Big Easy Read Britain 2020 Spiral bound (AA Road Atlas Britain) Spiral-bound – 1 Jun. 2019

I have both the AA and A-Z 2020 road atlases.Unsurprisingly, there is considerable commonality. Both are A3 size; both are ring-bound; both are 2.5” = 1 mile; both include approximately 32,000 place names; the layout and content of individual maps is similar; both have similar prices on Prime.But… the AA atlas has 192 pages, whereas A-Z has 243. What do those extra 51 pages contain, and which atlas is easier to use and/or more useful?The principle differences that I have found are:The AA atlas covers Britain, whereas A-Z covers Great Britain – six extra pages of road maps for Northern Ireland.The AA atlas depicts Britain in 147 maps, whereas A-Z contains 173 (179 if you include Northern Ireland). A-Z’s greater number of maps means greater overlap between maps, which can sometimes be helpful when transitioning from one page to another.The AA atlas includes a double-page map for London, six pages of 6-to-a-page town maps, three pages of Port maps, a page for the London M25 and a page for the Birmingham M42-M6-M5 ring motorways.The A-Z atlas includes FOUR double-page maps of London – NW, NE, SE and SW, plus a double-page map of London City centre; a double-page map of Birmingham and a single whole-page street map of Manchester. There are also ten pages of street maps for other towns, plus a page of Port maps and a page of Airport maps.In terms of general usefulness, I’d offer the following comments:The A-Z maps use wider roads and heavier type than AA maps, which can make the A-Z maps look more cluttered.Both AA and A-Z use standard blue-red-green-yellow-transparent road colouring, but background colours differ. Apart from occasional patches of green to indicate wooded areas, the AA maps remain resolutely white. The A-Z maps are much more colourful – green for wooded areas, yellow and brown for hills and mountains – they appear 3-D in hilly or mountainous areas. In Wales, northern England and all of Scotland, the A-Z maps really come into their own - hugely more interesting and, frankly, much more informative.Both AA and A-Z maps show very similar places – however, there is a difference and, IMHO, it’s an important difference. On A-Z maps, place names are accompanied by a small circle marking the location of that place. On AA maps, smaller towns and villages show only the place names - you haven’t got a clue where a place is, other than it’s somewhere in the general vicinity of the name. This doesn’t matter much with towns or sizeable villages on main roads, but it jolly well does matter in more rural areas.Either atlas will serve you well but, for my money, I’d opt for the A-Z. The difference is not huge, and I wish there were a four-and-a-half star category, but there isn’t, so A-Z gets 5 and AA gets 4 stars.

Aiming to replace my 2005 road atlas, at last! Seems good, only thing missing that the old one has is first 3 pages showing full UK overview maps - really going to miss that convenience of seeing 'the bigger picture' sometimes. Maybe cut out the pages and affix them inside cover of new one.

I bought this as a backup to a satnav, as I was going to a friend's funeral, in a place I had not previously visited, and although we hear, endlessly, about HS2, and travelling north to south, clearly they have never tried driving east to west, where there is no direct road route, all the roads winding in the directions they probably did, before the Norman Conquest.Had it not been for this easy to read, spiral bound, book, Folds nicely on the passenger seat, I should probably still be driving!The satnav, took my through medieval villages, along single farm vehicle width lanes, with no pass points, and minimal sign posting. The only time the satnav 'worked' as they are promoted as doing, was when I got into centre of the market town, and when I reached my destination, I realised that had I driven around 50 yards further from the town centre, I would have been only a few yards from the cemetery gates. From the centre, the satnav took me right round the town's perimeter!As a very experienced driver, who has driven over most of the UK, Europe, the Mediterranean, and a fair portion of South Africa, certainly for the UK, I would recommend this atlas over some over-priced, over-hyped, talking box.If they make atlases for other countries, I would advise buying one, if you want to get back by the end of your holiday.

Nice and clear maps, plus lots of extra info.....e.g. Ferry routes, road tolls

This is unhelpful if trying to find roads for going on long journeys from one end of the country to the other. They have a map of the whole of the UK, but this isn’t roads. It’s just filled with page numbers which is ok but the main point in having a road map is to have a map of the whole of the UK with all the roads on it. Avoid this if you’re looking for one which contains a road map of the UK as a whole.

Also the spiral binding saves space on your lap, although it is quite heavy.One reason I bought it was on the advice that the paper was high quality and sturdy.Not really.Regrettably, it has already torn after just one trip..it's not partner-proof !

Big print and bigger scale for visually challenged older drivers is v helpfulLots of useful info re sights etc

Perfect for an aging father in his 70 and his refusal to trust a sat nav. He's of that generation of belt and braces and to plan a journey in advance. The large print and big pages are perfect for his older eyes