Rating: 
Summary: Buy the ALDHA Companion instead.
Review: Having used both Mr. Bruce's Thru-hiker's Handbook, and the ALDHA's Appalachian Trail Thru-Hikers' Companion, I really prefer the Companion. I have found it to be more complete and accurate than the Handbook. Also, for the price of the Handbook, you can get BOTH the Companion AND the Data Book!
Rating:
Summary: Buy the ALDHA Companion instead.
Review: Having used both Mr. Bruce's Thru-hiker's Handbook, and the ALDHA's Appalachian Trail Thru-Hikers' Companion, I really prefer the Companion. I have found it to be more complete and accurate than the Handbook. Also, for the price of the Handbook, you can get BOTH the Companion AND the Data Book!
Rating: 
Summary: For serious thru-hikers, not tourists!
Review: I am thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail right now and I am using wingfoot's handbook as my guide. I disagree with the review I just read that said the handbook is not updated thoroughly. I have found the information to be highly accurate (i'm in a town now that was listed in the handbook, using a computer that it said was available). The reviewer is probably using an old edition. It is important to get the latest edition for thru-hiking. I started with the "other book" but soon found that it has too much information that has nothing to do with my needs as a thru-hiker. The handbook has just what I need and no more. It is easy to use and written to help thru-hikers, not to try to tell tourist every detail about things that have nothing to do with hiking. There is a lot of politics by some of the tourist types on the trail trying to discredit wingfoot's book, because he works hard for protection of the trail and upholding thru-hiking traditions and that makes them uncomfortable, but he stands for something important and I admire that and support him. I would choose the handbook even if I didn't like the traditional values Wingfoot teaches because it is so in step with the way I am thru-hiking, but now I recommend it even more since I am doing a thru-hike and can see how important those values are to what I am doing. The handbook is 100% thru-hiker, and it is the only book available that I can say that about. I recommend it to any future thru-hiker.
Rating:
Summary: Not Updated Thoroughly
Review: I can not recommend this book. I found this guide is not updated as thoroughly on a yearly basis as some of the other A.T. guides.
Rating:
Summary: Don't leave home without it!
Review: I can't imagine going on the AT without this book.I section hike and I get the new guide every year.It's packed full of very useful info.I have all the guides since Wingfoot started putting them out.It's fun to go back and compare all the old books and see how things change from year to year,but mostly while your out there it's a great help to know who has what and where and time schedules of businesses and services that you will be using.Also info on the flora and fauna along the way.I can't say enough good things about this book.I highly recommend it to anyone headed to the Appalachian Trail.It's put together very well and you can tell a lot of time and effort went into it.
Rating:
Summary: All the information you need, excellently presented
Review: I have been interviewing thru-hikers who were successful on their thru-hike, that is interviewing the ones who made it from all the way from Georgia to Maine, and I have noticed that most are carrying Wingfoot's Handbook when they finish. They swear by it, saying that it had all of the necessary information but did not have so much detail that they felt like they were being led by the nose, as most other thru-hiker guides try to do.The Handbook is laid out with mileage figures for all major features along the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine, and has precise information about where to find off trail services needed by someone hiking week after week. It shows the best towns to use for resupplying, and there are maps of the most important trail towns. This book covers all the basics, with information about lodging both on the trail and in nearby towns, water sources along the trail with the directions to them (this is really important, since all other thru-hiker guides don't tell you where to find water, but this one does), places to resupply, places to get fuel for a backpacking stove, in other words everything a hiker needs to know for doing a successful thru-hike. I especially like the notes about animals, wildflowers, and history. Wingfoot gives just enough to make it interesting, but not so much as to make the book huge. It is less than half a pound in weight (that's really important to thru-hikers), and can be split into sections easily. Wingfoot has thought of everything it seems because he is a thru-hikers with multiple trips and has helped thousands of people plan for a thru-hike. He knows his stuff better than anyone alive today, imo. The Handbook is updated every year and it is important to get the latest copy. I heard some folks griping because they thought Wingfoot had something wrong, but every time I looked they were using an old Handbook from several years ago. Wingfoot updates the information each year so that people can have the latest info on their thru-hikes. By the way, I met Wingfoot (the Handbook's author) on the trail last week as I was doing a practice hike in north Georgia. He is a really friendly person and after talking with him for a few minutes I was ready to head for Springer Mountain and begin my thru-hike right then! From what I have heard all along the A.T. no one has done more to help thru-hikers have a great hike and to help protect the Appalachian Trail from development than Wingfoot. The Thru-hiker's Handbook is coordinated with Wingfoot's website which is another plus for users of this book. New info is being shared all the time that helps users of the Handbook keep their data current. I give this book my highest rating, based on what I have heard from dozens of thru-hikers and what I have experienced suing it on the trail for my own A.T. hikes.
Rating: 
Summary: Lots of valuable info...
Review: I used a number of books over the years but have always found this book to have the most info in one place. The milage is put in a great to follow format. There is town info, postal info, and some comments from past hikers. I feelit is worth the wait for an informative book.
Rating:
Summary: Very helpful on my section hike.
Review: I used this book to set up a section hike from the State Park in Georgia to just past the North Carolina border. Had all I needed to get my first solo hike completed with minimum problems. Some pretty bad weather at times and not many other hikers but stayed in good shape. Believe it when they say "pack light". Read the three negative reviews that were sent on the same day and seems a bit extreme. If you are going to try the AT this will get you off to a good start. Read the book, get in shape and ruck up. My best time, sitting under cover with dry socks, a canteen cup of hot coffee and sharing a MRE cracker with a squirrel.
Rating:
Summary: One of the Best
Review: I've used the ATLDHA guidebook, the ATC guidebook set, and this gide, and for long distance section hiking the Thru-Hiker's Handbook always has the most up to date and accurate data of the three, and it's format shows you each shelter, town, water point etc as you hit it unlike the ATLDHA book which lays out shelter data in a fashion I find hard to use. And despite the ATLDHA book being offered free on-line, I would rather pay the [$$$] I spent on the Thru-Hiker's Guide. As people know, you often get what you pay for. Dan Bruce has devoted a lot of time to research and writing of the guide, and if you know him, you know he spends about as much on this project as he makes. Some people have personal problems with him because he is very outspoken about some subjects and I find it alarming that they would use these reviews as a forum to publicly critisize him and berate one of the best guides out there because of this. The guide is very solid and hikers that are not familiar with it's content might end up going without a good guide because of some people with a hidden agenda are attempting to under rate a book that is considered one of THE BEST guides in the thru-hiking community.
Rating:
Summary: The best of the guides
Review: If you are a weekender to a thru hiker, this guide is a must...Its the only book I carry on the trial.
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