Cost and questions of GPS
 

I want to use a GPS in southern Italy and Sicily. We are going to rent a car. What is the cost of a GPS? Do I rent one in USA before I go or does the car rental company in Italy rent one to you? Do I buy one before I go to use on my Garmin Nuvi 350?

Since you already have a GPS, why not purchase the European maps, download them to your computer, then you can transfer applicable portions to a SD card that fits into your GPS, along with points of interest for areas you will be traveling. We've used the maps for several trips to Italy, Germany, and Switzerland.

If you do decide to go this route, here is a listing of dealers who sell on line. Their prices vary quite a bit. http://www8.garmin.com/cgi-bin/onlin...T=Show+Dealers

You can often get a car equipped with a GPS in Europe.

Sometimes they can be rented as an add-on when you pick up the car.

If you are going to be traveling in Europe, by road, more than a couple of times it might be worthwhile to bring your own.

We always use our own Magellan Roadmate 760 but it came equipped with European maps when we bought it.

I've had the occasion to notice recently, and the cost varies anywhere from $15 USD/day to $85 USD/week.

If you're going to be driving for a week or less I'd say alleviate the hassle of having to keep track of your Nuvi or suffer it getting stolen and simply rent it through your car rental company there.

HOWEVER, if you are renting more than a week OR if you plan on returning to Europe in say, 5 or less years, I would definitely consider purchasing your own European map set from Garmin. This is an especially attractive way to go considering they recently dropped the selling DVD/CD selling price and from around $300 to $149.95! You simply download the maps to your GPS. This is what I'll be doing for my upcoming trip this Fall with my Nuvi 660.

If you are looking at the Garmin Nuvi modls look for the "70" series, either 370 or 670. Apparently the 70 is the indication that you have both US and Europe maps already loaded.

I was at Fryes Electronics in Seattle yesterday that they had the 370 on sale for $399. That looks like a pretty good price even shopping the internet.

Hi

I know that with Avis you sometimes get the option of getting a GPS with the car at extra cost of course. But if you already have a GPS you can also buy another map for that and I think the map will cover Europe in general. Have you looked at http://www.garmin.com/ ?

Regards
Gard
http://gardkarlsen.com - trip reports and pictures

I just had this issue yesterday. One of the rental car locations we are renting from does not have GPS units for rent. I own a discontinued Garmin unit, so I called the Garmin help line, and they walked me through what maps were compatible with my unit and how to update my unit to the most recent software so the new maps would work. I bought the City Navigator NT Europe SD card for $149 - I just plug it into the side of my unit and I have all the maps of Europe. I figured $149 was a cheap price to pay if it helps us find our way and keeps DH from having a nervous breakdown on the side of some random road in Provence!

What is approximate cost of renting it along with your car rental in France?

Hi,
Last year on our trip to Italy we decided not to take our Garmin Nuvi 660 since we would be splitting the cost of the rental car with a GPS. When we picked up the car that we had reserved with a GPS, we were told sorry, don't have any. So, if you really want to have a GPS, I would suggest that you buy the necessary maps and take your own.
L