I only have the Council of Thieves PDF map folio from the APs, and it was not worth it IMO. However, I hope it's not representative for all the AP map folios.
It has the same images as the AP with generally the same resolution as the images one can extract from the AP pdfs. The CoT folio also has some of the images split up (meaning you'll have to edit them together if you want them in one piece).
If you don't have the pdfs for the AP I can see it being a bit more useful.
I can't speak for the other AP folios, though I feel the same about the City Map folio PDF as the CoT one.
I've printed out the maps from the AP PDFs, which I believe to be the same resolution as the folios, at 1 square per inch. It's a bit fuzzy but absolutely doable. As you said, it takes several sheets of paper and some scissors and tape. The nice thing is you can cut out the separate rooms/passageways and tape them in when the party gets there as a sort of "fog of war" effect.
At some point which I don't remember right now (Serpent's Skull, I want to say), the folios stopped being the maps from the APs and started being maps of significant areas from the APs (still not battlemaps).
I would think it would be quite easy for Paizo to publish printable pdf maps from the Adventure Paths. Any chance Paizo?
Sadly, you would think wrongly. Here is a post from James Jacobs another time people brought this up. Apparently, it boils down to higher cartography fees for more detail and ballooning file size.
It's a common request, though, so if they find a way to do it economically, they're aware of the pent-up demand.