Anyone every print out battle maps on vinyl, PVC or banner material?

I'm considering doing this, and I know some of the professional gaming maps use vinyl for theirs, but I don't know if they are all similar enough products as to not matter which one I use?

My local print shop can put it on what they call banner material. Anyone here have any insight into this?

What are you out after? Personilized battlemats or just general ones with squares or hexes?

The reason I use a vinyl one is so I can draw up the map but still have a hex or square grid

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Originally Posted by RazorChain

What are you out after? Personilized battlemats or just general ones with squares or hexes?

The reason I use a vinyl one is so I can draw up the map but still have a hex or square grid

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I am printing out the maps for LmoP. I just purchased the starter set and I'm looking forward to DMing for the first time with my son.

I printed out a couple of pages of hex paper, glued them to posterboard and laminated it.
Instant reusable battlegrid.

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Originally Posted by johnbragg

I printed out a couple of pages of hex paper, glued them to posterboard and laminated it.
Instant reusable battlegrid.

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Right but I'm specifically looking for experiences with vinyl PVC or Banner material. I know there's a lot of other options

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Originally Posted by Snig

I am printing out the maps for LmoP. I just purchased the starter set and I'm looking forward to DMing for the first time with my son.

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So specific maps. I don't have experience with printing out specific maps on other than paper.

As a GM that does a lot of improvisation, using vinyl and dry eraser markers is the cheapest and least time consuming for me.

I don't have any experience using non-paper material for printing maps, however what I have done in the past is print maps and then take them to a print shop (or better a teacher supply store) and laminate them. Once laminated, I can draw on them with wet or dry erase markers and clean it easily but I can still see and use all the details and enjoy the artwork.

My concern using vinyl, PVC, or banner material would not be the material per se but rather whether I can draw on top of it and then erase the drawings without damaging the ink beneath.

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Originally Posted by Elder_Basilisk

I don't have any experience using non-paper material for printing maps, however what I have done in the past is print maps and then take them to a print shop (or better a teacher supply store) and laminate them. Once laminated, I can draw on them with wet or dry erase markers and clean it easily but I can still see and use all the details and enjoy the artwork.

My concern using vinyl, PVC, or banner material would not be the material per se but rather whether I can draw on top of it and then erase the drawings without damaging the ink beneath.

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One of the advantages of vinyl is the ability to use wet erase markers on them.

I have also considered laminating. How well does it roll up? I am worried that it would not lay flat.

Single-campaign printed maps on vinyl aren't common, because you can only use them for that one campaign. They're only ever going to be useful for those specific maps. Much more common is to buy a battlemat--a blank grid, usually with 1" squares on one side and hexes on the other--and draw the outlines of the maps as you go. Battlemats come in both vinyl and really heavy-grade coated paper. They're versatile, because you can just draw whatever map you want when and if you need it. (You don't need to be a good artist. I couldn't draw my way out of a paper bag if my life depended on it. You just need to get the idea across.)