Dear fodorite friends.. i need some help in choosing a gps to take to our home in spain for our car.

any suggestions of where and which one to buy would be of help, or which website to help me decide. there is so much to choose from..

also,we will definitely need the european map system over the u.s. one.

thanks in advance.( p.s. I am currently in the U.S.)

My personal preference is for a general-purpose computer with a GPS attachment. I see several advantages over a monolithic, dedicated-purpose unit.

o As the state of the art evolves, you can upgrade individual hardware components without sacrificing the entire investment.

o You can choose among the offerings of numerous software vendors (and change if you find better features).

o You get a free computer.

The combination I use is a Compaq Presario 2000 (for large-screen operations in a vehicle) or a Compaq iPAQ 2215 (for small-screen operations on foot) with a Pharos GPS-360 "locator" (receiver). The latter came bundled with Microsoft Streets & Trips (which includes Pocket Streets for the PPC), and for European maps I use Microsoft AutoRoute.

In the car, we use both the laptop (if a navigator is available) or the palmtop (stuck to the dash).

http://www.microsoft.com/streets/default.mspx
http://www.microsoft.com/uk/homepc/a...e/default.mspx
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobi...s/default.mspx

There are many review sites which you can access from Google. Some require subscriptions; here's one that doesn't:

http://reviews.search.com/search?q=g...rt=google-cnet

During my recent trip to the UK I took along my Magellan Roadmate 760 which has a map database for countries in Western Europe (not included in the basic unit price...I had to pay an additional fee to unlock it) and it was absolutely superb. Every back road imaginable is included and its routing was completely flawless.

There are many systems available to include those you can run from a laptop but I prefer a unit which sits up on the dashboard or can be attached to the windscreen.

Those "monolithic" systems Robespierre references are not without the capability of upgrades.

I really wish tyhere were some way you could actually look at, feel, hear, sample, various sytems without having to buy them first. You may end up liking the map and various other visual displays of one vs. the other; the voice and language options; the ease of inputting various points of interest and/or the ability to access those by using a "touchscreen" to immediately amend your route.

If you already have a laptop to which you can add a navigation system and whatever display options (such as those mentioned by Robespierre) which seem best suited to your needs, that might be a better choice for you.

In my own particular case I had no desire to take a laptop with me on my last trip so my "monolith" fit the bill perfectly.

The choice between a dedicated unit and a laptop is a false and deceptive dichotomy.

There are any number of GPS-capable Windows- or PalmOS-based general-purpose computers that will fit in a shirt pocket. Many have the GPS receiver built in.

Besides locating your position on a map, they will perform thousands of others tasks.

There is nothing "deceptive" about the choice, Robespierre. You simply cannot seem to understand that the reason there are so many choices is the fact that different people have different needs and that YOURS are not necessarily the BEST for everyone.

I highly recommend the Nuvi series from Garmin. They fit in your shirt pocket and in addition to navigation they also include a currency convertor, calculator , MP3 player, SD card reader (View your photos) and text to street announcemets which means the little gizmo actually tells you the names of streets to turn on to. For about $50 you can add an SD card which will give you a foreign language translator. There is also an option to add traffic alerts.

If you buy your unit in the U.S. (they are about $525 online at www.Pricegrabber.com) it'll come with U.S. maps only. You'll have to shell out another $300 for European maps, but it's like that with most GPS units.

If you go with any of Garmin's GPS units you'll find a very active online community which is more than willing to help you any time you need it. Some of the serious GPS crowd have even made downloadable files to put on your unit that advise you when speed cameras and speed traps are coming up over in Europe.

My wife thought I was throwing away my recent bonus when I first bought my Nuvi, but she has so much fun using it herself that she wants one for her car. Best techno-investment I've made since getting my 1st computer.

http://www.garmin.com/products/nuvi/spec.html

tomtom.com

When you say

"In my own particular case I had no desire to take a laptop with me on my last trip so my 'monolith' fit the bill perfectly."

the clear implication is that the choice is either laptop or dedicated unit, and that is simply untrue.

Nowhere have I said that a general-purpose computer is "best" for anyone except me.

I'm looking to buy a PDA with Internet capability and I'm interested in GPS. (I want something smaller and lighter than a laptop.) So will such a PDA act like a car GPS system giving you directions as you drive. I.e, is there software for a PDA that provides this capability? Robespierre? Anybody?

Here ya go: tinyurl.com/tos2d

thanks so much for the help. i will have my husband in spain price check there this week.. as adding the european road maps here and spanish language seems to explain/justify the big price difference.

unless someone knows some current deals that would have the european road maps and multi language option ...

Thanks, Robespierre.

I agree with Zeus. The Garmin Nuvi is wonderful!! wE jsut returned from a little holiday in NE Italy and the smallest roads were on it, as well as most of the major attractions. We bought ours in Europe so it came preloaded with the European maps. You could always buy one here once you arrived. Unlike lots of products, the prices are competitive with the US.

It literally took all of the stress out of our driving.

Cheers,
Jan

SloJan,
Does Garmin have software just for Italy or did you use the software for all of Europe? Can you load just Italy from that software? Thanks
[email protected]

2Italy, SloJan purchased the European version of the Garmin which, I am sure, included all the maps of Europe, like a Garmin purchased in the States that includes all the maps of North America.

If you buy a U.S. Garmin version, you will have to purchase the European software separately. As such, you can download all of Europe, or just Italy, depending upon the size of memory SD card or memory of your Garmin.

I purchased a 512 SD card and can download all of Italy, Switzerland, parts of France/Switzerland/Austria/Germany that I chose or will be traveling. You can pick & chose what areas you want to download.

Thanks Budman.

<i>Guides Michelin</i> (you know, the map guys) offer maps for your laptop/PDA in numerous combinations:

http://tinyurl.com/wzhw5

When you buy one of the multi-country SD cards for &euro;229, <b>all of the Europe maps are included</b> on a DVD-ROM (you only have to download to your computer manually).

Points of Interest and Hotel/Restaurant data from the Michelin Green and Red guides is embedded in the TomTom-style voice-guided visual display.