Have a Garmin 50LM for Canada and US. Want to buy a download for Italy but in viewing Garmin, e-bay etc. they do not tell you that these downloads will be compatible with ours. Also do they have different versions such as city maps vs major roads? The price of a Garmin download is far less than what the rental car companies want. Any help would be appreciated.
Posted by
Reading, PA, USA
1637 posts
Two years ago I purchased an Italy map download directly from Garmin. It worked fine. As far as I know all Garmin maps work with all Garmin automotive units which includes the 50LM. The only thing that may be of concern is do you have enough memory available for another map? You may have to get an SD card.
Posted by
🏝️ Hobe Sound, FL⛱️
3303 posts
The download or SD card maps on the Garmin website are totally compatible with the 50LM. If you're considering other trips in the future, you might want to spend a few extra loonies to get the Europe version rather just Italy/Greece.
Posted by
Portland, Oregon
5687 posts
I bought a Europe map microSD card off eBay in 2015 for my Garmin to use for driving in Croatia. It worked OK, even though the map was already a little out of date even though it was supposedly the newest version.
But I've since sold my old Garmin and now use my Android phone as a GPS instead. I use that with Google Maps and it works well for driving - maps get updated more quickly than a Garmin card you could buy, and I think it's a much more advanced system of navigation than my old Garmin. You can even use it without having mobile internet in Italy - download the map area you want to use in advance (on WiFi) - "offline maps." Leave the phone in airplane mode other than having Wifi on. Works quite well with only a few glitches (no traffic info without internet). You do need to have enough storage on the phone to store the downloaded map, though.
Posted by
San Francisco Bay Area (USA)
16212 posts
I bought the Garmin European maps SD card maybe 4 years ago on Amazon. You don't need to buy from the Garmin website. I remember at the time the one I bought on Amazon cost one third of the one on Garmin. It works and there are instructions on YouTube on how to install the maps on the unit after you receive the SD card. It's very easy.
Now however I also use the phone when I travel to Europe and don't bother with Garmin anymore. Both Google Maps and Waze apps on my iPhone work beautifully and are constantly updated (and have traffic info too). You can download maps and use offline, but for navigation you probably need data.
Generally I buy a local SIM card with data, which is much cheaper than my AT&T international plan. An Italian SIM with data plan costs 30€ and it includes 2Gb, 300 international outgoing voice minutes, 300 outgoing texts (incoming voice and texts are free and unlimited in Europe) and is valid for 4 weeks.