Satnav or iPad
 

I'm going to be traveling in France, England and Ireland in July and August this year and am wondering about using maps on my iPad. Has anyone done it? Or is it better to buy or rent a satnav?

You can use the maps on the iPad at no cost as long as you are in a WiFi zone.

Am I right in thinking that I won't always be in a wifi zone when I'm driving?

"Satnav or iPad"

Hard copy maps. £2.99 per country from any petrol station

Electronics are fine, intermittently. Utterly unreliable in London and Paris unless you're VERY directionally sensitive. Signals bounce off buildings, and instructions are often a crucial second out: trivial on wide freeways, but catastrophic in densely-streeted real cities with lots of traffic and ever changing one-way systems. If you know the city and have a sense of direction, you can overide the absurd instructions: if you're a stranger you're toast.

Wifi-based systems just plain don't work in the countryside. And rarely in cities. If you haven't got 3G (and paid for affordable access in Europe) leave it at home.

All electronics are astonishingly useless when anything goes wrong. We hit a major road abruptly close because of an accident last weekend. 99.9% of cars immediately took the same, spectacularly clogged, alternative, suggested by the geographically illiterate SatNav girl: we watched them fume in an endless jam while wizzing along the empty roads the decades-old hardcopy map suggested instantly.

The toys (at least the SatNavs) are a useful adjunct to a proper map in certain circumstances. They're decades away from being any more use than a chocolate fireguard for finding your way round a foreign country.

You're the bomb Flanner! :-)
I have my giant Collins map and was thinking of renting a Satnav.....thanks for the input.

>>>Am I right in thinking that I won't always be in a wifi zone when I'm driving?<<<

WiFi range can be measured in feet. A couple hundred at most.

Don't rent a GPS if you wish to have one... buy one. They are not as expensive as they once were. I recently sold my oldest one on Kijiji with N American and European maps for 50 bucks. Still works fine but I have more sophisticated ones now so it was no longer needed. A friend recently bought an older model TomTom that was a top of the line unit when it was new for just $100 and it's in almost new condition. And it came with European maps too.

It's important to have one before you leave so you can update it, download points of interest and learn how to use it.

I have driven from Scotland to Athens and all over Europe in the days before GPS and did just fine with paper maps. But having used a TomTom for 2,500 km in France a couple of years ago I'd never be without one again. As an addition to paper maps
which you still need for both an overview and for planning.

My experience is completely the opposite of Flanner's. Leaving Fontainebleau and heading for Paris, police had closed the autoroute on ramp and were waving traffic past. I had no idea where else to go and there was no place to stop and consult a map. I handed the TomTom to my daughter in the back seat and asked her to change the route to ignore autoroutes. Within seconds the TomTom voice was giving me instructions to turn here and prepare to turn there.

We went cross country on tiny roads, through tiny villages and soon saw another sign for a different autoroute leading to Paris so we took it. The TomTom calmly re planned things and soon had us at the front door of our hotel. These things are brilliant but you need to know how to use them and you also need to realize you can turn where YOU want to and the device will adjust the route accordingly.

Do you absolutely NEED a GPS? No. But my wife is not a happy navigator and a GPS can do so many other things like do bluetooth hands free phone calls or show you to the nearest branch of a bank whose ATMs won't cost you anything to use. Why would you not want one?

'You're the bomb Flanner!'

Not sure whether this is good or bad, but I certainly agree with flanner. Maps in France at least are terrific - Michelin makes very detailed maps which should get you around anywhere.

Carlux, it is a good thing ;-).

I bought the Collins when we were hopelessly lost near Warwick.

Thanks for the input everyone. We already have an iPad so that's what started me wondering about whether we could use it for maps or if it would work out very expensive. In 2010 we drove from London to Hook Noton in the Cotswolds. The map I bought at the airport was not detailed enough to have Hook Norton on it but it seemed to be the only one available. We muddled through and finally got there but as we now have the iPad I'm wondering if it is a better option on small country roads. It is 3G and I know I would have to buy a sim card at the airport when we arrive.
Does anyone know anything about the costs?