Buy ahead Oyster card

I wouldn't buy them at all.
When we went to London we just used our travel credit cards to tap and we were fine

There will always be a debate about using an Oyster card or using a tap debit or credit card.

I prefer Oyster for one important reason: if I lost the Oyster Card its easy to get another, if I lost my tap debit or credit I’d be angry.

So it’s a keeping me sane issue from my POV

Another difference between the two cards is that Visitor Oyster cards come with a daily price cap, which means that you will only pay a certain amount per day, regardless of how many journeys you make.

Standard Oyster cards do not come with a daily price cap.

If you are a non-UK resident , then you choose to either buy a Visitor Oyster card online before you leave home or you can choose to buy one at the TFL visitor centres and Oyster ticket shops in London upon your arrival.

https://www.ilovelondon.com/the-main-differences-between-standard-and-visitor-oyster-cards/#:~:text=Unlike%20Standard%20Oyster%20cards%2C%20Visitor,how%20many%20journeys%20you%20make.

Standard Oyster cards also have a daily cap.
https://www.londontoolkit.com/briefing/oystercard.htm

Contactless credit cards and mobile payments also have price caps. At least for daily. I have not needed a weekly cap.

Edit. Looks like weekly applies too.

https://tfl.gov.uk/fares/how-to-pay-and-where-to-buy-tickets-and-oyster/pay-as-you-go/contactless-and-mobile-pay-as-you-go?intcmp=55539

First choice would be to use a contactless card

However, if you are set on Oyster, it's bad enough paying £7 for the privilege, there is no need at all to spend more on postage. You can get an Oyster at any ticket machine - all stations including Heathrow and Gatwick

And all Oyster cards work exactly the same as does contactless - e.g. £8.10 daily cap in zones 1 and 2. There is some functionality with an Oyster (over contactless) that you don't need and you can load a Travel card. But otherwise they work exactly the same way

I like my oyster card. I use it trip after trip. They are easily purchased at any ticket machine.

Ditto what Carol now retired said. I’ve been using the same oyster card since about 2010. Easy to use and add money to.

I was recently in London and am glad I got an Oyster card! I don't think there's any advantage to getting it before you leave. It's very easy to buy and load them with money or a 7 day pass. There are machines at the tube stations, much like metro or subway card machines in DC/NYC.

We were recently in London 2 weeks ago. My husband ordered our Oyster Cards before we left home. Yep, we were fully up on knowing we could purchase them there or just use our phones or debit/credit cards for access. But for us (being our 1st time in London), ordering them early was one less thing we had to think about after getting off the long flight and getting our bearings. We did use public transportation from the airport to our hotel that morning. Easy/peasy. We landed at 6: 15 am and was through customs all within an hour, and we weren't sure how the work traffic would be if we took a car/taxi or bus. And agreeing with "Carol now retired" and "Claudia", I would rather loose my oyster card than my phone or debit/credit cards. So really the decision is yours. Good luck!

Why would you live in fear of losing your credit card while travelling? You constantly need to pay for all manner of things both at home and abroad, and if you're the type to lose cards, then you should be used to freezing or cancelling them. I happily tapped and paid all over London and Paris.

An Oyster card is just one more thing to deal with.

Why would you live in fear of losing your credit card while travelling?

It is not fear; some of us just want to reduce the risk of the inconvenience of losing a card. Why do so many people attribute the conscious choice to reduce risk to fear?

Tube stations are crowded and you need to pull your card out both when entering and exiting the station. When you are paying for a hotel, restaurant, or other purchase you are not typically in a crowd.

Also, if you are using a National Railcard discount on TfL then you can't do that on contactless.
I am one of those who does that, and why shouldn't I if the offer is there?

I for one am not going to be bullied or brainwashed into going contactless.

Just use contactless. You need to top up the Oyster which is a hassle.

Hassle factor of an Oyster card? On our first visit it took all of 5 minutes to buy a pair of them at Heathrow. Fast forward to our next visit- another 5 minutes to top them up. I keep my credit cards securely tucked away. But I dont mind having the Oyster card in the outside pocket of my purse.

I've been considering an Oyster Card, however how many trips would one need to take (all in Zone 1) for it to be a good deal? Also, do the days on an Oyster Card need to be consecutive or can one skip a day?

Garrison

I've been considering an Oyster Card, however how many trips would one need to take (all in Zone 1) for it to be a good deal? Also, do the days on an Oyster Card need to be consecutive or can one skip a day?

This is a bit of a hijacking of somebody else's thread Garrison

Nevertheless I would say that if you are comparing a pay as you go Oyster to using a contactless card, unless you lose or have your card stolen, the answer is never. You have to pay £7 to buy the card and you will never see that money again. The prices of a journey on Oyster and a journey on contactless (unless you are in a very rare exception case) are exactly the same, and they are both so easy to use - so why pay £7 for no other benefit?

Oyster cards are valid forever and many people go years between uses as tourists, others use them many times every day as residents. You can skip as many days as you wish.

Or are you using Oyster card as shorthand for something else, such as a season ticket?

I'm going to London in July and was going to just get the Oyster card there in a tube station. Reading through these posts about travel cards - are you all talking about using just a Visa credit card that has the "tap" capability? I would much rather just use that instead of getting another card and then having to turn it in to get my 7 pounds back and then having to spend 7 pounds before I fly home. So I can use a credit card to tap and not even get an Oyster card? Thanks for your question fishr.

are you all talking about using just a Visa credit card that has the "tap" capability?

yup.

Or a device like a phone or a watch (Apple or Android) which has the same facility.

The card could be AMEX or Visa or Master as long as it has tap and pay and is supported by your bank and best of all has no foreign transaction fees.

To be clear - you never see the £7 cost of buying an Oyster again. Used to, not any more. It is gone. You turn back the Oyster and can get the credit for journeys left on it back (sometimes a problem or slow) but you never ever get the £7 purchase price back.

We have been in the uk since June 16. Tap to pay cards are all we have used. I doubt you need an Oyster card.

I'm going to chime in on the Oyster Card vs Contactless card squabble. Here is my take.....

Do what you want. Get an Oyster Card. Don't get an Oyster Card. All that matters is you do what makes you the happiest.

Like so many other things, people have to defend the way they do things.