GPS driving assistance
 

We own a Garmin Nuvi. We use it all the time driving around these wonderful United States from our home in San Antonio. We'd like to know how to use this same unit [with whatever upgrade needed] during our driving around France next month.

You might begin by looking at the Garmin web site: https://buy.garmin.com/shop/buymaps.do?null&ra=true

My DH & I have used our Garmin Nuvi on several trips to Italy & France. It has been a lifesaver sometimes, like when we were driving thru the city of Como on our way to our rental villa in Bellagio. Street signs were nonexistant or difficult to find on the buildings and streets change their names, as in many European cities. We just had to follow the GPS instructions and it worked great...if you make a wrong turn, as you know, it recalculates.

On the other hand, we have gotten lost and frightened on some extremely narrow roads (opposing car had to back up to a wider area on the road to let us pass) using the GPS. As you know, there can be many routes going to one place. It's always best to have real maps, too, and to have an idea as to which road(s) you'll be taking to get somewhere. It seems the GPS likes to take you to a town or place via the first possible road, even if it is a very small road. If you keep going on your original road, it will suggest another road or street which might be better. Lesson: if the road looks too remote or too narrow, you may want to look at your map to verify or turn around and go back to where you turned off.


We also noticed that the GPS didn't work well or at all in towns with narrow streets (eg., Verona centro) with tall buildings on either side of the street. I think the GPS can't find you. Sometimes, you start off down a certain street and it's one way and you do not realize how narrow it is! It's definitely a wise choice not to drive in the central area of midieval towns if at all possible.

Despite some problems, we always take our GPS and driving is much more relaxed when using it on our trips.

Take your GPS and have a great trip.

I have purchased the lifetime update service from Garmin which I think is a great deal.

"On the other hand, we have gotten lost and frightened on some extremely narrow roads (opposing car had to back up to a wider area on the road to let us pass) using the GPS. As you know, there can be many routes going to one place. It's always best to have real maps, too, and to have an idea as to which road(s) you'll be taking to get somewhere."

This is the MOST IMPORTANT advice anyone can give you in using one of these. Also have a real road\city street map on hand.

I'll second or third the suggestion that you sill still need to keep the maps out. We used our garmin Nuvi in France for 3 weeks in July and while there's nothing we like better than to get lost and find an alternate route to our destination when we are ambling along, but it's a different story when we have to reach our destination in a timely manner.

Our Garmin sent us on a few very long "short cuts" over tiny country roads. The Garmin indicated we should turn onto the small country road then it would lead to a smaller country road, then a cartpath, then to a donkey path through the farmfields. I swear at one point we were driving on the tractor path through a sunflower field. That's when we broke out the maps.

We loved the garmin for finding hotels, supermarkets and campgrounds on the fly and it was great for directions as long as we established with the map that we were on the right roads.

The garmin was best used to clearly indicate what road we were at times and that we had followed the maps correctly. It also was wonderful in the larger villages to help us navigate the tiny roads of the small villages of France.

We Still used maps but we in the end loved having the Garmin on board and wouldn't go to Europe again without it.

Have a great time.