Ah, me...I still use a M.A.P....and I love it....won't leave home without it. Wife is a great navigator and I like her voice which is probably far better, sexier and more soothing than any of the female GPS voices...and I can talk back to her!

Stu T.

I just used the Garmin Nuvi 275 on a trip to Stockholm, Copenhagen, London, and Paris. I used Google maps to send any locations I wanted to visit to the GPS before we left home. That part worked perfectly. I was also pleased with the amount of points of interest that showed up for each city. I used it only for walking though. At times it had trouble finding my location on some of the narrow streets that exist in Europe. That part was a little frustrating.

Here's a note on reading street names, from an earlier report of mine. Although I report on some of the problems we had with the GPS, overall we loved it. The report:

<i>We brought along a Garmin GPS unit (Global Positioning System), with European maps purchased from Garmin. The maps ($150) are delivered on an SD card that plugs into the unit. The GPS was very useful, but it had some quirks. The English pronunciation of the Italian street names made that name-reading feature almost useless. I know that TomTom GPS units can pronounce street names properly in French, and probably Italian. Apparently, that capability is not available for my Garmin Nüvi 650.

Lots of Italian road names started out with "Strada Provinciale" (Provincial Road), followed by the actual name. "Provinciale" is properly pronounced something like /pro-vinn-CHA-lay/. By the time the Garmin unit got past /STRA-da pro-vinn-see-YALE/, I usually couldn't understand the rest. Fortunately, I could read it on the display, and proper pronunciation of the street names, while helpful, is not a critical part of the operation of a GPS.

The Garmin unit, used in Italy, had one other quirk: it turned us off onto some pretty dicey roads. I think that even small roads that are mapped in the US meet certain minimum standards. This doesn't seem to be the case in Italy. Frequently, we'd be on a main road that looped around a small hillside town, and upon entering the town, the GPS would tell us to turn. Suddenly, the road would tip down in a 25% grade, turn to dirt, and narrow to a couple of inches wider than the car. After a few hairy turns, we'd pop back out onto the main road at the bottom of the village. Sure, it had cut off some distance, but after a while we learned to ignore these suggestions and stay on the main road.

A general problem with any GPS is that you can become addicted to it, and lose track of the larger picture of where you are. It's a good idea to also have a good conventional map of the area. We liked the bright green "Toscana" map of the Touring Club Italiano, 1:200000 (http://store.maplink.com/map.aspx?pid=530645).</i>

That trip report is at:

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...tober-2008.cfm

Stu T,

You're a braver man than I! I talk back to the Irish lady who lives in the TomTom all the time but I wouldn't dream of talking back to SWMBO! ;^)

Thanks very much for your responses! I think that I will also look into the TomTom.

I really only need it for Europe as I live in NYC and don't own a car... often have a leased car from clients so it would be nice to have USA maps.

I often have had Garmin's from the rental company and they have sometimes put me on a collision with a wall or river, drove me around the same block time and again, and put me on a dirt "road???" that is wide enough for a bicycle.. not sure if I was suppose to be on them or not! Oh, Hildy (or Gretel or Maria), what are you doing to me????!!!! Yes, I do name my GPS'... I spend a lot of time with them, why can't they teach me the language during our down time together? And, why do they seem to get testy when I miss the turn they tell me to take? Sometimes I need to break out on my own, ignore their commands.... they eventually come around and redirect me with new directions.

And, what about all those European towns that have similiar names in the same country? Be careful, you could drive hours out of your way to a town that has a similar name to the one you wanted to visit (I lost over 3 hours on one particular destination!).

Paris Amsterdam, Montrealer:

I should mention that the beautiful "live" lady beside me is also a Montrealer!! That <u>really</u> trumps any GPS.

stu t.

I should mention that I name my gps' with female names because males are terrible with directions! LOL!

joannyc, for Europe only, I think TomTom is the better unit. You can buy it pre-loaded with both US and European maps.

The Garmin can be set up to speak <i>entirely</i> in another language (driving instructions and place names, if your unit has the speak-the-names feature). Thus, I could set my Garmin Nüvi to speak entirely in French, for instance.

But in the TomTom, the language of the driving instructions and the language of the place names are two separate selections. I drove in Europe with a British friend who brought along his TomTom unit. It gave us directions in English ("Turn right in 500 meters on <i>Rue de la Paix</i>"), but it also properly pronounced the street name in French as well.

Considering the Garmni Nuvi 275T the OP is talking about, the European maps come preloaded. I was about to purchase this one but noticed it doesn't have voice activation.

Which do you feel is more important, the option of the preloaded maps of Europe or voice activation. I will be using it in North America and Europe.

EEks, I meant it doesn't have voice recognition. So, you can only punch in your destination.

My Nüvi 650 is a few years old now, and doesn't have voice recognition, so I can't answer from experience.

But it's hard to imagine that voice recognition would work well in Europe, at least if you use it to enter a destination. By definition, that destination will be in a foreign language. Does the voice recognition work in multiple languages? My guess is that it does not - it probably works only in English. Voice recognition is hard enough without trying to make it work in multiple languages.

And if it does work in another language, perhaps it's one that you speak with an accent. Will a voice recognition program understand an accented street name? A mis-pronounced street name?

I've never found that punching in a destination takes more than a minute or so. Offhand, I'd go for the preloaded maps (and I think that will save you money, as well, over buying the maps separately).

Thanks, good point about the possible "language" barrier

I've had my Garmin Nuvi 350 for almost 4 years and use it both in the USA and Europe. It's excellent in Europe. My only criticism is the mispronunciation of some of the street names, but it also mispronounces simple US names like "Seneca" and "Drakesville". That's why you have to occassionally glance at the unit as you drive.

The Nuvi works best in conjunction with the Mapsource software you can install on your computer. I plot out all my hotels and restaurants as welll as routes far in advance using my home PC. The criticism of Garmin's not being able to find small villages is not entirely accurate. By using Mapsource I've been able to find every tiny little place I've ever sought in Western Europe. Sometimes the spelling or use of non-American characters like umlauts or accent marks makes it a little hard to find, but you'll eventually find where you want to go. The fact that Mapsource works with Google Earth allows you to plot out your vacation then get a gander at the satellite view of exactly where you're going. I've been doing this all during the Tour de France. It's awesome. Once you plot out where you're going in Mapsources, one click loads the info into your Garmin unit. An absolutely awesome tool.

Had I the money right now I would upgrade to one of the newer Nuvis with lane assist. Sometimes it can be a little tricky finding the correct lane to be in when navigating busy city streets.

Lauricelli- I just checked Garmin nüvi® 275T does speak street names and announces turns. Is that voice activation?

No. Voice activation means you can speak a destination into the unit and it automatically recognises it and plots a suitable route, rather than having to type in its name.

Now I understand. I am working hard to be up to date with all this technology!!!!!!