This might be a silly question, but we are taking our Garmin with us and will be using the car charger. Does the electrical system in their car lighters work the same as the American cars? I have down loaded the Europe maps and I am hoping this will make our driving experience a lot easier. My husband says I can not read a map, which I disagree.
Thank you,
Bonnie
The 12V outlets are a slightly different diamater but your Garmin 12V plug will work just fine in them. I took a Garmin to France in May and it was great (although the pronunciation of the French road names was humorous at times...).
I used my Garmin with the car charger in Ireland with no problems.
Bonnie,
Yes, the Car Charger will work the same as it does here.
Even though you've downloaded European Maps, I'd suggest packing along a good paper Map (Michelin) for backup. Don't always trust the GPS as they're not infallible, especially if the destination isn't entered precisely (there could be two places with very similar names). Also, they tend to go into "brain lock" at times and provide completely incorrect directions. When that happens, I usually just start from the beginning and enter the destination again and it usually works.
It would help to know which countries you're going to be driving in, as there may be other concerns.
Cheers!
Thanks to all who responded. We will be traveling through Provence, so hopefully the GPS works good there. I did buy a good map for back up, in case we have any problems.
We took our Garmin with us to Europe this past May - June. We didn't rent a car though. We used it for walking around (Paris, London, Zurich, Lucerne, Lugano and Milan. My husband just charged it at the hotels. There were a few problems where it wasn't real accurate. Like it lead us around in circles in a few places. I think it is a great idea to take it with you. If we go back there next year, we will definitely take ours again. Elaine Obermann
As far as bringing a map goes. I think it's a good idea to have a map to get the lay of the land. European maps may be more readily available in Canada than the US but I would wait and pick one up when you get there. Maps will come in more options at a fraction of the cost of picking them up here.
In addition to your Garmin, I would suggest that you also have maps as a backup.
AAA (if you are a member) has excellent free maps for Europe. They have a European Planning may and maps of individual countries. I always take them with me and hi-lite our travel routes.
The maps will also have maps of various large cities.
Enjoy your Garmin and Enjoy your trip!
I just downloaded these maps also (took very long time!!) Is there any trick to 'unlocking' them and do I have to be in Europe in order to know if these were downloaded right. Sorry new user to Garmin GPS in other countries :O)
