Outside +, scam or value

Outside magazine has bought up a bunch of apps , sites and magazines. To use any of them users are cajoled into buying the bundled subscription product. Otherwise I’m nickel and dimed for anything else. The new outside magazine is nothing like it’s former adventure self. Has anyone found outside plus a good value? Their Gaia amd Trailforks maps see, to compete with Adventure x mountain project maps.

I think it's worth it.

Subs to two mags... two free books (one of the titles I picked is Fast After 50 - excellent)... access to Trailforks Pro (haven't used GAIA yet)... access to all their web articles and videos.

What does the subscription cost? Gaia and Trailforks are both great apps if you have a need for them.

I thought Gaia was a one-time purchase of $30. Has that changed?

I had never heard of Trailforks. I judge hiking maps and apps by looking for a couple of "secret" trails. Trailforks completely misses one (Chittenden Mountain Trail) and sort of has another (Old North Trail). Old North Trail is shown on the map, but is unnamed and isn't in their database.

PRRose wrote:

I thought Gaia was a one-time purchase of $30. Has that changed?

I had never heard of Trailforks. I judge hiking maps and apps by looking for a couple of "secret" trails. Trailforks completely misses one (Chittenden Mountain Trail) and sort of has another (Old North Trail). Old North Trail is shown on the map, but is unnamed and isn't in their database.

Trailforks is mainly for mountain biking. In some places it's pretty comprehensive and informative, in others it's totally useless. Gaia is very similar to CalTopo and is the way to go for general topo maps, trails, and route planning. In my experience, there are very few trails that aren't on it.

Nick Niebuhr wrote:

Trailforks is mainly for mountain biking. In some places it's pretty comprehensive and informative, in others it's totally useless. Gaia is very similar to CalTopo and is the way to go for general topo maps, trails, and route planning. In my experience, there are very few trails that aren't on it.

We were in the Amazon rainforest a few weeks ago and went off trail for a while chasing a troop of monkeys in the treetops. I noticed our guide, an indigene, was bending a twig every once in a while. After losing sight of the monkeys, the guide asked if we knew how he were going to get back to the trail. I guessed that we'd follow the broken twigs back; the guide explained that he was turning the branch so that the underside of the leaf, which is a slightly different color green, was facing the direction of travel back. Very subtle and a cool trick.

Then my wife pulled up Gaia on her phone and pointed to the trail a few yards away. The guide loved it.

Nick Niebuhr wrote:

What does the subscription cost? Gaia and Trailforks are both great apps if you have a need for them.

$99 per year