GPS Units in Italy

Assuming you already have a Garmin, go for it. I beleive that the $120 card is for all of Europe and I think $80 for just Italy. But to spend that amount of cash, I'd make sure I would 1)use it again or 2)sell it afterwards. Renting a GPS is $10-$15/day. If your driving throughout the country, it's always helpful.

We plan to take the train almost all of the 12 days we are there, we are only going to rent a car for 2 days, but I thought it might be very very helpful with all the crazy little back roads in the cities, and looking for nearby resturants, and atms, and coffee shops ect.. I dont know if they are as detailed as our US versions, where we can pull up stores, resturants, etc.. maybe its not even close to the same.

If you're only driving for 2 days and will never use the card again, just rent one from your auto rental company. It's very helpful when driving, and it does list atm's, restaraunts, etc. just like the US maps. It's just a money question ~$30 for rental or 3-4 times as much to own.

For not much more ($25), you can buy an entire Garmin 270 unit that already has North America and Europe maps preloaded. Any Garmin unit with a 7 as the second digit of the model number has North America and Europe maps. 270, 275, 370, etc. I also believe that when you buy a Garmin unit, it comes with a license to install those same maps on a second unit, but I have not tried it with the 270 I just bought.

Jake,

I would bring one rather than renting one. Knowing how to use your unit is worth as much as having one to use.

I drove Italy without a GPS but wouldn't do it again as almost no city streets have signposts and signs on the freeway point to towns you never heard of rather than A30 West.

I understand how helpful the GPS unit will be for Driving, but how many people have used them for Navigating the city on foot. My GPS unit can change to walking rather than driving. I also wanted to know how well it would work as a phonebook for resturants, and Hotels. who has used these maps

I have a Garmin 650 and sent away for the Italyt Chip. It was great! We drove from Rome to Florence, Florence to Priano, Priano to Amalfi and Ravello, than Priano to Pompeii, than back to Rome. The GPS was absolutely great and probably saved me and my wife a divorce from arguin about directions. All directions were 100 % correct including one way streets. It even got me back to the hertz location at the airport. Only idiot thing i did was used it for walking for a few minutes before realizing I didn't have it set for walking so it wouldn't let me walk down one way streets! Took me a few minutes to realize why it was taking so long to get from one place to another. If the Garmin chip is the same let me know I'll give it to you cheap.

great, check your private message, I would like to buy it.

I purchased the Garmin maps for Italy and brought them on my Garmin 450. I've been in Rome the past 5 days and have not been able to connect to a satellite except for very briefly one day. For me, it has been a waste of money. On the positive side, getting lost has been half the fun!

did you tell your GPS unit that you have now relocated yourself on the nearly opposite side of the earth. It will help the satellites find you. I think there is a setting where you can tell it where you are, to help it lock on much quicker.

For foot traffic. My TomTom920 has a walking option that will guide you to a specific address or site. It doesn't seem to have the battery life to do more than a couple of hours without being plugged back in. If you power it down when you don't need it, it may be plenty.