bu67

My wife & I will be driving in England for 3 weeks this fall. Our driving trip will take us from London down to Portsmouth, then to Devon, Cornwall, Somerset, the Midlands, the Cotswolds, Yorkshire, and back to London before returning to the US.

Sometime around 2008/9, I bought a Garmin Nuvi 255w GPS (SatNav) to use in a rental car in Canada and later in England, Scotland, & Wales. It worked fine but I haven't used it in the past 2 1/2 years. I imagine I can update the maps in the 255w but I know that model was discontinued some years ago.

Do any of you have any experience with some of the newer GPS models? Consumer Reports has reviews of the current GPS models available and the newer Garmin units are highly rated. I'm trying to decide whether to replace the one I have or just go with it again?

Thanks for your input.

MyriamC

I'd go with the one you have. We haven't updated our Garmin maps since we bought our GPS some 8 or so years ago, and we take it all over Europe. There are new roads that 'she' doesn't know but we always have a roadmap and if we are really lost, we use google maps on our smartphone. And there's nothing wrong with asking directions.

bettyk

The prices on GPS devices have come down greatly from where they were years ago. But there are fewer choices with both Europe and North American maps. This is the model we recently purchased and are happy with. We used it for our trip to Austria last year and it comes with lifetime maps. At $150, it's a steal IMO.

http://www.thegpsstore.com/Garmin-Nu...FZU2aQodiwcIMA

janisj

Which ever GPS you use be sure to also have a paper road atlas or at least a map for back up. GPS are fine -- but they often send one down farm tracks and difficult single track roads.

di2315

We have an old and a new Garmin, and still use both. Yes, occasionally roads and freeways are changed slightly, but with a paper map as well we've never had a major problem.

The newer Garmin offers 3-D views that our original one doesn't offer, but the original gives more details on time, distance etc.

I think each has it's advantages and disadvantages, but wouldn't buy a new model unless the old one stopped functioning. Our new one came about only because DH is a 'gadget freak', Di

MyriamC

Agree with di2315. We keep using our old one until it falls apart. It's just for travel because our cars at home have a built-in GPS.

Huggy

I had an old Garmin that I used for several years but having some issues with it. I decided a map upgrade was needed but did not have time so stepped off the plane in AMS and bought a new Tomtom for a bit more money than the upgrade cost. Still use it but finally upgraded the map this week using a Tomtom sale.

Good advice to have a paper map handy as a check (cost me a couple of hours in Italy once.)