Awol's Guide .pdf vs book question

[Christoph]

Might be a silly question but..... I'm thinking of ditching the Awol guidebook for the .pdf version on my next escape from reality. Thinking I can save a little weight and space here since I'll have my phone on me anyway. Is the layout pretty much the same on a smartphone (does it look the same as the book) and is it hard to read on a phone? I've got a Droid Maxx so it's not a small screen (5 inch). I really like the ease of use the book has but not sure what the .pdf looks like. Thanks for the help, I'm sure it's as great as the book is.

[Hikingjim]

I have the pdf and I bring/print what I need for certain sections.
On my phone I found it a pain in the ass to look at. Lots of zooming, etc and it annoyed me
But maybe there's a way to make it better, and I'd be interested to see if anyone else liked the pdf on a phone

[CalebJ]

I used the book as a resource the last two years and bought the PDF this year. To me, the value of the PDF is not in the ability to look at it on the phone, though that's useful from time to time. Instead, I like the ability to quickly search it on a computer, select sections to print for a trip, etc. You can also use free utilities to split particular pages off to a new file. Makes it easy to quickly open a section you're using for a trip and not have to go through the rest of it.

[jjozgrunt]

I plan on using the PDF next year. I tried this years on my 8" Galaxy tab, which is my phone as well. I have it set as one page fits the screen and it fits great and is easy to read. On a phone I think I would be quite small and I would get sick of zooming to read. The other thing I like about the PDF is all the phone numbers, websites and emails are ready to use just by touching them. Well worth having on the phone even if you take the paper version with you.

[Starchild]

I had both the book pages + the PDF on a iPhone 4 (small screen). I found that I often used the iPhone version more then the pages. It was just easier, faster, and since I used the Guthook app also, I had my phone handy always, the paper was in a sealed ziplock which required reorganizing pages every 10 miles or if I wanted to look ahead. The small screen or zooming, swiping was not a problem (though see the below during wet conditions).

But the paper was also very useful a limited number of times. Mostly when it was wet out and the iPhone screen would not respond to wet hands on a damp screen. That could also be due to sweat, on a very hot and humid day it is very hard to avoid. Another time the paper was good was coordinating the travels with others. Also when I was on the single page.

I would say that after hitting my stride on my thru I used the iPhone PDF 70% of the time, paper by choice 15%, paper mandatory 15%.

[jjozgrunt]

since I used the Guthook app also,

Hi Starchild, I was planning on using Guthooks app as well, How did you find it?

[Slo-go'en]

Hi Starchild, I was planning on using Guthooks app as well, How did you find it?

Search for Guthook in the app store.

[SWODaddy]

It's literally a .pdf of the book. However .pdfs display on your phone is exactly how it will look.

IMO, the AWOL guide is better for town info (hotels, hostels, shuttles, etc.). Guthook is better for trail info (water sources, campsites, road crossings, etc.).

[JC13]

I used the .pdf version as well. I printed the section I was planning on hiking and had the .pdf in iBooks. I used the paper copy once, ended up ditching it at Neel Gap. Didn't have any issues reading it on a iPhone 6+. I did pickup Guthook as well, was really nice being able to interactively see exactly where we were.

[Christoph]

WOW Thanks for the responses! I'm thinking of going the .pdf route for sure now on my 2nd attempt next year. In reality, the main times I used the book was when I was laying in bed, just before dark, planning my stop for the next day. I did tend to gravitate towards the "how many more friggin' climbs are there before I get there" state of mind and started checking the book more often. I think that in itself lead to some mental fatigue. I'd like to stay away from it (and don't need the GPS part of it, if there is one) and just use it as a planning guide and maybe some phone numbers for rides into town, etc. Very basic use so it sounds like the .pdf version might be the way to go. I'm am sticking with AWOL even though both seem to have great and somewhat different info. No real reason but the book treated me well last trip.

[jjozgrunt]

Search for Guthook in the app store.

How did you find? That's aussie for how good was the app on the trail. Should be some interesting misinterpretations next year on trail, especially when you throw in the melodious aussie accent.

[jeffmeh]

How did you find? That's aussie for how good was the app on the trail. Should be some interesting misinterpretations next year on trail, especially when you throw in the melodious aussie accent.

It's common usage here in the US also. Slo just took it literally.

[Engine]

It's common usage here in the US also. Slo just took it literally.

When I first read that, I thought the same thing...I was 1/2 way through typing a response when I realized what was intended. :-)