Vatican group tour or with RS audio?

I booked the tour for the Museums and the Basilica thru the Vatican website. I decided to go this route instead of reading from books. I have several other walks and Rick's audio tours we are doing. The cost wasn't much for the vatican tours so I went that route.

For a great experience, I highly recommend Walks of Italy's "Pristine Sistine" tour. The groups are small - 12 people max and the guides are well-educated and highly informative as well as entertaining. And you get into the Sistine Chapel early, before the crowds.

I just do a self-guided tour with RS books. I'm going back in Nov, and I'll be doing the RS audio guide. But that's just what works for me! Sarah

These few comments are all helpful. Laurel, by coincidence I have also scheduled the Walks of Italy "Pristine Sistine" early morning tour when I will be in Rome in mid-October. While it means an early start to the day, and likely missing the (fine?)breakfast provided by my hotel, I will beat both the crowds and hopefully the heat at the Vatican, will have a quality tour of the highlights, and will still have the rest of the day, after mid-morning, in front of me for other Roman adventures. Laurel, I will be staying near Termini. Since you are in Rome, can you comment, should I be able to rely on public transportation to get me where I need to be, that early in the AM on a weekday? What specific transport should I use, and how many minutes should I give for Termini area to the Vatican then?
Thanks!

I am a big fan of doing in on you own with the guidebook. I tried the audio tours recently and found them very underwhelming. Rick is a great public speaker and comes off great in the Videos but the audio guides are too scripted and he tries too hard to be funny. I kept having to pause the RS audioguide to find what he was talking about. It is easier with the guidebook because you don't have to hit the pause button. I suggest downloading an audio guide and listen to a few minutes of it. Who knows, maybe you will love it. We did not.

We used RS audio guide on the ipad. It was perfect! You have a map, pictures, and the often dorky Rick Steves. If you can get past his jokes he is very informative and I would hear the tour guides saying the exact same things he was saying. If you like walking around like cattle go with a tour. If you like to go at your own pace use his audio guide and buy a beautiful museum guide book for around 10 Euros. They have a lot more information in them and it makes a great keepsake to look back on. We did this in most museums throughout Europe.

I had been to the Vatican Museums and St Peters several times on two trips before taking a guided tour. My appreciation was so enhanced by the tour. I've taken the Vatican's tour, as well as that of Context Rome. Both were very good. Context Rome's is much smaller (no more than 6 people) and therefore more flexible, based on your interests. Whether you'd enjoy the tour probably depends on how you like to visit/spend time with art, how much understanding context enhances your experience, etc.

I used Rick's audio tour for St. Peter's and thought it was fine. I liked almost all his tours. He usually points out the most important things to look at and a few things that you'd normally overlook or that wouldn't be mentioned by the standard guides. That was enough for me. For the Vatican, I personally would not go with a group. I want to linger where something appeals to me and zip through parts that don't. On a 3 hour tour, you are going to zip through a lot of the museums, and probably not even enter some of them. The first time I used the official Vatican printed guide (a few years out-of-date, bought it cheaply at a used bookstore) and it was fine. The second time, I rented the Vatican audio guide. While some of the information was very interesting, it wasn't worth having to carry it around all the time and then having to trudge back to the entrance to return it and get my driver's license back. Which brings me to another point - don't take a large bag or backpack with you. If you are required to check it, you'll have to go back to the start to retrieve it. There's (theoretically) no talking in the Sistine Chapel so your guide will be silent there anyway.