I hardly ever use 1:25,000 I just find them far too cluttered with too much detail. I can't see the wood for the tree symbols on them. I find the 1:50,000 much clearer and easier to use. I also really like the Harvey maps, I like the colours. I also think that printing them on plastic sheets is light years ahead of the OS paper or laminated maps.
I agree Frence maps aren't great, Swiss and Austrian maps are much better then ours, Italian and Spanish ones are "Oh dear".
Swedish maps are 1:100,000 so one map covers as much ground as four OS 1:50,000. Norwegian maps are 1:50,000 but only half the size of the OS ones, so you need loads and their expensive.