GPS, Maps, Route Planner and Itinerary Question

Looks like you've already done some very thorough planning, so I'll just offer my 2 cents on a couple of things:
I wouldn't spring for the rental GPS - it'll be pretty expensive for a trip as long as yours. We purchased a used Garmin with European maps installed before our last trip, backed up with a Collins road atlas which came in handy. You can probably find a used or refurbished GPS on Amazon for around USD $100. Practice with it at home to get familiar with it before you leave.
We used the street view feature on Google maps to preview our route each day. Helped me a lot to have seen stretches of the road before tackling them at speed, especially intersections, roundabouts, signage, etc. Might help you too.
While I do understand the reluctance to tackle some of the rural roads, I do think you're missing out on some terrific scenery by restricting yourself to the larger motorways and N roads. There are pullouts provided along all of the narrow (one lane) L roads to facilitate safe passing by approaching vehicles. Look at a few on street view to see if maybe you could handle them. Helps to know that Irish drivers are some of the kindest, friendliest, and most patient you'll find anywhere. They deal with their narrow rural lanes every day without too much drama. Bet you'll sort it out pretty quickly if you give it a go. Just slow down and drive defensively and you'll be fine.
I'm approaching the age limit gate too. My only advice is to contact your rental company directly (and read the small print) to ensure that you know what you're getting into...and to ensure that you're insurance covers you in every instance.

On our first trip to Ireland we opted for the GPS since we were totally unfamiliar with the highway system and it was a big help. We didn't find that it led us astray at all although we did get tired of hearing "recalculating" when we missed the exits on many of the roundabouts. If you are at all nervous about the driving, I'd say go for it (and definitely get the automatic transmission--more expensive but worth it even if you drive a stick at home--one less left/right issue to get used to). On our second trip we didn't bother with the GPS and planned to use our iphones to navigate. That did not work well--we used a lot of data AND were sent out on some extremely narrow roads when main thoroughfares were available. We gave it up and resorted to a good old fashioned road map (AA Road Map Ireland) we bought before leaving the US, which worked just fine.

Since you seem to have some flexibility as to your departure, I would definitely add a day so you can visit New Grange--it was one of the highlights of our first trip. And the Titanic Museum in Belfast was also well worth the visit. We did our circumnavigation of the island in a counterclockwise manner, stayed in many of the same places you are planning, and did it in 15 days. It felt rushed, but was doable. Since you have at least a week more than we did I think that you should be able to maintain a reasonable pace and still see all the things you want to see.

Thank you both for your insight!
We were planning this trip last year but then had to cancel due to medical issues. That being said I had conversed (via private messages) with someone last year who had done the trip in the Spring and they said to avoid L roads if at all possible. I know we will be on a lot of R roads so I have to ask Robert if he meant R or L roads?

Good questions. We're planning to do a shortened version of your trip counterclockwise in June/July. We're exchanging homes with a family in Dun Laoghaire so will use that as a base for exploring Dublin and nearby sites before setting out for eight nights on the road. I'm wondering if our iPhone with Garmin app and maps will work. We used it in France last year and it was fine.

Either one, kse. The level of detail on the street view feature is really quite impressive - lots of the R and L roads are there for your review. After taking a look you can then decide whether you're comfortable enough to give them a try. For commuting from place to place I wouldn't recommend them, but for enjoying some of the countryside you'd otherwise be missing they're great.

We are about to do this almost exact itinerary in just a couple days, except we are driving to Kilkenny immediately and adding Dublin to the end of our trip, skipping Northern Ireland. I'll let you know if I have any suggestions after making the trip. :)

Just a couple planning things, I did buy the OS atlas beforehand. It took about 2-3 weeks to arrive. It wasn't too much more, to be honest, and I like having it in hand for planning purposes. I have stickies all over that thing. I also used DK's Back Roads Ireland guidebook, which I HIGHLY recommend, and it comes with a pull out map, but not the best for mapping out a road trip. It does have great information with route planning (literally down to "take a left here, etc"), especially for Ring of Kerry and Dingle Peninsula. I also utilized GoogleMaps for route planning. This helps a good bit with timing - you can estimate how long a route will take you - then change it around. I also like to be able to "drop in" and see the street view, to see what my scenery is going to be. As you can probably tell, I'm a bit OCD with my planning so do what you will with that info.

Georgia, one can never be to OCD when planning a trip in a foreign land.....especially if you are driving! I may have struck gold here with you forging the road before I do. Please either post a report or send me a message when you return. Thank you!

If it's okay with Kse, I would love to read your report too.

We are planning a similar trip for end of May.

Ginger, of course you can read the report. Information is meant to be shared! Enjoy your trip and we would love to hear about your experience also!

Just wanted to give my two cents. We've done this trip before and relied completely on maps. It was very hard to keep on track and watch the map at the same time. We are doing a 24 day trip in June again and we have purchased the maps but we have also rented a gps for the entire time. I have heard from others that they are very helpful and accurate. They are not expensive when you consider the time savings. We rented ours from Autoeurope for $80 for the entire trip. They send it to our California address two days prior to departure and we return it the day after we return in their return box provided. So it can't get any easier than that. We rented it from Autoeurope because that's who we rented our car through.
We also rented an automatic car so as to enjoy sightseeing and not driving and navigating. Last time we went my father in law was 70 and was not able to drive. This time it is just my wife and I and we have rented the smallest car we could get.
Hope this helps and enjoy your trip.
Jim and Diana

Thank you for the information Jim. I think we will rent the GPS for our first trip. I need to double check but I think when we looked at Dan Dooley last year for car rental the GPS was $10 a day or a maximum of $100 dollars per rental. Not sure if it was a special or not but I think $100 for the length of our trip would be worth the price. Enjoy your trip and let us knowhow it goes.

If you have a smartphone, you can also download Google maps to your phone and use the GPS service on the phone. I used Google Fi last summer and the directions were excellent. Following the voice commands is easier than trying to read a map while driving. I did purchase an atlas while over there as backup.

Someone else has suggested purchasing a GPS and loading it with maps before you leave. That would probably be cheaper than renting one with the car, but you would have to carry it on the flight.

The road signs can be hard to spot and read while driving, so having some form of GPS is definitely worth it.

fcraymond76, thank you for your input. I do have a question though. I am familiar with google maps but not with goggle Fi. Could you explain that one please? Also, doesn't goggle maps require a lot of data usage? I am still a bit confused on using my smart phone in Ireland. Did you buy an Ireland sims card for your phone?

Google Fi is a wireless plan started by Google that starts at $20 a month. It works internationally without additional charges and included unlimited international texting, so I didn't need a new SIM card. I purchased an Android based phone from them along with the plan. The new phones are highly rated.

There are other threads on here that discuss buying SIM cards in Ireland. It's not too difficult, and there are plenty of shops in Dublin where you can do that.

With the maps downloaded on the phone, I wasn't using much data. It does use a lot of battery power, so make sure you have a car compatible phone charger and that the car's electrical outlet works.

Wow, Goggle Fi....who knew??? I did take a look at their website and it appears that you have to purchase one of their phones?? If so then I think I will look into the GPS/ Map/SIM card option. We just purchased new Samsung 7 phones in December. We have been in Europe on other occasions and were able to complete the trip without a phone. But since we will be driving in Ireland for just under 3 weeks I think some type of phone would be nice.....just in case we get a flat and need to call someone :):)

Thank you for the information!

I heard the same thing that in order to use your phone it takes quite a bit of data. We have an IPhone and do plan on using it for calling home occasionally but we have Verizon and they offer an international calling plan at a very reasonably price that will allow us to call over the stay of our trip. It is not very expensive. We will not be using the phone for navigation as we have rented the gps.

Lots of helpful info here!

If you decide to use a GPS, be sure to leave time to play with it and learn how to use it! Every brand works a little differently, and the thing is useless if you don't know how to use it, especially while you're en route somewhere. (Speaking from experience!)

We rented a mobile wifi with our car, I think it's €10 a day. You can also take it into your accommodations, if they do not have wifi. We connected it to our iPad (or iPhone). Much more accurate than a GPS.

GPS on your phone still works while you are in airplane mode, if you don't want to spend money on an international data plan. You can download sections of the map (or the whole country) on Google maps beforehand and it will be saved to your phone whether or not you have service. The only thing that won't work is the voice direction, so someone needs to be looking at the phone and navigating. We use this method when traveling without service in Mexico and it works great. It does use up battery, as I think someone else mentioned, so it would be worth it to bring along a car charger. We rented a GPS last time we were in Ireland, and it honestly it didn't help us out that much. We're going again at the end of May and won't be getting GPS this time. Hope this is somewhat helpful!

There is an excellent Android app for navigation in the U.S., Europe, and elsewhere called CoPilot. It downloads maps in advance to your smartphone or tablet and uses NO DATA. I've used it all over the U.S., Canada, England, and Scotland with very good results. When you get home, erase the map data. You can download it again at any time.

Also, on the automatic vs. stick shift... I don't drive a stick shift at home but I do in Europe. I'll be in Irleand soon and I rented a compact from Budget for $167 for 10 days. Same car with automatic transmission is $505. It's odd for about 15 minutes, then your brain adjusts. I usually kill the engine a couple of times until I get used to the clutch but then I'm OK. Not a big deal at all. My husband navigates with CoPilot and yells "stay on the left" while I drive.

Cheryl,

Thank you for the heads up on the app, I will definitely check it out and thankfully I do have an android!

I have a garmin gps here in the US and took it with me to Ireland. I bought an Ireland map on Ebay that came on a little compact card tht loaded it to my gps. It worked really well over there and helped with backwoods locations in west Ireland. I also had the Ordnance Survey atlas that was good, takes a while to figure out how to find the correct page but is good once you get the hang of it, be sure if you get the atlas to give it a look before you leave. I also (I know I over think everything) used AA, an app from the UK and Ireland for trip planning before we left. You will see that the down side of using several different apps or services for trip planning they often will send you different ways to get where going and it can be confusing. My Garmin GPS turned out to be a good resource while over there. I paid like $100 bucks for it here in the US and use it for travel here. The Ireland map from Garmin would have been $70 extra dollars but I bought the map on Ebay for $15 and it worked great. good luck oh also, I paid the extra for an automatic, for me on the single lane roads on mountain passes and having to back up several times I would not have wanted to mess with the clutch. I also bought super insurance coverage so I would have piece of mind and had not accidents or damage to the vehicle but the piece of mind ws worth the extra bucks for me!