A New Dungeon Plan

I continually struggle with how to present 'dungeons' in our sessions of D&D.  Over time I have experimented with Theatre of the Mind, 2D maps/floorplans, 2.5D floorplans and full 3D builds.  The issue seems to be a balance between portability, cost, utility, versatility and accuracy. 
In truth I suspect that I will never find the ideal method, and in fact the ideal varies depending on what is being shown.

My latest system has evolved over the last few weeks. I went from using EVA foam cut into squares and painted (very much like DM Scotty's Tilescapes) to the same product, unpainted but with a grid added with a craft knife.  Last night I used these tiles with a low wall to surround the room.

The walls are about half an inch high; sufficient to show the edge of the room and allow me to clip on Wylock style doors and other fixtures, but low enough that they don't get in the way of either the miniatures or the players.  

Each wall is either 6" or 3" long, though there's no reason why they couldn't be other lengths, that just matches the size of tile.  They are constructed so that a thin fillet of card can be slipped inside to link two walls together, increasing the strength of the build.  By using grey card all I had to do was draw on black lines for the mortar lines.  

The white card on the base is a bit distracting.  In future attempts this could be black card.  I have also started adding extra texture to the tiles as well, so they don't look so plain, using this technique from 'Roll for Damage'.

This is an experiment for now. It worked very well last night but there are still some drawbacks.  It inevitably takes time to set up.  Not too long, especially compared to the 3D builds, and if I'm organised I can be doing this while I describe the room, but longer than just slapping down a ready built specific room tile.

It works best for large rooms; at the moment this seems to match the style of play, and is very useful for the characters, many of whom have powers that benefit from a large space to maneuver in.  2" and 4" wall will probably work fine, but very small areas with just a 1" (5 foot) wall would be very fiddly.

It requires more preparation that just floor plans, though once the walls are built it should be fine.

When setting out the room the players remarked 'lets try another room' .  That highlights a flaw in all the fancy dungeon sets.  A lot of time and preparation is invested in one encounter.  If it is skipped, it can be frustrating.  In the Obsidian City Crypts everything was crafted; the passages used generic pieces and every encounter room was built.   As they were all single pieces (bar furnishings) it was easy to set them up and it didn't matter if one room was chosen over another, but they have little use beyond that dungeon and it required a lot of preparation before hand.

Ultimately I suspect I am still looking for the 'Holy Grail' of dungeon floor plans.  I will continue to make these, and get a good bit more clip on furnishings built too.  I know I'll get more use out of them than some of the 2.5D stuff I have built in the past, but they won't do in every situation.

If you've any experience of using floorplans or other ways to show dungeon type adventures (GM or player) , please leave a comment.  What do you like, what do you think works, and what doesn't.