Discussion: AutoPilot MTBO mapboards

I want to by one of these mapboards as a gift. Why would an orienteer choose the tallboy vs. the normal pilotone? I can't find any information about this aside from the dimensions of the two different products.

Might be better for a short sighted orienteer.

Notice where your body is in relation to your stem as you ride. I have a straight-up "normal height" model, and I can't do short, steep uphills without banging my beltline into the mapboard. I actually made a 20cm square map board, and that helps.

I'm considering buying a "forward offset" model to get the mapboard farther away from my body when I'm doing those little uphills such as getting out of streams. The problem is visibility of your front tire. I'm kinda resigned to the fact that no solution is going to give me good visibility of my front tire.

Until I put a mapboard on my bike, I never realized how often my belly button gets right up to the stem or handlebars.

That depends a lot on your bike geometry and setup. Some people have a very upright setup with the handlebars pretty close in to the saddle so they can sit up. If you're like this the above could be an issue. Folks with a more stretched out setup have more distance between handlebars and saddle and are less likely to be bumping into the mapholder.

Looking at the front tire is over-rated. Between checking the map and looking where you're going you already have more than enough to keep track of. ;-)

Thanks folks - I already understand the front wheel visibility vs hill climbing interference issues of the angled mount. I'm specifically asking for input about the tall mount (Tallboy) over the std height mount, ignoring the issues of angling fore or aft.

Is it simply that the tallboy makes it easier for riders in a more upright position to see the map? I guess I'm skeptical that this is the only way this option adds value.

Here's a response from AuotPilot:
"Hello Eric, thanks for your interest in PilotOne mapholders and sorry for late response...People who choose TallBoy base are 1) either kicking the edges of the mapholder board by their knees (when standing in the pedals) or 2) appreciate to have the map closer to their eyes...I am a tall guy (202 cm height) and Standard base was too small for me, so now I am using AngleBoy base, which is 5 cm offset and gives more space for the knees. Please let me know if it is clear, thanks RaMach"