confusion about the Oyster card and Travelcard options

I would just get the Oyster card and top it as needed.. When I looked at all the options, that was by far the best way to go

When you say you are getting two, I am assuming that s because there are two of you travelling in your party???

Thanks, Sharon, for confirming our choice!

Are you traveling solo or with someone? The 2 for 1 offers can make a paper travelcard worthwhile.

are dbprince1 and dizny71 the same person or are we in the middle of two conversations here?

If there's 2 or more of you, maybe the 2 for 1 offers would save you a bit of money:
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Travel-g186338-c195600/London:United-Kingdom:2.4.1.Travelcards.Step.By.Step.html

A weekly Travelcard will usually be cheaper than PAYG Oyster fares, unless it starts early in the week, as the weekly PAYG cap only applies to a Sun-Sat calendar week.

How far out of London are you going on the four days?

If you are going to mainly travel in central London and make a couple of trips to suburban locations, you can have an inner-zone Travelcard and PAYG money on the same card and it will automatically take the PAYG money for the trips outside the Travelcard zone boundary.

Weekly capping still only offered to those using contactless debit/credit cards, Android Pay etc and not on Oyster.

If the OP has a suitable card / phone etc then there will be a Monday-Sunday period in there somewhere.

I'm probably making this more confusing than it really is.

If you get a standard zone 1-2 oyster card I could add a travel card to it later on, right? How much does the travel card option cost?

I was thinking of getting a standard Oyster card and putting 15 pounds on it then three days into my vacation adding the travel option to it to cover the remainder of my trip. I'm in zones 1-2 for 90% of my trip but I also want to see Greenwich and Hampton Court so I'm thinking the travel card could be worth it for those.

Am I on the right track?

I'm probably making this more confusing than it really is.

Probably!

If you get a standard zone 1-2 oyster card

You don't, no such beast. Think of an Oystercard as an empty container, it is an "electronic purse". You either load a (virtual) travel card onto the Oyster card, which can be zones 1-2, or any other combination; or you load some cash onto the Oystercard, and use it as "pay-as-you-go", or both.

For most tourists, the "pay-as-you-go" option is the best. When you do enough trips to reach the price of a travel card, it automatically "caps" the price so all future trips on that day are free. In other words you can't loose.

Just load up the card with some £££, "tap in" and "tap out" (trains only). It shows your remaining balance each time, and when it gets low you refill it.
Think of it as an "access all (transport) areas" card. Simple!

Excellent. Thanks for clearing this up. I was making it too complicated.

FWIW, we used out Oyster cards for Hampton court palace and for the boat going to Greenwich

Chris F gave an excellent explanation.

Prior to our trip, I drove myself crazy trying to think through our options and in truth it was totally simple. In a tube station, you use a machine to load $ onto the oyster card. Use it on the tube and bus. Just remember each person has to have their own card . (we were simpletons and had to ask transit worker for help and he "held my hand" through the process. Very helpful and welcoming).

We used our oyster card primarily on the bus as we enjoyed seeing things as we traveled through the city, and it is less expensive. If you look on Google maps, you can enter where you are, where you want to go, opt to use transit, and see exactly where the bus stops are, and while you are on the bus, your location is "live" and google maps will show you what bus stop you are passing (!) how many more minutes to your stop, etc. Google maps will also give you options as to whether you want to take the tube or the bus and shows you which lines to take, where to go, etc.

Enjoy your trip!

SuzieeQQ

I bought an Oyster card plus 7-day travel card added onto it, at the airport when I arrived. The 7-day card expired tonight, so I topped up the Oyster card to get through the next two days.

The travel card has some significant discounts (1/3 off the Greenwich boat trip, for example).

You can add a ride to the airport onto the Oyster card for about four pounds and change.

How much do you typically start out with on your Oyster card? Just trying to determine what a good starting balance is. We will be in London for 7 nights total but have a few days trips planned so we won't be in the city the entire time (though we will be sleeping in London every night).