I'm renting a car for the first time in Europe (Spain). I'm taking my Garmin and am I correct to assume that the car adaptor that fits into my lighter plug at home will fit into a European lighter plug?

I remember asking this question many moons ago in my early Fodor days. Everyone was very helpful in telling me that car adaptors are car adaptors worldwide and it will work just fine.

The only problem I've had plugging things into European cars is that sometime they don't give you much room. I don't think they've really gotten into powering everything you own from your car. Anyway, you should bring a backup wall charger and adaptor plug just in case.

Yes, it should work. However, I also suggest you bring the charger along just in case the cigarette plug in your car is broken.

Which model is your Garmin? Mine is the 670 and it comes with adapter plugs as well as dual voltage charger, so I don't need to pack anything extra except the charger itself with the appropriate plug.

I have the 350 and I'm buying the SD card. THis is the first time I've rented in a car in Europe so it's a whole new experience.

This is an even dumber question - does your 350 have Europe maps loaded?

I have been using a Garmin for the past 8 weeks here, and they work fine.The 350 does not have European maps, so you probably have bought the maps, and need to download into your Garmin.

You dont need a charger, the cigarette charger works just fine.

Hopefully yours has vopice instructions announcing the street names, it makes it alot easier than having to look at the screen to see if you are turning on the right street or right exit on any roundabout.

AFAIK, only the Nuvi units ending in 70 are preloaded with European maps. I think Jayne meant that she will buy the European map SD card from Garmin.

Actually I'm remembering twice now when the cigarette lighter wouldn't work. Once in France because it was inside the ashtray which was right by the gear shift and would only open a few inches. The other time the lighter was powerful enough to charge the cigarette lighter, but not anything else. I checked the book and found that was an optional feature that the rental car company obviously hadn't upgraded to. So just be sure to bring your wall charger as well.

I woudn't bother taking an ac charger. Whenever we charged it in the hotel, it only lasted a few minutes.You have to have it plugged into cig adapter all the time.

Just check the cars cigarette lighter connection before you leave the rental agency.

<i>I woudn't bother taking an ac charger. Whenever we charged it in the hotel, it only lasted a few minutes.</i>

I find that surprising. Did that only happen in Europe? Or do you have trouble charging your GPS at home also (using the regular charger)?

<i>Whenever we charged it in the hotel, it only lasted a few minutes.</i>

Since this is the first time anything like this has ever been mentioned, I suspect the problem is with your charger, the way you plugged it in, or the hotel's electricity.

I find that mine only holds a charge for 2/3 hours so I will check the lighter before I leave the lot.

Oops - I just received the Garmin 370 and hope it will stay charged for more than 2 or 3 hours.

I have to say I have the Magellan for the states and it actually stays charged for days !

I just returned from my trip with my Garmin Nuvi 670. It definitely lasted more than a couple of hours a day! Unless you plan on driving many hours each day, I really don't think a cigarette charger is needed on top of the regular charger.

Also, it probably helps to conserve some power if you choose to have a lower brightness level and also not having the backlight stays on all the time.

We just returned from 2 weeks in Germany and Italy. We have a Garmin nuvi 350 and purchased the european card prior to leaving home. We used the car cigarette plug just fine. We had the regular charger with us but never used it. The best advice - hubby pre-loaded our destinations (including parking garages in Salzburg and in Italy) into the Garmin before the trip and this was a great time saver!