I bought a Garmin 255 that was advertised as having US and European maps. I paid $150. I got it and found out that apparently I had to 'choose' whether I wanted the North American or Europe maps (although, there was no place on the website for me to choose). Now, to add the Europe maps will cost an additional $150.
Should I return it and get one that already has maps? Or should I just pay the extra money to download the maps?
Alexandra-
We bought the Garmin that usually runs about 249.00 at Costco. It comes with both North American and European maps. They often have it on sale for 199.00 which is what we paid for it and it was free shipping.
We used driving through Germany, Austria, and Italy last year and it was fantastic. We will be taking with us next month to France. It was so great have the european maps already downloaded. Plus you can use it in the states as well.
**Other pluses: It has a small symbol in the upper left side (two cars) which warn you if there is a traffic delay up ahead(it turns from green, to yellow, to red depending on the severity of the delay. It automatically will take you another way if that is possible. A bell goes off when you get close to speed cameras. Very helpful on the autobahn and autostrada!
Again, highly recommend it.
Do you know which model that was?
Alexandra, we got a Garmin Nuvi 270 last May on the advice of people on this board. Comes with both US and Europe maps, and you get to update one of them for free.
The 270 is a pretty basic model, but it worked GREAT for our trip, and we were even able to download nice point-of-interest files and speed camera files on it.
I'd recommend returning the 255, and going with the 270. I'd recommend the 270 to anyone. We found a refurb one on CompUSA for $121.50.
Thanks for the replies. I did return the 255 to Costco with no problem. Then, I ordered the 275 on Amazon for $180 (free shipping, no tax). It says it's preloaded with maps for both NA and Europe so hopefully this one will be fine for our trip.
Just a FYI - on the Garmin GPS's if the middle number is a 7 it has European maps loaded.
It's always a good idea to get a Michelin road map as well. The GPS is marvelous but... it sometimes wants to take you down the back roads that are interesting at times. It's not the best or fastest way if you prefer to travel on the main highways or are going any great distances. Learn to save into your favorites any key addresses before you leave home. We stayed at a rural B&B south of Bayeux that had no real address. We used google maps to pinpoint the farmhouse and then saved the latitude and longitude designation that was at the bottom of the google screen. Worked perfectly!
