NZ & UK Sat. Nav.
#1
NZ & UK Sat. Nav.
Silly question here I am sure of it!
I have not gone over to NZ yet, but when I do I will need a car, and thus be driving in a country that I do not know. Not knowing the country I will get lost (naturally) and so am thinking Sat. Nav. for getting between places with minimum of hastle.
If I get a Sat. Nav. in the UK and upload NZ maps, then my questions are these:
a) Can I use it in NZ? (I am guessing yes as GPS is world wide)
b) Do I need to unlock it to use it in NZ?
c) Can I Charge it in cars in NZ? (I figure yes as common sense says that cigeratte lighters are a universal size world wide)
d) Am I likely to run into trouble at the airport if I take it in hand luggage with my laptop?
Moving on from them, do cars in NZ have sat. nav. as standard, or am I right in assuming it is an optional extra?
More questions to follow no doubt!
Thanks. Gizzy.
I have not gone over to NZ yet, but when I do I will need a car, and thus be driving in a country that I do not know. Not knowing the country I will get lost (naturally) and so am thinking Sat. Nav. for getting between places with minimum of hastle.
If I get a Sat. Nav. in the UK and upload NZ maps, then my questions are these:
a) Can I use it in NZ? (I am guessing yes as GPS is world wide)
b) Do I need to unlock it to use it in NZ?
c) Can I Charge it in cars in NZ? (I figure yes as common sense says that cigeratte lighters are a universal size world wide)
d) Am I likely to run into trouble at the airport if I take it in hand luggage with my laptop?
Moving on from them, do cars in NZ have sat. nav. as standard, or am I right in assuming it is an optional extra?
More questions to follow no doubt!
Thanks. Gizzy.
#2
Forum Regular
Joined: Nov 2008
Location: Waitakere
Posts: 193
Re: NZ & UK Sat. Nav.
Hi Gizzy,
No its not a stupid question. We brought over our Tom Tom in our hand luggage with no problem.
As you are planning to do, we purchased the maps for NZ prior to arriving here, it works brilliantly !! we have put it into two different NZ cars and it works fine in both. We didn't have to unlock it.
I couldnt tell you whether it comes as standard, we are bringing our car over in the container....but have bought an old banger just until it arrives.
Good Luck for your trip !
No its not a stupid question. We brought over our Tom Tom in our hand luggage with no problem.
As you are planning to do, we purchased the maps for NZ prior to arriving here, it works brilliantly !! we have put it into two different NZ cars and it works fine in both. We didn't have to unlock it.
I couldnt tell you whether it comes as standard, we are bringing our car over in the container....but have bought an old banger just until it arrives.
Good Luck for your trip !
#4
Re: NZ & UK Sat. Nav.
Thanks Anniiee & Neil,
Just done a quick sum. $5 x 30 (days/month) x 3 (approx months hiring) = $450
$450NZD / 2.3 (exchange rate) = Approx £195GBP I can get a good Sat. Nav. over here for less than that.
and if I hire I don't have a sat. nav. at the end of it!
Good idea I admit, but it looks like it may be cheaper in the long run to buy a unit.
Thanks for the idea though Neil. Something to consider.
Just done a quick sum. $5 x 30 (days/month) x 3 (approx months hiring) = $450
$450NZD / 2.3 (exchange rate) = Approx £195GBP I can get a good Sat. Nav. over here for less than that.
and if I hire I don't have a sat. nav. at the end of it!
Good idea I admit, but it looks like it may be cheaper in the long run to buy a unit.
Thanks for the idea though Neil. Something to consider.
#5
you dewty owld maan!
Joined: Oct 2005
Location: is practically perfect in every way
Posts: 5,565
Re: NZ & UK Sat. Nav.
I made some comments on a thread a long time ago about a Garmin Street Pilot i3 that I brought over from the UK and loaded free NZ maps on.....
It's still working OK nearly 3 years in even though I have dropped it a few times
<search> is your friend.
Here:
http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?p=6584056
http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?p=4992946
http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?p=3999739
http://britishexpats.com/forum/showp...2&postcount=12 (the Garmin I have)
It's still working OK nearly 3 years in even though I have dropped it a few times
<search> is your friend.
Here:
http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?p=6584056
http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?p=4992946
http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?p=3999739
http://britishexpats.com/forum/showp...2&postcount=12 (the Garmin I have)
Last edited by lardyl; Sep 30th 2009 at 8:43 am.
#6
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Feb 2005
Location: Back in NZ & loving it - living in Orewa
Posts: 1,183
Re: NZ & UK Sat. Nav.
I've seen car GPS sets advertised for as little as $220 here recently
One consideration with the law changing against handheld mobiles very soon is that it would be worth buying a GPS with bluetooth speakerphone incorporated - one fewer gadget to worry about
I downloaded the TomTom software and maps for my Ipaq and they seem to work well here, although there are a few anomalies as there are anywhere
Road navigation is so simple here it's dubious whether they are really necessary (but since when does a gadget need to be necessary?). The one time I would have really liked GPS was when we were house-hunting.
One consideration with the law changing against handheld mobiles very soon is that it would be worth buying a GPS with bluetooth speakerphone incorporated - one fewer gadget to worry about
I downloaded the TomTom software and maps for my Ipaq and they seem to work well here, although there are a few anomalies as there are anywhere
Road navigation is so simple here it's dubious whether they are really necessary (but since when does a gadget need to be necessary?). The one time I would have really liked GPS was when we were house-hunting.
#7
Re: NZ & UK Sat. Nav.
I had a hire car the other day & took a sat nav in case....
The funny thing was that we had to stop to set our destination... The thingy would not let us...
The funny thing was that we had to stop to set our destination... The thingy would not let us...
#8
Enjoying retirement
Joined: Jun 2008
Location: Rural Taranaki
Posts: 320
Re: NZ & UK Sat. Nav.
New Zealand is perhaps the only country in the world that has FREE open source GPS maps available.
They only work for Garmin hardware, but it might be worth a look
http://nzopengps.org/
I've been using it for a year on an old Streetpilot that I picked up on trademe for $90 and it works perfectly and has the advantage that it is updated once or twice a month to keep it up to date
Worth looking into
They only work for Garmin hardware, but it might be worth a look
http://nzopengps.org/
I've been using it for a year on an old Streetpilot that I picked up on trademe for $90 and it works perfectly and has the advantage that it is updated once or twice a month to keep it up to date
Worth looking into
#9
you dewty owld maan!
Joined: Oct 2005
Location: is practically perfect in every way
Posts: 5,565
Re: NZ & UK Sat. Nav.
Also you can use the same map data on your PC with the correct version of Garmin's Mapsource. Check out the open source map sites and my earlier posts for the info on that.
We have the odd hiccup but it works fairly well.
Have to take issue with "NZ being easy to navigate" - the road signage here is about as good as it is in the US - that is pretty poor compared with the UK which with the odd exception is very clear and useable.