GPS navigation-buy(NUVI 270 ) or use car rental ?

I have the 270 and have used it the past two years in Germany and Austria. It is absolutely fantastic! We went many places that would have been difficult to find without it. It never lead me astray. I would definately get one.

What company are you looking at? Try Sixt.com. The rental price here is determined by the model of the car and the transmission. The presence or lack of a GPS has no effect on the cost.

You are better off taking a GPS that you know how to use. Buy it here, get comfortable with it and bring it. Get one that has both N.America and Europe maps pre-installed. I use the TomTom 920 and am very happy with it but the Garmins are generally highly rated also (anything with a second digit of 7 comes with European maps).

ok just got back from best buy . the 270 is discontinued, and now there is a 270t that tells(?) trafic. It is alomost double the cost of the 270. But more importantly, the guy at the store brought up the question (maybe silly) will the US model need an adaptor for the car?> I am thinking not-but I don't want any surprises! Thanks for your input

You can still buy the Nuvi 270 online. Check the link below:

http://www.google.com/products?q=garmin%20nuvi%20270&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wf

Check amazon.com - a number of vendors are still selling the discontinued 270 model. The included DC cable, which charges your GPS unit in the vehicle, fits most cigarette lighter/power outlets "as is".

It's worth tracking down a 270 here. Amazon has a good price on it. A car rental company might tell you that they can provide a GPS, but they probably won't guarantee availability.

We leased a new Renault Modus last October in France, and the nuvi plugged into the cigarette lighter with no adapter.

Best to take one with you. Used my almost 3 year old tomtom 910 last week after leaving Paris and it worked fine. There were a few new construction areas not on it but turned out not to be a big problem. After another trip using a gps it made me appreciate having one even more than before. Still take a good road map though. I noticed a good sale on the tomtom 930 about 3 weeks ago at best buy. It has Europe preloaded. I don't remember the price but it was around $300. I suppose it means that tomtom is coming out with a replacement for the 930.

Here's why NOT to rent from a rental company
1) They provide you with a cheap junky one if not built in
2) Most built-in ones are worse
3) The rental car company will make you sign an agreement that you will reimburse them a zillion dollars for loss of a phone you can buy for $100 new over here.
4) since you will not be familiar with the one they provide, you will waste lots of time trying to figure it out and only really get comfortable with its features on the day you turn the car in.

Hi Joanne. We just got the Garmin Nuvi 270, and used it last week.

NOTE: You need to update the Europe maps files, the 270 is an older model, and it's a 3.5 GIG file, os it takes a looooong time to download, and install.

Garmin only allows one free upgrade, so to upgrade the US maps, you'd have to pay an additional $69, or $129 subscription.

That's the important stuff - but for driving around, we used it in Italy, Ireland, Austria, Germany, and Slovenia, and it worked GREAT!

Hints: Make sure the addresses you are going to are in the GPS (we had a nightmare finding one place on a new road in Ireland), and download the points of interest and speed camera files linked on the Garmin site. They were worth it! :)

If you have any questions, let me know. We just used ours for 2.5 weeks, with 10 days of car travel, and got back yesterday.

thanks Chris- sent you a private messsage