Outdooractive Reviews 247

Only reason i have given 1 star is because there isn't a nil star option! Have been using Viewranger for 15 years and have paid for whole of uk OS maps. About as much use now as the OutdoorActive app which is rubbish! I would rather navigate by the stars than use Outdoor Active!

I am gutted I can't leave a 0* review. I'd been using ViewRanger for 15 years and I've now been forced to move over to OutdoorActive... which I can't because my device doesn't support the app. Immensely annoying as I spent £££ on downloaded maps.

The takeover of Viewranger by Outdoor Active is a disaster for all hiking fans worldwide. It is weird that the best walking app has been taken away and is replaced by an app that is: much worse, has lousy maps, is less intuitive, has less possibilities, AND is more expensive.

I’ve been forced off viewranger to outdooractive and it is rubbish. I can’t download things offline without a subscription, I’ve lost loads of credits I’d paid for via Viewranger and the app just doesn’t work as well as Viewranger for me (remote hill navigation). I’m not a fan of the OS maps app, but it’s still way better for what I need so I will be moving on to that until I find something better.

Compared to the excellent ViewRanger this compromise has clearly been made by a design team with good intentions but little to no experience of what a quality piece of outdoor kit needs to do. Instead of agreeing to loads of fluff with a view to make an outdoors excuse for a Facebook alternative (and presumably the projected revenue stream) why did you not talk to the professionals in the field who use these tools and whose experience and advice sells to and trains for your market audience. Can see what the design committee was looking for. Could almost re-write the exact use case used. Unfortunately neither have anything to do with what mountain and outdoor professionals and rescue teams actually need or want. Neither does this app currently. Where is the offline functionality? Why for the love of god change the map quality as you scale out for a poorer quality map you can’t navigate by? Why can’t I use all the maps I downloaded and have on my phone? Why on earth do you need to download them off the net? There is no internet most of the time where I climb and scramble. Where do you see this app being used exactly? Outdoors presumably? No good for wilderness travel or mountain training currently. Why the heavy graphics UI when it could be simpler? Or at least have the option to edit? All use battery which is unacceptable to the serious and safety conscious outdoors enthusiast. KISS. No problem with the pretty fluff but why not be able to turn them off? How about height in m but distance in miles? Where is the customisation? I want lean and mean so my battery lasts and I can use miles from phone signal for days. Plan on the fly. See ALL my routes on one map, offline. ViewRanger did this. Somewhat disappointed that we now have some less than the sum of significant experience and years of functionality. More Ramms less Sottsass please.

I would not recommend this app to anyone. It has a lot of superficial features but has very weak core functionality. It is not usable without connectivity which makes it unsuited to any off-grid location which is where any serious trekking or cycling would take place. In functional terms, maps are slow to load, route planning is complicated and takes you onto unsuitable routes. Countries where I used to travel are not covered by OA. It also consumes too much battery life.
I would definitely recommend using an alternative nav app - maybe PocketEarth Pro, UK Ordnance Survey, or a Garmin device. ViewRanger used to provide an excellent service but has been discontinued since being acquired by OA.

OutdoorActive is no substitute for ViewRanger.
I have been using ViewRanger for over 5 years when cycling with my club and could not fault the app. I had bought the OS 1:50000 maps for all of GB and used them extensively, as they are available offline and come up instantly when needed. Using them it was easy to follow an existing route or one imported from elsewhere. The technical support from VR has been excellent during my time using it. But VR was turned off on February 28th and, although my OS maps are still on my phone, I cannot use them as they are formatted so that they can only be read using VR.
OutdoorActive is a miserable substitute for VR. The maps are very slow to download and they are not available offline. Very often I am cycling in remote parts where there is no phone signal. OutdoorActive should reinstate the VR app, allow former VR users to re-download all their maps that they have bought over the years and allow access to all the routes they have created.

ViewRanger was excellent, had a comprehensive range of essential & useful features presented in an uncluttered, intuitive & efficient way. Outdooractive is none of these - I have tried to get to grips with it but giving up and looking elsewhere e.g. want to look at the times along my recorded tracks - as far as I can tell not available - though have looked hard (& that's another issue - poor help). Feel sold out & v p off - I hope the talented folks at VR think giving up a great App was wo£th it.

I have given this a good go after being forced from Viewranger, apart from the many faults described by others, it doesn't work properly offline, despite what Outdoorcraptive say, and it uses twice as much battery as Viewranger, rendering it useless for a days Trailriding.

Now that OA have withdrawn Viewranger, my previous comments about hoping to continue to use Viewranger offline are irrelevant.
But the more I try to use OA, the more frustrated I become:
a) Plotting a route on the map is a nightmare; nothing like the simple reliability of VR
b) Yes, I can access my old routes and tracks, transferred from VR, but when I want MY routes and tracks that's what I want, not several hundred routes created by others
c) VR allowed all one's routes and tracks, distinguished by colour, to be overlain on the map. That way one could decide when planning a new route how best to incorporate them or avoid them. With OA they appear as icons, clicking on one then shows just that route as an overlay.

As others have said, come on, OA. Give us back VR, and then - if you wish - build your improvements on top of that platform. Otherwise you will have bought nothing! Your users will be abandoning in droves in favour of OS and other mapping services.

This app is a poor alternative to the much better original Viewranger app. Doesn't let you download map tiles for when there is no signal. Why have they stopped the much better Viewranger app?

Totally underwhelmed by this piece of junk. I have spent hours trying to download the IGN map (already paid for). On Viewranger this was a simple process but OA will only download one tile at a time and then you find that it will not allow you to see them stitched together.

Crap, utter crap. An app and company destined for the bin.

Viewranger - RIP - a superb mapping program now carelessly discarded by OutdoorActive.

As a VR user of over 10 year's and with over £200 invested in buying the 1:25000 OS detailed maps ( now in the bin) I really didn't think that OA would turn off VR when the successor OA is so full of problems.

VR maps were instantly available on my iPhone SE. It now takes at least 90 secs to load up the self-same downloaded maps, and I need to ensure I can access the web whilst in the middle of nowhere ( where I will be next week)

I mainly used VR to produce and lead cycle routes for my cycling club. Nearly impossible now especially following a route when cycling along. All the VR features seem to be missing.

I also used VR to quickly locate something if I had been watching a TV program or to see where someone or somewhere was. Forget this now - by the time the local map has downloaded from the web, or presented itself from your saved map, the moment has passed.

VR Technical Help have all been superb - they are having to deal with the thick edge of reviews and emails like this.

If you are thinking of downloading OA I would think twice and perhaps take out a trial subscription to Ordnance Survey instead!

This what OA need to do, and do it quickly

1) Reinstate the VR app which was deleted on Feb 28th. Allow former VR users to re-download all their maps that they have bought over the years. Allow access to all the routes created

2) Sort out the basic functionality of OA so that it actually works by downloading maps over the net quickly and that maps already downloaded on a users device open up immediately ( as VR did) and forget all the other aspects until the basics actually work. Most people ignore all the fancy bits anyway.

This cannot be hard to do - the hardest part will be getting OA to admit that to has rushed out this integration of VR into OA

OA : if you want to contact me then pls do.

I contacting them the day my subscription was renewed - of course zero notification that that was about to happen - good customer service would have refunded my payment as renewal was an oversight and I was not using the service, but they are obviously blind to giving good customer service.

Thanks to all those who have provided reviews of Outdooractive.
I have used Viewranger for many years now (can't remember when I didn't have it!) and invested in a number of OS and Swiss maps. I have found it intuitive, reliable, easy, accurate and fun to use. I have used it in remote locations where offline capability was essential, often having dowloaded the night before OS or other tiles to give me the necessary fidelity for my adventure. Recently I am not quite so active as I was then but I find it really useful for simple things such as setting a POI to where I left the car or a Navigate To when out walking, cycling or in the car when trying to find a location. I am hugely sad and annoyed that this capability is about to be deprived me and others by a company who's only aim appears to be making a profit.
I have read extensively the reviews of OA and decided I am not even going to waste my time downloading it. I will find some other, more worthy map provider for my needs.
An appeal to the OA developers (Rangefinders owners): It is not too late to change your minds - my suggestion is you ditch your present OA and concentrate on developing the superior Rangefinder. I, and I am sure many other Rangefinder users, would be prepared to pay a reasonable price for such. If you don't I really don't see how you can possibly survive, given every review provider I have checked have you at such a low rating. You are as good as dead in the water (or fells, hills, mountains etc.)!
Bill

I've tried to use this new app for a few months having been a ViewRanger fan for many many years with a vast collection of UK maps and happy memories of tracks. Its so bad I could cry and feel very nervous about using it in future on a remote walk. After failing this weekend to be able to display a previously recorded track when I have 2 from the same starting point, have ditched it in frustration. Would give it zero stars if I could.

If i could give it less stars i would. Just been forced onto outdoor active from viewranger - spoiler alert, its crap. What was wrong with viewranger, it worked a treat, was easy to use and had great maps. now i have just a crappy low res open street map and not even satellite allowed.
Seriously unimpressed. Can't we just keep using viewranger even without "support" or updates.

An appalling waste of the excellent programme which was Viewranger. Outdooractive is completely impractical. It's only advantage relative to Viewranger is that, having previously bought only 1:50,000 OS maps, I now have access to 1:25,000 at no extra cost - at least for one year - but only if I use it online, or take the time to download each area I need.
I hope someone sues OutdoorActive for theft of the lifetime use of maps. They bought Viewranger so should have bought their liabilities.
Fortunately, I mainly used Viewranger offline for route planning and tracking. I'll wait and see what happens once they withdraw Viewranger. Hopefully I will be able to continue to use it offline. My main loss then will be how to load other people's GPX files which I used to do via MyViewranger.com. Any ideas?

Well if I could could give this app 0 stars I would, how could a app as good as Viewranger be bought out and completely destroyed in such a short time.
The app is unreliable, unrelatable and has more chance of getting you in danger than being a go to choice.

Just been forced onto outdooractive from viewranger. Links in original email were blocked due to suspicious activity, so had to request help, return email was prompt and contained another link which worked ok. Transferred viewranger account to outdooractive, found all my routes and tracks ok. But account pages are just so cluttered with unwanted content and adverts, just awful to use and I haven't even installed on my phone yet to use for tracking and following routes, expecting a nightmare, LEAVE ME ON VIEWRANGER, IT WORKS!! Not seen so many bad reviews on a similar app before, would usually keep well clear if I had a choice. Quick update: my phone isn't compatible with the current version of outdooractive - thanks a lot outdooractive, why can't apps that work great just be left alone???