baldrick

For driving around from one town to another, you don't need a gps system. Traffic signs are sufficient, as a rule.

The advantage with GPS is that you insert a precise address (street and number), or choose from prefixed destinations such as car parkings in the center of town, hospitals, medical doctors, pharmacies, restaurants, hotels, museums, and the like, and the GPS brings you on the spot.
Allthough I have a GPS, I only use it when on trips I have never done before. And for an overall view, a general paper map cannot be replaced.

bettyk

alanRow, that's why we love the bean bag mount we purchased. There is no evidence that a GPS is in use. Just tuck it under the front seat or put it in the glovebox! It worked wonderfully for our Canada trip.

SloJan2

Betty,
I am with you. We have the Garmin Nuvi and the mount is easily stowed. No, it isn't necessary, but it does make life a lot easier (and marriage, too!)

Dukey

There is always something that everyone can do without but that doesn't mean it isn't worth having.

CarolA

Alanrow's rental cars are apparently kept pretty clean. LOL!

And on my personal car the GPS "mount" actually is on the dash board which also works in rental cars (I have put them on rental cars) For my rental car last week in Florida I forgot the mount. The thing works in the cupholder too....

Robespierre

The article concludes:

"Weekend warriors who only infrequently use GPS will still have options too. Instead of a PND they will be able to just use their mobile phone for directions. Most all mobile phone carriers now offer navigation features for either one time or monthly charges. Some are now offering it for free bundled with their data plans."

Well, if that's the case, the PND has only changed forms, not gone away. The cell phone version will suffer the same shortcomings of the handheld/suction mounted GPS (which I think are overstated, by the way).

hawksbill

At home in the U.S., I use my GPS device very extensively. It improves my quality of life enormously, and I consider it more essential than any other electronic gadget I own, with the exception of my cellphone.

If my goal is to take the fast route rather than the scenic route, I just walk out the door and let the GPS guide me, rather than doing any advance planning. That has saved me many, many hours of planning. I'm never lost -- if I take a wrong turn, I get right back on the route without losing additional time. If I see a traffic jam on the highway, I exit off and take local streets for a while to get around the backup. I never have to worry about running out of gas or not knowing where to stop for a snack, because I can look up gas stations, fast food restaurants, parking lots, ATMs, etc and get myself to the nearest one quickly. I've even found that I've sort of integrated the GPS display into the psychophysics of driving -- for example I slow down a little when I realize that there's a curve or a major intersection coming up.

I'd argue that having GPS is even more essential when doing a driving trip in another country. I didn't have time to arrange to get one during my last driving trip in France, and I swore I'd never drive in Europe without GPS again. For example:

I'm planning my upcoming trip to Europe now. I've already entered all of our various hotels, and points of interest where we may want to stop. I've researched and coded in scenic routes between the various stops, so in most cases I don't plan to use the "fastest" route to get from A to B.

Some might argue that this sort planning could somehow remove spontaneity and excitement from a vacation. For some it could, but for me it does the opposite. As I'm following a meandering scenic route between tiny mountain villages, neither I nor my passenger ever has to spend time looking at a map. If we see a detour that looks interesting we can take it

hawksbill

(oops)... without worrying about how far off course it's taking us, or how to get back.

I think the question of whether to take GPS on vacation has more to do with the style of the driver than with where one is going. I've found some people that just can't seem to get used to driving with the GPS box around. It stresses them out. When it starts telling them that they have to turn left in a mile, they suddenly hit the brakes for no good reason. They feel their eyes drawn to the GPS screen, and they feel like that diverts their attention from the road. Somehow their brains concentrate on trying to follow the directions and stay on the right route, at the expense of things like keeping an appropriate speed and staying far from the car in front of them. Additionally, some people are so uncomfortable with computers that they consider it a major hassle even to do things like entering a waypoint. For people like this, having a GPS device is at the least an annoyance that could detract from a nice vacation, and at worst dangerous.

So, my advice for someone contemplating using a GPS device for a European trip would be to try one out at home first. Maybe borrow one from a friend, or buy one from a store with a very liberal return policy (I've used Costco for this purpose, for example). See if the machine feels like your friend rather than your enemy. If you like it, then absolutely positively rent one in Europe, or consider bringing your own with you, so that (A) you'll be used to the thing and how it works, and (B) you'll be able to do some pre-vacation planning, and save some of your precious vacation time.

dutchkiwi

We used a Navman in Queesland, Australia and it was fantastic. Not as up to date as I would like. New subdivisions weren't on it but it still got you there, but a different way. If you missed a turn it would just redirect you. In valuable for travelling at night. Didn't need a torch to try and follow a map.
Ours is a suction cup type mount, so I will take some alcohol wipes to wipe the evidence off the window while in France or use the cup holder.
I think it will save us a lot of time in the long run.