Italy with a GPS
 

Do any of you Fodorites travel in Italy using a GPS. If so, are you happy with it?" Can you use the same one in the USA?

I did. I was mostly although not entirely. I think that was more of a nut-behind-the-wheel sort of issue rather than any shortcoming of the GPS itself. Depends on what you have in mind for its use. Driving? Walking?

Two weeks ago, I used my TomTom 910 to drive from Rome to Palermo, with many stops along the way. It was my college-age son's first trip to Italy and he wanted to do a "road trip."

Where the roads were good, it was not a problem. However, we have cousins in the mountains of Sicily, and when we drove from Taormina (via Villa Romana del Casale near Piazza Amerina) to Mussomeli, the hometown of my father's family, the unit took us over farm roads that were rocky, muddy and uneven. I had a Strade Italiane map of Sicily, but my son is of the digital age and does not use maps. I made sure we did the drive in daylight; so, it was ultimately an adventure rather than a disaster.
So, GPS is terrific, but make sure you check the map if the unit directs you off a numbered route onto a dirt farm road.

We're thinking, also, of using a GPS for the first time in Italy -- renting it from autoeurope.

They have a deal which will cost about $100, including shipping to your home address.

We would use it driving from Milan to Rome, stopping in Ravenna, Florence, and several Tuscan towns.

We usually rely on good maps and do get lost a bit, but nothing too tragic.

I'm also worried about lugging it along during the first week and a half of our trip when we will be using trains and flying on a budget (weight-conscience) airline. Not sure how big they are!

I'd also appreciate some advice.

Thanks for posting this, Gianntta.

dina4,

The typical GPS is about the size of a cellphone and the only minor wildcard in the equation is the sort of mount that the rental company sends along. I would assume a beanbag mount but they really aren't any particular inconvenience either size-wise or weight-wise

I used a GPS system in Tuscany in October, and it was great. It really took away a lot of worry about Italian signage. My only complaint was that it insisted on telling me "Turn sharp right in 50 metres" on a series of hairpin bends.

Since I bring a laptop on every trip, I also have a ProGin GPS receiver for it. I picked up the receiver for about $60 and Route66 roadmap software for about $40. It works great in most places and makes it very convenient when you are looking for some weird place.

Oh and with the laptop. I do not have the 12 volt converter for it, so I went to my local autoparts store and bought a 500 watt inverter for $25. I plug the inverter into the cigarette lighter, plug the laptop into the inverter, attach the GPS receiver (magnetic) to the car top and away I go.

I use the laptop for communications (Skype phone), for downloading burning pictures from the cameras and to keep information. I'm always glad I brought it.

dave

I have a BlackBerry Curve with built in GPS and the TeleNav program. I have not used this program yet (costs extra!) but wondering if anyone has used this in Italy? If so - how well did it work and did you get hit with huge data roaming charges on your return home?

I gave my husband a TomTom 910 for Christmas. It came preloaded with Europe. We didn't drive in Italy but we did drive from Belgium to France to Switzerland and to Germany. It was fabulous! Took all the stress out of the trip for us. We also use ours here in the US.

Another question in case I don't use the BlackBerry...can anyone recommend a Canadian GPS rental company. I am using Auto Europe but they will not ship a GPS to Canada.

Thanks!

We enjoyed the GPS we rented through Autoeurope in Italy so much we bought a Garmin 370 for our next trips. The Garmin 370 is fully loaded with maps for North America AND Europe. It's small enough you can put it in a pants/shirt pocket so you're not worrying about leaving it in the car. And we found its pedestrian mode very handy finding out of the way restaurants while on foot.

On our last trip to Portugal and Spain we were pleasantly surprised to find it also alerting us to mobile and fixed traffic radars.

My wife uses it all the time here in the US on her business trips.

Btw, we keep paper maps as backups.

Hi

When I went to Florence and Tuscany last year (see trip report with pictures on my homepage http://gardkarlsen.com/florence_italy_travelogue.htm ) I used a GPS when we drove around in the Chianti region. It was a great help and I will never go on a road trip without a GPS :d

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