do British sat nav's work in Canada??
 

Hi Folks,
Does anyone know if British sat nav's work in Canada (Calgary area specifically)?? Is it just a case of downloading info from Canadian satellites rather than British satellites??
Any help much appreciated.:confused:

Cheers, Simone

Re: do British sat nav's work in Canada??
 

I hope so, I have my TomTom thats going with me - I have been told ( cant remember by who) that they do and you just need to download the local info

fingers crossed

Re: do British sat nav's work in Canada??
 

When we were in the UK in March and took our Canadian TomTom sat nav with us, we had to download all the info onto its memory card......fortunately we stayed with a friend who obliged! Otherwise we would have had to buy the relevant stuff, which isn't cheap. I have heard that they will work only in the country in which it's registered.....but we found it worked okay once the info was put into it.

Hope this helps :)

Re: do British sat nav's work in Canada??
 

We take our Tom-tom with us every time. We have the Canada map loaded onto it in the UK and it works fine. I notice that we get less of the added "frills" such as eating places etc, but the map itself - no problems.

Re: do British sat nav's work in Canada??
 

Should do - as has been suggested, you'll obviously need the local mapping information, usually available either as a download or on CD.

I believe some subscription services (for updated mapping info and/or traffic alerts etc) will have to be re-registered with the Canadian provider, but that shouldn't be a problem.

Re: do British sat nav's work in Canada??
 

where did u get the canada map from ?

Re: do British sat nav's work in Canada??
 

Although , as mentioned , you will need local maps .Please be assured that the GLOBAL positioning satellites are exactly that , you don't need Canadian ones ! ;):)

Re: do British sat nav's work in Canada??
 

You can download from the tom-tom website and load directly from your PC onto an SD card

Re: do British sat nav's work in Canada??
 

I got a full North American one for around $200 last year for my Garmin Nuvi from a company called GPS Central in Calgary - they do all brands of Sat NAvs and ship too :thumbsup: it has never let me down apart from getting a little confused when you are amongst a load of high rise buildings. :thumbsup:

Gaynor

Re: do British sat nav's work in Canada??
 

No such thing as British Satellites and Canadian Satellites.

The system is actually owned and operated by the U.S. military and is open for use to the general population.

Any satellite receiver will work anywhere in the world provided you have the right mapping software.

Re: do British sat nav's work in Canada??
 

Roll on Galileo eh?

Re: do British sat nav's work in Canada??
 

We bought the north american one on a sd card for our tom tom from ebay before or last trip, cost us £50 if I remember rightly.

Re: do British sat nav's work in Canada??
 

You got there before me Steve, I was going to ask the OP to ponder on the significance of the 'Global' in 'Global Positioning System' or GPS.;) The interesting thing about GPS is that it is now so embedded in everyday life (aircraft navigation, land navigation, farming, marine etc) that the US Govt are unlikely to ever turn it off or even turn off or on (cant remember which) 'selective availability' which downgrades the accuracy to +/- 100m as opposed to +/- 10m. Rather they & other govts have technology to selectively downgrade/jam the signals in particular areas.

[pedant mode]

The satellite receiver will work anywhere in the world irrespective of mapping software inasmuch as it will give you your position. However without the correct mapping software (e.g. Canada roads and streets) knowing where you are is of limited use.;)

[/pedant mode]

Kinda off topic but anyone here into geocaching?

AX

Re: do British sat nav's work in Canada??
 

But won't British sat nav's make you drive on the wrong side of the road in Canada? ;)

Re: do British sat nav's work in Canada??
 

My friend was trying to find her way to my house (in Canada, and using Canadian Sat Nav), when I called her to find out where she was, as she was very late!

She eventually managed to convey to me excatly where she was ... not far away actually, and I said OK I'll direct you from there .... so she was driving along and I could hear the Sat Nat saying turn left,... and me yelling no, turn right RIGHT!.... etc all the way here, until I could see her at the end of my road, still hesitating. :blink:

I said, look to your left, I'm WAVING! .. and she eventually made it to my drive, with the Sat Nav still telling her she was going the wrong way. Turns out she had got my address slightly wrong! :p:rofl:

Re: do British sat nav's work in Canada??
 

Absolutely correct and I should have indicated such. :o

My only exuse is (it's a good one;)) that we are still on Maui in holiday mode. Tomorrow we head for San Francisco. We have been using a Sat Nav here in Hawaii and the only problems we have had are a couple of outdated database entries and operator error.

Not into it but it does sound intriguing.:thumbup:

Cheers
Steve

Re: do British sat nav's work in Canada??
 

GIGO - Garbage In. Garbage Out. ;)

Re: do British sat nav's work in Canada??
 

If that's the geeky version of orienteering, running around the countryside carrying a pc, then several of my colleagues do it. As someone who frowns upon unnecessary exertion it's not something I would consider.

Re: do British sat nav's work in Canada??
 

We've got a NAVMAN and you can buy SD cards from their UK website with other maps loaded. We've just bought the Canadian maps SD card, it was about £42.:D

Re: do British sat nav's work in Canada??
 

I just put the north america maps for garmin on my garmin nuvi 200.

You purchase maps that fit your satnav.

Re: do British sat nav's work in Canada??
 

I never said anything about running!;) At a leisurely stroll its a fun thing to do.

Re: do British sat nav's work in Canada??
 

My Tom Tom I got in the UK had all the European and North American maps already on it, and it works great. Only had a couple of dodgy directions (into the middle of a building site etc), but nothing too serious!

Re: do British sat nav's work in Canada??
 

Don't EVER concider getting a Medion satnav. I borrowed one and it told me to go over bollards and in to buildings in Oxford (UK). Constantly lost the plot in London (Uk) and would give the worst driving directions, if it even found a satellite signal. It was bought in UK.

I found a test in a mag of different sat navs and the recommendation for the Medion was "Don't touch it with a barge pole".

Re: do British sat nav's work in Canada??
 

I did have one little epic with my tom-tom a few years ago when I wanted to cross one of the bridges in Halifax but the sat-nav kept trying to make me drive into the water just under the bridge. Hasn't happened in recent years though so they must have ironed out the glitch:D

Re: do British sat nav's work in Canada??
 

Yes they do. I bought my TomTom 910 over and it was indispensable for the first few months here (Edmonton).

All the best!