I have a Garmin NUVI 1350 that takes a SD chip. I can get an Italian City Navigator chip on Amazon for just under $45. We have a car for a week in Tuscany. Has anyone had any trouble using a Garmin in an Italian car? I assume they have a typical car charger plug in and there is not problem getting a signal from a satellite inside the car. What is your experience? Thank you. Doug
Posted by
Sacramento, California U.S.A.
10218 posts
Your Garmin will work fine and the charger is the same as ours.
Posted by
San Francisco Bay Area (USA)
15161 posts
I also have a Garmin with a European SD chip purchased on Amazon. It worked fine, but I had to switch the language to Italian because the pronunciation of Italian streets and towns by the English speaker voice was so bad that it was getting me lost. The plug and satellite reception works the same. I had trouble with a FIAT getting my plug to stay in place inside the cigarette lighter. With the help of the rental car mechanic we just used a piece of electrical wire to keep it in place and not make it pop out. It worked. I just had to keep the charger in place all the time. Test it before you leave the rental lot, they always have mechanics around, and if Italian mechanics can manage to make super little cars drive 200 mph, they'll figure out a way to make your Garmin work. One more thing. Buy a map also when you get there. Some of the GPS directions were off, but I just know the place so in those cases I didn't follow the GPS. Also don't trust the estimated times of arrival on the Garmin. They are right for freeway driving, but on regular roads Garmin is way too optimistic. I would say that outside of freeways, you should expect to keep an average of 50 km/h max (30 mph), no more. If you want faster, you need to stay on freeways. Italian roads are full of trucks, everywhere, and it's next to impossible to pass them on a two lane highway. Also they have roundabouts and speed cameras everywhere. You can't speed anymore.
Posted by
Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
35 posts
I have a Michelin map as well as a GPS I purchased in Europe. Always good to have a back up!
Posted by
Elk Grove, CA, USA
6898 posts
Our Garmin Nuvi with European maps worked great in France (except for a couple of wrong turns). We're programming it right now for my wife's trip to Tuscany and Umbria late next week. No problems thus far.
Posted by
aiken, sc, United States
53 posts
Doug, Make sure it is d! Funny story. I picked up a car in Sienns and the only was to make it to where we had to go was ( according to the gps) up a one way street...the wrong way! you want to get the attention of the locals? drive the wrong way down a one way street! The street used to be a two way but was changed and the gps was not d. I drove about two km the wrong way (carfully) and got there anyway. Happy travels!
Bill