USGS Topo Map Quality Decline?

Just got a topo map, and am shocked at the poor quality of the thing, compared to what I'm used to seeing. Kinda...fuzzy almost, maybe fewer dots per inch or something??
I'll try to post pics to compare.
What gives?
Thanks as always!

I like the national geographic ones

When you say "got" do you mean you bought a paper map or did you download a printable map? The quality of a digital map will depend on the DPI when scanned. If it is fuzzy, it probably was scanned at a low DPI.

I original printed USGS map costs nearly $10 and should be of very good quality.

Nancy, I ordered it from USGS. Do you see what I'm talking about on these? Really a different look, and quite inferior IMHO...

The images you posted are too small to see. How do I make them larger?

A USGS map should be very crisp and clear. I would call them and see if you just got a bad copy.

They are now printed off a DEM, so the contours have a smoother look (mathematically smoothed) than the old maps from the 70's. But the actual print crispness is dependent on DPI when printed.

If you have an outdoor store or a commercial survey office nearby, (someone who has recent USGS maps) you could compare yours.

Can you still get standard 7.5 minute topos? Do you have to order them direct from USGS? I guess I still see them at some ranger stations, relevant to the specific area you're visiting (like say the Inyo Ranger Stations), but that's about it. I use to print up custom maps at REI, which were nice, but they were more like 15 minute, I think. I never tried printing my own with map making software, never had access to good enough printers and paper. What do other people do?

I usually use MyTopo to create backpacking maps. They can be personalized with different sizes, scales and text. When I take the Scouts on high adventure trips, each has a personalized map to learn from and as a memento.

We use acmemapper to create our own --to exactly the scale we want. We love them.

And then we take a large map like Nat Geo or Time Harrison so we can identify the peaks on the horizon...or take a new direction that we didn't initially plan.

There are many sources for quality electronic maps, this thread is about print quality. I have some of the old printed USGS maps and I haven't seen anything that compares to the print quality. It sounds like current print quality of USGS maps also does not compare. That is too bad.

Does anyone have a good way to make high quality prints (comparable to old USGS maps)? Color laser printers don't do it. I suppose you could submit them to a photo lab and have them printed up that way. The quality would be good, but the paper would not be right. I think they would be too think and not handle folding well.

I am spoiled. My company has a graphic design department that can print me maps that a beautiful...

I took a quick look at the site and they have several different options to purchase maps.

We can't tell the quality of the map you got because the image is tiny, but in general the more area displayed on a page is going to reduce detail and printing an entire Quad map on a single standard page is just too much.

You can download those images for free there though and take the file to a "Quick Print" shop and have them just print the area you want on a larger piece of paper for about the same price, or just print them yourself if you have an inkjet printer.