Dave Butler wrote:
I used to just carry the paper charts with the knowledge that if I had to
divert, I had all the charts for all nearby airports.

How do you use the free online charts and retain the convenience of not
having to painstakingly select and print individual charts?

I print charts for my destination and alternate(s). Especially for
alternates, I don't bother printing everything, just the approaches I
think I might actually use (i.e. the ILS).

I still carry an approach plate book, but just aren't fastidious about
keeping it up to date.

I have the luxury of flying behind a GPS which has a full approach
database. If I had to emergency divert to some place for which I don't
have a paper plate, I can fly the approach right out of the database.
About the only piece of information that's not in the database is the
MDA/DH. For emergency purposes, I can always ask the controller. If
I'm lost comm, I'll assume the DH on an ILS is 200 AGL.

I do admit that the process of finding and printing plates could be
easier, but that's a SMOP (Simple Matter Of Programming). I could see a
flight planner showing you which airports along your route meet criteria
you specify (runway length, approach type, services, etc) and give you
an easy way to tick off which plates you want, then taking the
individual PDFs and building a single composite PDF in booklet form that
you can print with a single command.