaps we'll pass each other along the way!

I have done two long sections over the past couple of years and used only an AWOL guide (also looseleaf version, so only the pages I needed to carry).
I didn't always know EXACTLY where I was, but most of the time that was just fine with me. There were a few times when it would have been nice : )

I don't have a smartphone yet, although that may change this fall.... verizon will no longer be supporting my old 3G flip-phone, so it's probably time!

Hope to see you out there! My original plan was to start in Daleville and go to Duncannon, but I managed to book a flight from Sarasota, FL to Harrisburg, PA for $39 (!!!), so that was the deciding factor.

[Tim Rich]

I guess paper could fail if it got wet, but it's more reliable than an electronic device. Some of the newer electronic offerings are really neat, so I may supplement, but I don't think I'd hike without something on paper, at least a map.

As a section hiker (we never hiked more than 170 miles on one trip), it gave me the time to prepare for - and then savor - each trip. I took information from various places and consolidated it into a single document that was formatted to print on quarter pages. Fold it twice, and it had each planned day's information. I still do that now for hikes elsewhere, looking at Trailjournals for recent experiences, or those in a similar season. And I carry a map.

[atraildreamer]

On the front page of this website is a link to Whiteblaze Pages - an affordable and very comprehensive guide available in PDF. I find it worth having a copy.

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...and you can also get an electronic version that is regularly updated.

[Miner]

I hiked a 600 mile section of the AT with just AWOL's guide back in 2012. There were no smart phone apps when I thru-hiked the PCT though I had paper maps. So Far Out and other phone based apps are really an optional thing. Plenty of people successfully hiked before them.

That said, the gps based phone apps are convenient with one advantage of knowing exactly where you are at a given moment. There are a handful of times that I make a wrong turn when I hiked those trails; mainly carelessness on my part for not really paying attention. With a gps phone app, when I started to suspect I was off trail, I could have glanced at it and known for a fact instead of going a little further to see if I saw an marker/blaze. That said, I've seen plenty of people break their phones on a trail and I drowned mine once in a deep pool where it was dead afterwards, so always have a backup.