GPS availabilty

Should be able to rent one, however in France the GPS is simply a Must.

You could buy one and take it with you. A good investment and you could take it for future travel to Europe.

If you buy a GPS here in the U.S. where do you get a "Map" of France?

Several of the Tom Tom Navigators include maps of Europe. that's what I used.
I also recommend purchasing one here in th US and using it here to work out the kinks in learning how to use it. That way you'll have everything set up and know where you want to put it in your rental car; how to hook it up; how to select a destination; which voice you prefer, how to understand that the voice prompts telling you to turn up ahead doesn't mean to turn at that exact moment. etc.

You can get gps in your car at the airport. Be sure you get the English version as the standard is French.

I just returned from a trip to France where we had a car for a few days. We hadn't reserved GPS, but when we went to pick up our car in Caen we we were able to get one for only 10E more a day. Not sure if this is typical (we used Hertz) or just lucky. One big bonus was that it was a Prius so I think the GPS was almost paid for in gas savings :)

The TomTom 910 model already has western Europe on its harddrive. It also has U.S. and Canada. I believe they have a replacement for the 910 which would also include western Europe. Could be wrong about that and it may not be out yet but it would be easy to reserach. We used the 910 in May and it worked great. We drove in Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, France and Italy and it worked in all of those countries. I have seen this model on sale for under $400.00 and if it is being phased out you might find an even better deal. If you are going to buy one I would do so asap and play with it as the other poster suggested so you will be familiar with it. The downside to the tomtom 910 is the manual is poor and does not go into enough detail. If the unit locks up there is a reset button on it you have to press with a sharp object to unlock it. The manual does not mention anything about the reset button. Just an example but it is a feature rich gps and it served us well.

You can also buy a Garmin GPS in the states and take that with you as well. I have a Garmin Street Pilot C330, which includes the US/Canada/Puerto Rico. You can add Europe maps through a SD card that you can purchase through Garmin or a little cheaper on Ebay.

The Europe maps cost as much or more than the GPS units themselves. Is there a less expensive source for the maps or can you use a less expensive brand of map in them?

Dr. John, with GPS units, the map capability often depends on which model you buy. For example, the Garmin 3xx Nuvi series, the 370 is equipped with maps of both North America and Europe. I assume this is the same with the 6xx series.

I used a Nuvi 370 GPS in England a few months ago, and for the most part it worked well. It was supplied with a suction cup clip for the windshield and a power cord to connect to the vehicle.

If you think you'll use a GPS unit on a regular basis, you might want to buy one rather than pay the rate charged by the rental firms.

Happy travels!

Connie, AFAIK you must use the maps configured for each brand of GPS. There is no "alternate" or less expensive source. I'm sure each GPS brand uses a proprietary mapping technology, as having better maps/more features would certainly be a selling point.

Ditto the recommendation for the Garmin nuvi 370. Used it all over Europe, all (mostly all) maps loaded, even the tiniest backroads. The english (Jill) trying to pronounce the French names is a hoot, heck, her French is worse than mine! Ha!

This was on sale on-line for about $350, much less than purchasing a US model and buying maps.

I have the Garmin Nuvi 370 with the European maps. I have used it here in the states and it works well. I purchased this one based on some research and I too wanted a GPS for my next trip this summer to Europe. From what I have read (in the posting and elsewhere) the 370 works well in Europe. The maps are pre loaded. It is worth the money to buy it here bring it with you. You will get much use out of it here in the states - I have already used it more than I thought I would.

Hi Dr John,
In the Garmin line of GPS units, the ones with numbers that end in 70 have the European maps preloaded. So that would be the 370, 670 and others that sell for higher prices. The 370 is the least expensive that includes the maps of Europe. I believe the only feature(s) it lacks is that it does not indicate the street names that you are to turn at, it just says that you need to turn in 200 feet, etc. Some people say that this is an advantage because even when you know the name of the street where you are to turn, it is very difficult to find the signs.

Based on the checking I've done, if you are going to be driving in Europe for three weeks or longer, it is no more expensive to buy the unit than to rent it. For myself, I am hopeful that the prices may drop a little now that the holidays are over.

Sharper Image seems to have a lot of their GPS units on sale now at substantially reduced prices.

Dr. John, a couple of weeks ago we came back from a trip in Portugal and Germany. We used our new TomTom 920 ($399 at Costco) that came pre-loaded with maps of US & Europe. ( a replacement for the 910 model)

I tried it out for a few days here, and was using it one minute after I got off the plane in Germany. It was absolutley wonderful; even telling exactly what exit to use on roundabouts. I could use it to navigate to middle of any town, and feel safe and secure.

The best feature: in 10 seconds it would re-compute the route if you screwed up and make the wrong turn. (the Garmin has big problems with this, and with accuracy...see attached review: http://www.amazon.com/review/product/B000BKJZ9Q/ref=cm_rdphist_1/104-5729181-3669560?%5Fencoding=UTF8&filterBy=addOneStar )

The worst feature: it's lousy pronunciation of foreign street names......we all would laugh at miss-pronounced names!

I could slip it in my pocket when I was not using it.

The TomTom made driving fun!

Oh, and the Tom Tom would display an arrow showing which way you had to turn for your next turn.

Then it would display the name of the exit, AND would display the name of the road, and would give you several voice prompts (alerts) before you got to your next turn. If you missed the voice prompt (cause somebody was yaking) you could hear it again anytime you wanted by touching the "arrow." And last, it would pronounce ths name of the street that you were turning on.

Since I am over sixty my hearing is getting bad, so I easliy turned up the sound, and adjusted the brightness of the screen.

The TomTOm is made in Europe, and is the largest selling brand there. Their maps, and drving directions were perfect........even in dinky little towns, or country lanes.