Automobile GPS+Italy

I bought a Garmin GPS at a good price on Amazon.com for my 2009 trip to Italy. It came preloaded with European maps and has voice commands, which I find convenient. It did cost about double the weekly rental fee, but I have it to use again in Europe as well as at home. Purchasing rather than renting saved me money in the long run.

We rented a car for a week from www.autoeurope.com Comes with a free GPS with a 5 or more day rental in Italy (and a free class upgrade).

Look at Garmin.com and fiddle with the filters until you get the two or three with the european maps. Then do your shopping. My story's about like Frank's. Use the thing all the time, many trips to europe and all the time at home.

The advantage of buying one here and taking with you, in addition to what Frank and Ed mentioned about future trips, is that it will give you a chance to get familiar with it before you arrive in Italy.

Joseph, We just bought a Garmin Nuvi275T which comes preloaded with maps of Europe and was only about 150.00 or so on Amazon.com. It was the cheapest we could find. There are others that come with the ZTL zones listed, but they cost a little more. I did not want to rent one and worry about it being stolen or getting scratched and having to pay the rental fee plus the replacement fee. This one is perfect for our needs and works just as well as the two GPS systems we already own. (They are built into the car, so a little tough to take with us.) Hope this helps!

highly recommend using a GPS. You can buy one before you go; make sure it either has maps of Italy or they can be downloaded. Some of the cheapest units have a built-in map and thats it. However the speaking option isn't that necessary if you're traveling with someone else who can keep an eye on the unit.

We had a Garmin GPS last year when we were in Tuscany ,Umbria and up to Chanti. It was the best thing we ever did for our holidays. Now I can relax ( a little) while my hubby drives the car.
Pat

We also bought the Garmin nuvi 275t for our trip this spring. They have gone up just a bit in price on amazon - ours was $170. For those of you who have done this before, do you mount your own GPS on the rental car dash or just hold it? Also, is it safe to lock it in the glovebox or do you need to carry it around with you when you're sightseeing?

We took our Garmin 765 last year to Italy. Unfortunately it didn't come pre-loaded with european maps so I had to buy the Italy/Greece SD card (but I sold it on Ebay when we got home for almost what I paid for it). We could have rented a car with a GPS unit, but I didn't want to waste precious time trying to learn to use it/program it. I would suggest purchasing a GPS here & taking it with you. You may not think that you'll use it much here at home but you might be surprised. I use mine all the time & thought I never would. Have a safe trip.

We bought a TomTom that was pre-loaed with EU maps. We love it, and have used it in Germany, Portugal, France and for a cross county US trip.

Got to agree with everyone else; buy it here, and learn how to use it here.

PS Get the biggest screen you can find...it makes reading the directions all the better. Check prices and reviews on Amazon, etc.

don't want to buy one? the free GPS specials that Auto Europe frequently has are a great deal. Sign up on their web site and wait for the offer to show up. They also have some of the best auto rental rates in the EU.