TJA

I'm curious to know if anyone has taken their GPS from the (US or) Canada to use in France (or Europe) after purchasing (or downloading the maps) the microSD card at home. Are the maps current?
Any other issues I might need to know about??

Sarastro

As GPS units each have their own peculiarities, taking your own unit can cut down on the learning curve.

The maps are as current as any map anywhere, it just depends upon when they were purchased.

Another advantage of taking your own GPS is adding points of interest to the data base which correspond to your personal tastes. You can add gas stations, big box retailers such as Auchon or Carrefour, restaurant chains, hotel chains or other specific points.

My favorite database addition is the position of radar cameras as the fines for speeding were just raised.

surfmom

Here is a recent thread about it

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...h-the-car-.cfm

We ended up using it and overall, it was good. It did make the learning curve of a new unit much easier. I wish that I had programmed more in advance, though (but I just ran out of time!)

SemiMike

My now-ancient (4 years old!) NA Garmin unit, and a France microSD card, are always with me when I rent a car in France. And I do pre-program it with the cities/towns/villages we plan to visit, usually using the tourist office address. And, whenever we park the car to wander around, I always mark that location in the GPS and tuck it into my day bag - this simple task has saved me what would have been some considerable car searching at times!

Huggy

I took mine to Europe a few years ago and thought I had downloaded all the necessary maps in order to drive accurately. I found that the sections that I had downloaded did not cover all the necessary roads that I required.

Last year, I decided to take it again but when I started to download the necessary maps for my trip, the cost was extremely high. At that point I then determined to buy a GPS with European maps as I traveled in Europe. I found one in tha Amsterdam airport loaded with the necessary maps for a price slightly more that the European download would have cost me in the US. The positives, I have a much newer unit and free upgrades for the life of the unit.

inor

I am going to France and I've never used a GPS unit. I have a few questions: 1) is the one from the rental car agency just as good? 2) If I buy one is Garmin better than other companies 3)I have an iPhone, would downloading a GPS ap (at any price) be an inferior option.
Thank you, Inor

john183

Here is another good thread to read about this topic if you haven't already done so. I think there are a lot of good comments in it.

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...ing-garmin.cfm

We took our garmin 1370T to France in 2011 and Italy in 2012 and it worked great in both countries.

hawksbill

I brought my own Nuvi to France some years ago, and I can't comment on the GPS devices that come with rental cars there, because I didn't use one. In the U.S., the GPS devices that I've found in rental cars are vastly inferior to the Garmin ones.

One issue to think about is the format in which you buy the European maps. The last time I checked, if you buy the maps on an SD card, you can just plug it in and go. However, you then have used up your SD slot and you can't use it for anything else. And I think the SD card is authorized for use only on that particular device. So, for example, if you later buy yourself a new and upgraded device, you can't use your maps with it.

For that reason, I bought mine from Garmin on a DVD. That way, I was able to use the maps again later, after I had bought a new device. Also, I could load my SD card with just the maps that I needed, and I could use the rest of the space on the SD card for other things. The downside is that I had to spend a little time with my computer, choosing the map segments that I wanted, and loading them onto my SD card. That sort of thing doesn't bother me, but some might prefer to just plug in the card and not have to think any more about it.

I'm not sure how it works if you download the maps over the internet, i.e. whether you can use the maps with multiple different devices.

To answer Inor's question, yes, in my experience, trig to use your iPhone for navigation while driving is a very bad solution. I tried that once, after downloading what seemed to be one of the better Apps. I could blame the software for some of my problems, but the bottom line was that the GPS reception was quite poor compared to a dedicated unit, and it didn't seem to have the processing power to keep up with the task of tracking my position.

The general consensus in these discussions seems to be that Garmin and TomTom are the best brands, and others are not as good. I switched over from Magellan to Garmin years ago, which was a huge improvement, and I've been very happy with the Garmin boxes that I've bought since then.

HappyTrvlr

I recently used my Garmin Nuvi with the Europe microSD card inserted. It was very helpful finding our hotels in France and Italy. Make sure you also bring a map along! On the Autoroutes and Autostradas, the toll highways, it kept trying to make us exit way before we wanted to, putting us on back country and winding mountain roads. We avoided that advice after looking at our Michelin map. There did not seem to be an option for mostly highway, shortest distance ,etc that the US version offers. That was our main complaint, the autorute/autostrada direcrions. Local directions were very good.

joannyc

I take mine with me. Use if for driving but also in pedestrian mode while walking around cities/towns to find the sites that I want to see.

rhkkmk

our garmin worked perfectly even in the rural countryside

mamamia2

inor: Last year we rented a car in France (vis Kemwel) that came with a free GPS, which was great though the software showed a 2009 copyright on the screen, and a few roundabouts (they're becoming more and more popular there) were missing. Still, it was a good deal. At one point, late night, driving back "home" thru a Provence village, Dolores (that's how we call her here also) was instructing me to drive straight into a wall surrounding what must have been a new villa. No matter how loud I yelled at her, she kept insisting we should go straight ahead into the wall. We all had a good laugh.

Otherwise she was very helpful.

ParisAmsterdam

inor,

In most cases you are better off with your own:

- You will know how to use it. Learning the ins and out of a new unit on the fly means you'll never get the most out of it.

- Buying your own will often cost less than paying for the rental. I have a top of the line TomTom I bought used for $84 on eBay including both NA and European maps and shipping was free. These things need no be expensive.

- You can ensure you have the latest updates with your own. Every time I hook one of our TomToms to the computer it gets the latest user supplied map updates. Who knows when, if ever, that happens in a rental?

- You can download literally thousands of Points of Interest to your own unit. I can have my TomTom show me any and all Accor hotels I might be near, restaurant recommendations, branches of a bank where I don't get charged an ATM fee and more things than you can imagine. You won't have the things that interest you in one in a rental.

You get so much more out of a GPS if you know how to use it. With a TomTom you can even use Google maps to plan the exact route YOU want to follow. I get such a laugh when I read in a trip report the GPS wouldn't do this or do that. Most times it's lack of knowledge of how to use these things. And don't forget... you can always deviate from the route.... you're in charge! LOL

As to maker... my preference is TomTom. They are European so to me it makes sense to use one in Europe. Mine work well at home in Canada too! ;^)

DebitNM

<i>And I think the SD card is authorized for use only on that particular device. So, for example, if you later buy yourself a new and upgraded device, you can't use your maps with it.</i>

I don't think that is true - this from Garmin website [my bold]:

"Pre-programmed datacards: Pre-programmed datacards are immediately ready to use out of the box. Simply unpack the card and insert it into your compatible GPS device. These maps do not need to be unlocked to your device which<b> allows you to move the card to multiple units if desired</b>, however, you will not directly have access to the mapping on your computer2. City Navigator maps in this format are not eligible for map updates and mapping from the card cannot be copied. If you wish to obtain updated content, a new card will need to be purchased."

The DVD is "unlocked to a single device and they are non-transferable" per the website.

http://iqc.garmin.com/eCustomer/KODSelfService/request.do?create=kb:garmin&view%28%29=c{16315fb0-39b2-11de-5dd5-000000000000}

hawksbill

That's interesting. It certainly seems that I was wrong about the SD card. The DVD story may be a little more complicated... it would seem that "device" would apply to the GPS device, but I wonder if maybe it could refer to the computer that's used to load data into the GPS device? That's how I remember it, but I could be wrong.

I'm interested in this, as I plan to buy a new set of European maps for my Nuvi in preparation for an upcoming trip.

DebitNM

I bought an map on SD card for our trip to France in October. I bought it with the intent to try and sell when we get home. I figured it might have resale value since it can be re-used. When I saw what you wrote, I panicked because I was pretty sure I saw that it didn't have to be unlocked. Phew~

ParisAmsterdam

>>>I bought it with the intent to try and sell when we get home.<<<

Don't do that! Save it for your next trip! ;^)

I think maps are more easily transferred between devices with Garmin than TomTom. I imagine there's a workaround but I think TT maps won't work in more than one device. But it's a small matter when you think of it... 80 or 100 bucks for a GPS map is a tiny percentage of the cost of a trip to Europe.

lostingps

Another thread. We are in Paris right now. We purchased a new Garmin 1370T at home last week which had maps of US and Europe, including France. We activated it at home, but when we turned it on in France it did not get a satellite signal. We cannot figure out how to get it to recognize where we are. Any and all help hugely welcomed!

Thanks.

Mimar

Where were you when you started up the Garmin in Paris? Inside a building or near a window onto an interior courtyard? It might have a hard time getting the signal in those cases. Try it outside, maybe on a park bench or someplace away from buildings. BTW, did you switch to the French map?

HappyTrvlr

Make sure you change countries, including when you return home.