On the right track but not quite there – Topo Maps+ Review

I wanted to love this app, but it kind of tries to cover too much ground and so falls short for key uses. The big plus is putting OpenCycleMap/OpenStreetMap trails on topo maps where that information is outdated. (Be aware though this is often not great on many trails-last year I added a major trail in a national park to OpenStreet that was AWOL, and even still the Bluebird Lake trail in Rocky Mtn NP has yet to be added, and some other trails are poorly located) Having distances from that dataset is great too, though you often have to zoom a bit to get the distances between intersections to show up. Individual trails that are highlighted on a tap are often not the collection of trails you'd hike (for instance, nobody is likely to go to Flattop Mtn in Rocky Mtn NP starting at the Bierstadt Lake trailhead). I found downloading tiles of maps to be slow to really slow, which gets painful if going on a multiday hike. I'm not wild about the interface-stuff you'd want to check in the field should be the one tap buttons, not prep stuff like downloads. Adding your own route is cute (but not easy on a phone-gets all wiggly), but s better trick would be linking existing trail segments for your own hike. (This would also help make the "download tiles for this trail" more useful). I have also gotten trapped in the Download map interface with no way out I could find (this happens if you are in the downloads screen and then you lose connectivity). Similarly, the elevation profiles require Internet, but you aren't so alerted if you tap on the info icon and get to see a "downloading" message when in fact no downloading occurs. Hiking apps are often used offline, so being smart and knowing what you can and cannot do from the interface is crucial. So there is promise, and for some the tricks here will outweigh the downsides (like the cost to download maps).
Review by Cjones-CU on Topo Maps+.