2 year old Garmin GPS For France -

I would use the 2 year old Garmin. How many major changes do anticipate finding? Would you use a 2 year old GPS in the U.S.? I've used one older than that. Even with a new GPS I bring paper maps, just in case...

I have a Garmin Nuvi 275 (purchased because I wanted something small for travel) and a couple of TomToms with Euro/N. Amer. maps. One of the things that irks me about Garmin is the cost of updates (but TomTom has adopted nearly the same pricing so really not any better). My Garmin was sold as "lifetime updates" but the fine print says that doesn't include Europe map updates. My last TomTom didn't work out of the box. While their tech support is more than helpful, when they couldn't solve the issue they had me send the unit to Texas for replacement. If that happens to you, return the unit for a refund and buy a new one. Texas sent me the wrong replacement, twice, before I finally gave up and bought a Garmin.

Ditto Andrea. My TomTom is 6 years old. I have used it in France, Germany, Austia, Italy(includ. Sardinia, Sicily), Portugal, Spain, and on a couple of cross country trips in the US, etc. We will be taking it to Ireland in May. My last major map was a quite a few years ago, and I'm not going to worry. I have never had a problem using it. I always bring along a Michelin map of the Country where we will be traveling, and a compass. I look at the GPS as another tool. It is not infallable, nor do I need or expect it to be.

Hello, Thank you for your responses, I just found out the sd card is from 2009 when we went to Italy so that is too much time I think. Now I have to figure out if I buy a $99 SD card with updates or a new preloaded model.

$99 is cheaper than a new model. If the unit works I would just buy new maps.

I went on Amazon and bought the SD card as i needed 1 prior to the may 1 2013 release. It was only $36 or so, new, worked fine. I would look at other places than Garmin for card.

My husband saw the SD card for around 29 or 32 dollars, I was afraid that something would be wrong with it for such cheap money. My husband disagreed. I wish I knew if I could trust the low price SD card.,,,, traveling 3 weeks by car with kids and I am really depending on the GPS with good maps??? This is one of the last issues I need to figure out. I know I don't need the new expensive pre loaded model because I don't know that we'll be back in Europe again soon. Next time its Morocco, Marrakesh, Fes and the Sahara. I had read and watched the little that Rick Steves writes about these areas... I wish there was more by him. I am so confident of my three week France trip because of Rick and Steve Smith they, and you are the best!!!!

I would keep the 2009 GPS as is and buy a new map upon arrival. At the most you'll have a freeway connection open or a roundabout at what used to be a four-way stop. For example, there is a new freeway between Sens and Tours, which will show up on the map. My European GPS, which we bring every year, is from 2007. Most of the time the cars come with them even if you didn't request one.

The SD card was probably cheap because the people selling it weren't going to be needing it again, not because there was anything wrong with it. Lots of people sell map chips after they return if they don't anticipate going back to that place again soon.