Using a GPS navigator
 

Hello all -- we are preparing for a trip to the Dordogne and Languedoc/Provence this June, and I have been able to glean a huge amount of information from all of you -- many thanks!

One thing that surprises me is that I have not seen any references to using a GPS navigator to help find the way around on the D-roads and in the towns. Have any of you used one there? If so, how well did it work out? Would you recommend renting a car that was equipped with one? I gather it adds about $10 per day to the rental cost.

I just consult a map and follow the signs - it's kind of a no-brainer.

The one time I was in a car equipped with a GPS system it kept telling us to make illegal U turns and led us into some guy's cow pasture.

I have one booked at CDG in 2 weeks - will let you know how we get on

A lot depends on how accurate the database maps are. I've used my Magellan Roadmate 760 in Europe and found it very helpful and accurate even on the most remote roads.

Thanks, St Cirq -- I just saw your earlier comment on GPS's about two minutes after posting my question!

I'll confess, I'm a techno-nerd, and my wife agrees with you: we are going to end up in a cow pasture for sure.

I have just bought a ViaMichelin unit, mainly because it has all the Michelin Green and Red Guide destinations as well as the roads, etc. Is there anyone else out there who has used a GPS navigator in the south of France?

I use a Garmin GPS on my bike and in the car. I have U turns switched off on mine, but it shows all the minor roads in this area.
http://bikesindordogne.blogspot.com/

I use my TomTom One all over France and love it. A map is a good thing to have as well but GPS makes it so easy and takes out the guess work.

I am sure you know this already, but the great thing about the roads in France is that they are signed with the direction to towns and cities. Even the smallest roads have arrows at virtually every intersection.
I have had my GPS with me but have only really used it for amusement. Compass perhaps if you loose your bearngs. Have a good map and you are set.
BTW - getting lost in Dordogne is one of those serendipity things.

I used a Garmin iQue M4 (a combination pocket PC and GPS) for a month last September in the Dordogne. Worked great. We had the pleasure of getting lost many times but the GPS allowed us to choose the proper direction toward our final destination when faced with unexpected turns or forks in the road.

If you take one (rather than rent one there), insure you've got the correct set of maps loaded. Garmin devices sold in the USA are preloaded with a USA base map that should be replaced with a Western Europe base map. Also, you'll probably find that the detail of maps for SW France is significantly lower than that of the USA.

Steve Stearns

I have not used a GPS in Europe, yet. But, I have used a laptop based GPS (Microsoft Streets & Trips with GPS attachment) and will use the same type system (Microsoft Autoroute Europe) in Scotland this June.

From reading other people's experience, and from my own, one common problem people run into with a GPS is being led in some strange directions by the device. The beauty of using Streets and Trips on a laptop is that you can plot your route before you get into the car, and then review it, turn by turn, in order to look for crayz detours, idiotic U-turns, and the like. These are not usually hard to spot when you can see the route in full, and you can easily override non-sensical directions using this software.

Now, when you just get into a car, enter an address into a GPS device, and blindly follow the directions, you're more likely to end up with these strange detours. So, that's one thing that I would consider when deciding what kind of GPS to use. Even if I have a GPS device, I'm going to consult an old-fashioned map in order to make sure that the routing chosen by the device makes sense.

Hey jrg,

I don't have any personal experience with one but my father rented a car in Italy that was equipped with a TOM TOM and they did quite a bit of driving. It was his first time in Italy, first time in Europe actually. He said that he would have been lost without it and that him and his girlfriend would start to panic if the system stopped talking for an extended period of time. lol!!

If I were renting I would want one just for the added peace of mind! But then again I can't read maps for my life!!

Enjoy!
Layla :)

I used my Garmin Nuvi on my recent Netherlands-Germany-Denmark-Sweden drive and absolutely loved it. Buying or renting one is well-worth he cost. In the past I always got at least a little bit lost once a day which may have cost perhaps half an hour or more of vital touring time. But with GPS I didn't get lost once. And if you think such perfection might mean you won't discover "unknown" gems off-the-beaten path, my Garmin displays all kinds of points of interest I might not have known about otherwise. It was absolutely vital late at night when we couldn't find anywhere to eat in Bremen - I just hit the "Food" icon and pages of restaurants scrolled upon my screen.

The only negative is the cost of the maps. My Nuvi came with extensive North American maps installed in it, but I had to go out and spend another $300 for the European maps and an SD card to install them on.

Added bonus - the Nuvi also has currency and metric conversion, plays MP3 music, offers traffic reports and a translater for a few bucks more.

<b>Instead of wasting your money buying the car rental agency's GPS for them - or making the map-seller's next boat payment,</b> why don't you consider buying what's required to turn your laptop or palmtop into a GPS that also plays MP3s, stores your pictures, and does your taxes? You need two things: hardware and software.

o The hardware is what Microsoft calls a &quot;locator&quot; but the rest of the world calls a &quot;receiver.&quot; It connects to your computer either through a cable or a Bluetooth wireless connection.

o The software program is Microsoft Streets &amp; Trips in North America, or Autoroute in Europe.

You can buy the locator and software bundled by Microsoft for less than $100 (obsolete versions that work perfectly well for less than $50). And not have to pay again when you rent another car.

I've got a Garmin with the European maps, and my wife, who used to be the navigator, loves it. Forget the maps and enjoy the scenery.

I think if I now told her she would have to look at a laptop to give me directions, she would shoot me. :-)

To each his own. I love my Garmin and Robes loves his laptop. ((b))

I'm with you, Budman -- I have used mapping software on a laptop with a GPS, loved it, and will continue to use it -- on a boat, where there is enough space for the laptop at the helm. But I'm a strong believer in things being the right size for the way they are being used, and I think a pocket-size unit is right for travelling by car and on foot.

Thanks for all your comments. I've got the ViaMichelin navigator, but I'll keep my eye on the signposts, maps and guidebooks too.

Awwww, c'mon. Isn't half the fun getting lost and discovering what possibily could be the best out of the way spot ever??

I'm with you, jrg -- I have used a Pocket PC with built-in GPS and the Pocket Streets software (and hundreds of other things) loaded on it for several years.

In my opinion, a dedicated hand-held GPS is a waste of money.

queener, actually I programmed my GPS in Switzerland to avoid toll roads. I was not in a hurry, rode around all the back roads, and saw some wonderful sites that I would never have seen on the auto routes. ((b))

jrg, my husband and I luckily got one by accident last summer for our trip to Germany and Switzerland. They did not have the car we requested, so we ended with up a BMW with a GPS system. I will admit that all my months of 'map planning' and 'road mapping' went out the window. With GPS you don't need any of that. You can take the 'main routes' or the 'back road routes'. GPS was to us very flexible. We loved having it and didn't get lost once. My husband now says we won't go on another abroad trip without it.

I don't know if you need it for a short trip to Europe, but we have been traveling all over Europe for months and looooove our GPS.

We are not techno types and have never used one before this trip. You can still get a little lost with them and they are not 100% , but 99.9% of the time they make traveling in a foreign land where you do not know the language WONDERFUL and easy.

If you have all the maps and speak and read French fluently, there probably is less of a need. We don't and did lots of traveling in France, so it was a godsend for us and made things sooooo much easier.

Tell her where to go and she takes you there the easiest way...nice!


( We got the top of the line Gamin..expensive ..but one of our best investments in for our trip around the world).

I could do an ad for them as I can not tell you how much more pleasant it is for me as navigator.

We rented a Magellan 700 series in Scotland. It was SO worth it! We doubted it many times when it led us thru unmarked sheep roads with grouse ambling across, but it always got us there! We would have wasted lots of time lost if not for the GPS. And when you haven't got lots of time, you don't need the frustration of being lost on vacation! Also, if you want to wander and not follow a pre-planned itinerary, you'll always know where you are, and how to find any destination. Best bet is to buy your own GPS, and bring it with you. Many are pre-loaded with Europe on them.

Virgo - I would agree with you completely for Scotland. As for Dordogne and the French signage system I disagree. Relax, enjoy the journey. I haven't foound one town that you would need a GPS in. The roads are marked. Do what StCirq says.

Well yes the roads are marked in France but its not all roses. The arrows may point to the name of the next town, the larger one a bit further down the road, something in between, or even a major city quite far away and not at all on the current highway you are on. Its not an exhaustive list of towns in that direction nor is it always the first town in that direction. If you dont have a general ideal of what is where it can be confusing. You need to have an idea in your head of what is found beyond your destination in case your town isnt selected for inclusion on the signs until you are much closer to it.

I also like the trick of following a sign to a town, the town name pops up at each round about and intersection, then all of the sudden, its not named any more, yet you havent arrived in that town.

We used a Tomtom One this summer in the Dordogne.

Whilst it was not perfect, it got us where we needed to go, sometimes by odd routes but never failed us.

We were very pleased to have it when it found us a way out of a huge traffic jam whilst try to get back to the airport for our flight home.

Steve_Stearns,

I have the same unit and we're going to be doing Paris and then hopscotching through Italy in early June. Did you have any issues with locating when in tight spots? We're spending a week in Florence and I know it's a tight fit in and around the Duomo area where we're going to be staying. We won't be driving so I'm debating whether or not the $350 Can. for Europe maps is worth it

Be very careful with the directions. A few times we missed cutoffs and could not make the &quot;legal&quot; u-turns it was asking us to do. It re- routed us, but some of them were quite round about trips. It took us a while, but we finally clicked on to this. Having said that, this wonderful but complicated machine took us right to the door of a friend's hotel, which I am not sure we would have found ourselves. For address specific locations, it can't be beat.
I would rather plan my driving route on a map, as I still prefer to have things right in front of me.
This time I am going to invest in good maps instead.(but if the car we rent happens to have one, I won't be too unhappy)

Coming across many &quot;deviations&quot; during our month in France last August made our rental car with GPS the wonder car. &quot;Madame Citroen&quot; got us around and about in several cities. I'm the navigator on most of our trips but I became quite fond of Madame. Deborah

knickerbockor:

Not exactly sure what you mean by 'locating...in tight spots'. Please elaborate and send to [email protected].

Steve Stearns

If you have not read them already, here are some notes I posted after our trip to France in June of 2004. As you can see, I highly recommend a GPS.

Author: john183
Date: 01/12/2005, 02:37 pm
Having rented cars in Italy twice and having to deal with maps and hard to read road signs, I was prepared for the same experience last June when we rented a car in Normandy. However, we somehow recieved a free upgrade to a car with a GPS in it and it made a huge difference. We barely even looked at a map or a road sign for the 4 days we were there. We drove all over Normandy, had a wonderful time and never got lost once (after my grand daughter figured out how to reprogram it to speak English). If you can afford it (I'm not sure what it costs since we were given a free upgrade), I highly recommend getting a car with a GPS and let technology do the hard work for you. The freedom of having our own car is very important to us so I'm thinking whatever the GPS costs is well worth it. The only thing you miss out on are the funny stories that happen when you are lost at night in a strange country and you have to figure out what to do. HA!!!!
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Author: StCirq
Date: 01/12/2005, 03:22 pm
A GPS system is a nice little gadget, but lest ninalou get the impression that driving in Normandy is somehow difficult, I'd like to say it's not. Especially if your main interest is the D-Day stuff. You just drive along the coast! Hard to get lost doing that!

And inland, as everywhere in France, things are remarkably well signed. You just have to know the names of towns in the general direction you're going - easy enough with a 5-second glance at a map.
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Author: john183
Date: 01/12/2005, 03:54 pm
StCirq:

You are absolutely correct. Driving in Normandy even without a GPS is very easy. Where we found it useful was programming in our exact destination (hotels, car rental agency, restaurants, etc) and never having to even look at a street sign or a road sign. But back to your point, driving between the little towns on the D-Day coast is very easy and very fun. The roads are well marked and the towns are little so getting lost there would actually be hard to do. Thanks for not letting me lead ninalou astray.