Sat Navs in Europe
 

I am travelling to the southern part of france later this year. I can hire a sat nav from the car rental company for 16 euro a day or buy one and purchase maps for france/ europe. It actually works out cheaper to buy a satnav , but am wondering if the in car connection is the same in france as in Australia and if the car voltage is the same for the charger.
Has anyone used their own satnav and is there anything I should be aware of?

Thanks in advance

I'm from New York and always take my own GPS. Haven't encountered any issues with connections or voltage.

Should be fine, just plug it into the cig lighter.

Don't mean to highjack the thread, but have a couple of other questions about using the GPS overseas. Where do you purchase maps for specific cities--from Garmin (in my case) or overseas, or what? Are city maps detailed enough to use while walking around, rather than driving?

>>Are city maps detailed enough to use while walking around, rather than driving?<<

Googlemaps on my phone seem pretty good to me. But when you're standing on a street corner distractedly poring over a map, there's less downside risk if it's a paper one bought for a couple of euros from a local newspaper kiosk, than an expensive piece of electronics.

I'm looking at buying a Navman SatNat and a western european map is available, although it would be interesting to know how detailed the information is, western europe is a big place with many arteries in its road infastructure! Some of the places I will be going to include Gorge du tarn and Cordes Sur Ciel driving from Avignon
Am also interested in a response to Poconlady's question.

thanks for the replies thus far!

Forgot to mention, all of my travel will be in southern france.

Another advantage of buying your own satnav plus maps is that you can pre-programme locations of your hotels and sight-seein destinations in advance when it suits you, without having to figure this out "on-the-day" with a hired satnav.

We used a TomTom purchased from Australia in southern and western France 2 years ago. Worked fine in our lease car and was especially good for getting out of cities etc.

On the smaller provincial roads I preferred using paper maps, however. Gave us a better feel for the roads and locations as the TomTom didn't always choose the most scenic route.

But the TomTom worked fine once we got use to it. Just plugged it in and away we went.

Hi greenerpastures

We use our Garmin in Europe with no problems. Yes, the cigarette lighter connection works just the same as it does here in Australia.

DH loads the maps he purchases from Garmin into the home computer, then just copies across to the Garmin what we need for travelling - in our case usually UK, France and Germany.

As I am the navigator, I prefer to have a paper map as well as the Garmin - no where near as detailed, but at least I can feel more confident that we are headed in the right general direction. Also as the Garmin screen is so small, I like to be able to see what's around the actual areas we travel through. Occasionally we've hit a 'dead spot' where the Garmin temporarily loses the plot; hence the paper back-up!

By purchasing your own, you'll also be able to 'test drive' it before you travel - like any new gadgetry, you'll be better off for getting acquainted with its procedures before you hit unfamiliar surroundings.

Yes, maps come from the supplier of your particular brand of GPS. They have very fine detail; we use ours for walking in cities, as well as driving. You can also mark the spot where you've parked your car, so no more wandering around trying to relocate that carpark.

I do have a bit of a chuckle these days - when I first posted questions about such devices here some years ago, all I got was derogatory comments . . . now there are so many converts! Di

All of the worlds automobiles use the same voltage for cigarette lighters and auxiliary power points so there is never a compatibility problem.

The European databases that I have used are every bit as detailed as those anywhere else plus with most GPS's that you purchase, you have the option to download scores of apps with additional information such as discount gas station locations, vista points, and most importantly of all - the location of radar cameras including a audible warning so you do not accidentally become ticketed. If you purchase a Tomtom unit, there is a website which allows you to freely download their radar camera database which is updated monthly:

www.tomtomheaven.com/

The possible downside to the above website is that it is only available in French.

Another advantage to purchasing your own unit is that upon arrival, you will immediately know how to use its features - no learning curve.

Still, I should not try to travel with only a GPS and their weakness is in overall route planning. Nothing is more comprehensive than pulling out a map of France and deciding to where you will like to travel.

>All of the worlds automobiles use the same voltage for cigarette lighters
What happend to our nice, big 24V battery SUVs and campers. :D

Great thanks for the replies.
Navman have as good deal at the moment here in Australia on one of their models, but am still undecided on which brand to buy. Will research into further.
Thanks again for the responses!

I can't stress enough what Sarastro and di2315 have said above about getting familiar with your own unit first... you'll get so much more out of a GPS unit if you know how to work it and download updates and POIs. I bought a used but top of the line when new TomTom last summer to replace my original low end unit. I'm still finding new things it can do!

I'd stick with one of the big 2 brands... TomTom or Garmin. Maps are available from their websites.

The problem you can get with using one in a city, especially in Europe, is losing the satellite signal because of narrow streets. As PatrickLondon said, a paper map in this case will always work.

Thanks again ParisAmsterdam

Just back from 3 weeks driving mostly in rural France. We used our GPS (Tomtom) and a book of maps. The-one piece fold-old maps are good for planning, but at least the Michelin ones are just too big inside the car. I had printed some directions from online mapping sites like ViaMichelin, but basically ignored them.

The GPS was great in guiding us in and out of the larger towns. However, there's a problem when the street's torn up. Tomtom has an option for this, but it's hard to use when circling the medieval streets of downtown Lille.

My reply is a bit late but thanks for your advice Mimar!