I have always said that if I win the lottery, one of the first things I will buy is a full set of Ordnance Survey maps, both 1:50k and 1:25k.
I now mostly use the latter scale, I like the extra detail. This is partly because its useful, but as much because it gives me more of a picture of the landscape, geology and even history than 1:50k can do. The slower I travel, as exploring becomes more important to me than ticking, the more I look at the map for interesting little areas to divert to. For me, therefore, actual paper maps work far better. They give me much more than the small screen of a phone can do.
That's not to say I'm not a convert to digital. I do lots of my planning on the laptop screen, exploring Britain "virtually" through with OS Maps or often Walkhighlands mapping as this is one of the most user friendly formats I've found. Once I've got my rough ideas in my head, I get the paper map out (I've acquired both Landranger and Explorer titles for most of the NW Highlands by now) lie it on the floor, and let the eye, and mind, wander.
Out in the field I mostly use the paper map, or often the waterproof version, but I do have the relevant area downloaded onto my phone via the OS Maps app. This is great for a quick check.
The one thing I don't do, is download or draw a route onto digital and actually use the device to follow it. To me, that takes your eyes from the landscape, to simply following a virtual arrow. Without the need to look around to work out the route, you lose sight of so much of interest, plodding head-down across the landscape. I do digitally draw the line on so I can see distances and height profiles though.
I've also occasionally printed out from OS Maps, though I far prefer having the whole thing.
As an aside, when I first started open canoeing, which gradually took over from hillwalking and biking as my main activity, I guess I thought I wouldn't use maps as much, as you just follow the river or canal. Wrong! Even for a paddler, maps show me so much; gradient of the river, distances, likely wind direction on a loch due to the mountain profiles, difficulty of portages, possible wild camps, etc, etc. This ultimately led to planning a route last Easter crossing Assynt and Inverpolly where paddling and portaging meant it was very necessary to use the map. With wind a big issue, we were looking at the contours to find sheltered shores, launch spots, and camp spots, and had to change our plans several times, all of which were done with the map in hand.
I couldn't resist bringing one of my favourite acquisitions along on that trip, kept safe and sound deep in a bag. A 1960ish old 1" to the mile map of Assynt. Very little has changed. Afterwards I took a photo of it and "drew" our route on digitally.
One day, I too, will wallpaper half my house with maps!
As for the original question, keeps your eyes out, retailers and online stores often have reductions. To me, though I will get them cheap when I can, maps are excellent value for money any way, for they bring me adventures, both actual, and of the mind.
