GPS info needed

Lea: Your question is one of the classic cases where you will get far more information if you go to this topic How to Search the Helpline and take a few minutes to retrieve from our archives the last 50 posts on this subject, these will tell you far more than we can tell you in the short time and space we have here.In one sentence and over-simplifying: Most people here, who are contemplating buying a GPS before their trip, choose to buy a GPS that already has a European map in it. Most (or all) at Best Buy won't come with the Europe map already in them.Regardless of how many kind souls post below, answering this question yet again, you'll get more info if you search the archives.

Lea

Go on line and find the discontinued Garmin Nuvi 270. It comes pre-loaded with Europe (and many other countries) and US maps for under $200 new. I got this tip from gmut on line newsletter and have programmed all our europe hotels and sites into the gps so when we get there we'll be ready to go.

I have a TomTom 920. It comes loaded with North American and European maps. I've been perfectly happy with it. The Garmin also gets good reviews.

It's probably better and cheaper to buy a GPS that comes with European maps than pay extra to add them.

Lea,

As the others have said, it's far more cost effective to purchase a GPS unit that is already equipped with European (as well as North American) maps. You'll probably find that buying an inexpensive unit and then adding the Euro maps is far more costly in the long term.

I have a Garmin Nuvi 370 (now discontinued) and it works fine in Europe or at home. You might check amazon.com as they have an entry-level Nuvi 270 listed for ~$140 which includes N.A. and Euro maps. I'd suggest reading the reviews at the bottom, as "real world" user experience is always good to consider.

A few comments on the "smaller" GPS units. First, the volume of spoken instructions is a bit "limited", so if there's a lot of road noise these may be difficult to hear (however I believe there's provision for an earphone if desired). Secondly, if using in "pedestrian mode", the battery life is a bit limited so it's a good idea to leave the unit switched off as much as possible.

One other thing to note is that you'll want to update the Maps from time-to-time, and this is NOT cheap! I just upgraded the Europe 2009 maps for my GPS and it was almost more expensive than the unit itself!

Happy travels!

I agree with Ken on updating the maps. The Garmin 270 came with one free upgrade. I had to choose between US or Europe. Obviously, I chose Europe. I can handle getting lost in the US much better. I can let you know in July how everything worked out...

We also have a TomTom 920 which came with European maps. Love it.

This has nothing to do with purchasing a GPS but, rather, with renting one. Two years ago our rental car came equipped with GPS. This year when I made our reservation for a car I also rented a GPS. It will be mailed to us before we leave and we mail it back when we get home. This will be in September. My brother went through the same company in plotting his trip to Germany. He is going in June...I'll let you know how it goes.

We are also renting our GPS. We went through the rental car service and rented a GPS and an international telephone. The GPS rental is about 100.00 US and includes wall charger and car charger. The phone came to about 55.00 US and then each time you use it you are charged. Both the GPS and phone are shipped to us before we leave.There was a $40.00 charge for shipping that included both ways.

We just returned from a 2 week stay in England, and rented from Autoeurope for the last week as we toured Kent and Wiltshire. They had a fantastic deal for the GPS that was a fraction of the cost if we'd picked it up when we got the car. They mail it to you at home and you mail it back when you return (postage, box etc all include). Autoeurope 800 phone gets you Portland, ME and friendly folks will answer all questions. We just mailed ours back yesterday. Everything with this company went perfectly right. My advice is no matter what, do not attempt without GPS. Few places in England are connected by a straight line, and you will go through many villages and countless roundabouts driving even the shortest distances. The good news is that no matter where you get lost a friendly pub is around the corner.

We bought a Garmin Nuvi (with European maps) on ebay for $136 incl mailing. It is not the latest model but originally sold for $400. It worked great on our recent trip driving the Tuscan countryside. It got us into the Florence airport to return the rental car without any hassles or wrong turns.

We got a Nüvi 500 and downloaded the European maps from BitTorrent. ;)

It's not a good idea to admit you've done something illegal on a public forum;)

Ok, it seems inefficient to me that these car rental agencies mail you the GPS before your trip and then you have to mail it back to them afterwards. Why not just pick it up when you rent the car? I'll be renting a car in England in July and also want a GPS. (I had a car in Germany that had a GPS built into it.) I don't want to have to pack it there and back. Can anyone explain the logic to me as to why mailing it before your trip is a better option?

Because then you can load route info and destinations before you go?

Not sure why you'd want to have to mail it back from here though.

Christine, it seemed odd to me as well when Autoerope explained the process to me. However, it played out like this: Rent the GPS when you pick up the car, and pay $21 per day. They are available "on request" at pick up, meaning there may or may not be units available when you arrive to pick up the car. On the other hand, rental in advance is $4 per day and another $40 shipping. Even stranger, we let the GPS sit in our luggage for one week as we did not rent our car until we left London 7 days after arriving, and it was still a considerable savings. The difference bought several cream teas. Check it out..there may even be offers of free GPS (although none was available for the UK when we rented).

Garmin offers a Lifetime map download for about $119 (I believe that is what I paid for mine) and you can download 4 times a year.

I have high-speed internet and a new Dell and the d/l took approximately 2 hours.

We just returned from a month vacation. I would never travel again with out the Garmin.