What is the best GPS for Europe?
Apr 12th 2005, 12:54 pm
#1
Guest
Posts: n/a
What is the best GPS for Europe?
I will be driving in Western Europe this summer and want to buy a GPS
(probably handheld) especially for use in cities. Does anyone have
experience with a handheld in Europe? Would a dash mount, although
more expensive, be the better choice? What brand could I buy here in
the US that would have maps available for Europe? Thanks, Larry
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(probably handheld) especially for use in cities. Does anyone have
experience with a handheld in Europe? Would a dash mount, although
more expensive, be the better choice? What brand could I buy here in
the US that would have maps available for Europe? Thanks, Larry
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Apr 12th 2005, 2:19 pm
#2
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Re: What is the best GPS for Europe?
You first need to specify what you want it to do. Personally, if it
doesn't have maps and the ability to compute routes I'm not interested.
You probably won't get that in a handheld.
You can get maps from Garmin that will load into their equipment. It's
expensive though.
Larry wrote:
> I will be driving in Western Europe this summer and want to buy a GPS
> (probably handheld) especially for use in cities. Does anyone have
> experience with a handheld in Europe? Would a dash mount, although
> more expensive, be the better choice? What brand could I buy here in
> the US that would have maps available for Europe? Thanks, Larry
>
> ----== Posted via Newsfeeds.Com - Unlimited-Uncensored-Secure Usenet News==----
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> ----= East and West-Coast Server Farms - Total Privacy via Encryption =----
doesn't have maps and the ability to compute routes I'm not interested.
You probably won't get that in a handheld.
You can get maps from Garmin that will load into their equipment. It's
expensive though.
Larry wrote:
> I will be driving in Western Europe this summer and want to buy a GPS
> (probably handheld) especially for use in cities. Does anyone have
> experience with a handheld in Europe? Would a dash mount, although
> more expensive, be the better choice? What brand could I buy here in
> the US that would have maps available for Europe? Thanks, Larry
>
> ----== Posted via Newsfeeds.Com - Unlimited-Uncensored-Secure Usenet News==----
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> ----= East and West-Coast Server Farms - Total Privacy via Encryption =----
Apr 12th 2005, 7:53 pm
#3
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: What is the best GPS for Europe?
If you want it for your car, check the rental place, most have GPS
built into cars already.
As for handhelds. I use a Garmin 76CS, US version, with europe city
maps with no problems. With most handhelds the amount of memory is
limited so you will also need to carry a laptop to load in the maps you
need.
In cities I generally do not use it, it is something else to carry
around and a pain to get a satellite lock with the buildings.
I prefer a compass to get direction and a paper maps.
check out the sci.geo.satellite-nav newsgroup for discussions and
reviews on GPSs.
built into cars already.
As for handhelds. I use a Garmin 76CS, US version, with europe city
maps with no problems. With most handhelds the amount of memory is
limited so you will also need to carry a laptop to load in the maps you
need.
In cities I generally do not use it, it is something else to carry
around and a pain to get a satellite lock with the buildings.
I prefer a compass to get direction and a paper maps.
check out the sci.geo.satellite-nav newsgroup for discussions and
reviews on GPSs.
Apr 13th 2005, 12:03 am
#4
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: What is the best GPS for Europe?
"Larry" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I will be driving in Western Europe this summer and want to buy a GPS
> (probably handheld) especially for use in cities. Does anyone have
> experience with a handheld in Europe? Would a dash mount, although
> more expensive, be the better choice? What brand could I buy here in
> the US that would have maps available for Europe? Thanks, Larry
Hi Larry,
I've been to Europe several times with a handheld. My GPS has been
incredibly valuable. Until you have one, and have learned to properly use
it, you really have no idea exactly how useful they can be. We generally do
europe by car, and so knowing where you are in unknown territory is powerful
stuff. My wife knows how to use most of the high-level functions and is the
navigator. I usually program waypoints for each of my hotels, attractions,
etc and cross check multiple sources to make sure the location is right.
After that, it's as easy as pressing "goto" waypoint, and the direction and
distance is given from your current location -- or with the better models as
an actual pathway via the roads.
Although GPS stuff is highly religious (just look on sci.geo.satellite-nav,
as suggested earlier), I'll give you some generalities:
1. Garmin is the market leader, they own a high percentage of the consumer
market. As such, the best support in terms of 3rd party utilities(of
marginal interest, to me anyways), community support as in forums, newgroups
etc is good, etc. Garmin typically has good customer service, including
flat rate repairs etc. I've had three Garmins, and wouldn't buy anything
else. They offered upgrades in the past, where you can upgrade an older
model to a newer model for a reasonable cost. www.magellangps.com is
probably the second largest......
2. Software --- Most of these companies sell their maps separately, and
expect to spend another $100 - $200 for European maps. There are often
differences in detail etc with different versions, so pay attention and do
research before forking out your hard earned cash. Garmin's software policy
can be overbearing with them trying to combat rampant piracy. They've taken
steps like locking software down to a particular unit's serial number, etc.
If you live in the US, be careful NOT to purchase a unit overseas. There
are a few different limitations regarding basemaps where you can't change
them out, etc. You can normally only load maps made by the same vendor as
the GPS --- ie buy a Garmin unit, use Garmin maps, buy a Magellan unit, use
Magellan maps.
3. Memory: Depending on the types of maps you purchase, there is a tradeoff
between how much area is covered vs how much detail you want in each area.
You can either have a large area loaded with less detail, or a smaller area
loaded with more details. Obviously, the more memory you have, the larger
area with more detail you can store. Depending on how many cities, etc you
plan on seeing, don't expect to be able to fit all of the maps in memory at
once. A laptop, in my opinion is REQUIRED, unless you think you can find
Internet cafe's that have CDROM's, access to serial/USB port, ability to
load custom software, time, etc. I'm not making a judgement call here but I
bring a laptop. With a decent model, you could expect to fit maybe (3)
large cities with maximum detail in memory at one time. Or perhaps (10)
smaller towns.
4. Handheld vs. dashmount: The only thing, IMHO, a dashmount really gets
you is a larger screen. This is nice, but I wouldn't want to travel around
Europe with it for two reasons. 1> They are physically larger, 2-3 times
larger than most handhelds, this makes travelling with them harder. 2> They
are more expensive which makes it a bigger loss if it's stolen from the
car/hotel room. I bought one of those non-slip dash pads so the GPS doesn't
slide around on the dash.
I currently own a Garmin Etrex Vista Color, handheld, 24mb of memory.
http://www.garmin.com/products/etrexVistac/ I haven't used in Europe yet,
but I'm anxious to!
Another neat thing that I do with my GPS when travelling is I routinely save
the "breadcrumb" trail that the GPS keeps in memory on the laptop. Then,
after I get home, I overlay the trail overtop of a map, and I can see
exactly where I went, how fast I was going on each leg, etc. I run a travel
website, and once I get some free time plan on putting up maps with the GPS
trail, linking the legs to pictures, etc.
Be forewarned that GPS stuff can be addictive. Oh, and GPS people are
probably the most anal people in the world, so I have to give my disclaimer.
Take my suggestions as general guidelines, not as hard absolute
never-to-be-broken rules....
Hope this helps,
Keith
Pittsburgh
news:[email protected]...
> I will be driving in Western Europe this summer and want to buy a GPS
> (probably handheld) especially for use in cities. Does anyone have
> experience with a handheld in Europe? Would a dash mount, although
> more expensive, be the better choice? What brand could I buy here in
> the US that would have maps available for Europe? Thanks, Larry
Hi Larry,
I've been to Europe several times with a handheld. My GPS has been
incredibly valuable. Until you have one, and have learned to properly use
it, you really have no idea exactly how useful they can be. We generally do
europe by car, and so knowing where you are in unknown territory is powerful
stuff. My wife knows how to use most of the high-level functions and is the
navigator. I usually program waypoints for each of my hotels, attractions,
etc and cross check multiple sources to make sure the location is right.
After that, it's as easy as pressing "goto" waypoint, and the direction and
distance is given from your current location -- or with the better models as
an actual pathway via the roads.
Although GPS stuff is highly religious (just look on sci.geo.satellite-nav,
as suggested earlier), I'll give you some generalities:
1. Garmin is the market leader, they own a high percentage of the consumer
market. As such, the best support in terms of 3rd party utilities(of
marginal interest, to me anyways), community support as in forums, newgroups
etc is good, etc. Garmin typically has good customer service, including
flat rate repairs etc. I've had three Garmins, and wouldn't buy anything
else. They offered upgrades in the past, where you can upgrade an older
model to a newer model for a reasonable cost. www.magellangps.com is
probably the second largest......
2. Software --- Most of these companies sell their maps separately, and
expect to spend another $100 - $200 for European maps. There are often
differences in detail etc with different versions, so pay attention and do
research before forking out your hard earned cash. Garmin's software policy
can be overbearing with them trying to combat rampant piracy. They've taken
steps like locking software down to a particular unit's serial number, etc.
If you live in the US, be careful NOT to purchase a unit overseas. There
are a few different limitations regarding basemaps where you can't change
them out, etc. You can normally only load maps made by the same vendor as
the GPS --- ie buy a Garmin unit, use Garmin maps, buy a Magellan unit, use
Magellan maps.
3. Memory: Depending on the types of maps you purchase, there is a tradeoff
between how much area is covered vs how much detail you want in each area.
You can either have a large area loaded with less detail, or a smaller area
loaded with more details. Obviously, the more memory you have, the larger
area with more detail you can store. Depending on how many cities, etc you
plan on seeing, don't expect to be able to fit all of the maps in memory at
once. A laptop, in my opinion is REQUIRED, unless you think you can find
Internet cafe's that have CDROM's, access to serial/USB port, ability to
load custom software, time, etc. I'm not making a judgement call here but I
bring a laptop. With a decent model, you could expect to fit maybe (3)
large cities with maximum detail in memory at one time. Or perhaps (10)
smaller towns.
4. Handheld vs. dashmount: The only thing, IMHO, a dashmount really gets
you is a larger screen. This is nice, but I wouldn't want to travel around
Europe with it for two reasons. 1> They are physically larger, 2-3 times
larger than most handhelds, this makes travelling with them harder. 2> They
are more expensive which makes it a bigger loss if it's stolen from the
car/hotel room. I bought one of those non-slip dash pads so the GPS doesn't
slide around on the dash.
I currently own a Garmin Etrex Vista Color, handheld, 24mb of memory.
http://www.garmin.com/products/etrexVistac/ I haven't used in Europe yet,
but I'm anxious to!
Another neat thing that I do with my GPS when travelling is I routinely save
the "breadcrumb" trail that the GPS keeps in memory on the laptop. Then,
after I get home, I overlay the trail overtop of a map, and I can see
exactly where I went, how fast I was going on each leg, etc. I run a travel
website, and once I get some free time plan on putting up maps with the GPS
trail, linking the legs to pictures, etc.
Be forewarned that GPS stuff can be addictive. Oh, and GPS people are
probably the most anal people in the world, so I have to give my disclaimer.
Take my suggestions as general guidelines, not as hard absolute
never-to-be-broken rules....
Hope this helps,
Keith
Pittsburgh
Apr 13th 2005, 2:55 am
#5
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: What is the best GPS for Europe?
Taking your own GPS unit is a good idea, since they really need a certain
amount of learning time to make the best use of them. One thing is to
always check out the route on your own. They often will choose a
technically shortest route, but this may not really be the best way to get
somewhere. Also, entering locations and following the directions may
require some practice. I don't know how available the units are in rental
cars, but we weren't offered one in Nice, even though we had a higher end
model. Since they don't ever give you the car's manual, I'm not sure how
easy it would be to figure out the GPS system! Especially if they haven't
switched it over to English for you.
I have a Garmin iQue 3600 (they make the similar, slightly less expensive
3200 also). This is a PDA (Palm OS 5) format with colour screen and full
car navigation functions and works very well. The unit itself is quite
reasonable, for a unit of this nature, esp. if you shop around (try
www.froogle.com). The European maps are expensive, but seem to be the only
ones available that are fully integrated with a database of sites,
restaurants, hotels and other points of interest. HOWEVER, the maps seem to
have limited coverage of smaller towns and villages, which seems to be
common in Europe (Michelin's maps have the same limitations). Since
navigation in the big cities is really the most stressful, this may not
matter much and it will certainly get you from place to place. It comes
with a car kit usually, but I would buy the optional suction mount (includes
external speaker and 12V power connection) to place the unit up nearer your
normal line of sight and also the external antenna, which makes sattelite
acquisition much faster and more reliable.
On top of that, it has all the usual Palm funcitons and you can get internet
access if you get a modem and serial cable to go with it, including e-mail
(you can get free e-mail accounts at ISPs like Wanadoo, costing only the
price of a local phone call).
Michelin offers some similar units (www.viamichelin.com, go to the Store or
Boutique) but I don't know if they have North American software available,
which might limit their usefulness.
"Larry" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>I will be driving in Western Europe this summer and want to buy a GPS
> (probably handheld) especially for use in cities. Does anyone have
> experience with a handheld in Europe? Would a dash mount, although
> more expensive, be the better choice? What brand could I buy here in
> the US that would have maps available for Europe? Thanks, Larry
> ----== Posted via Newsfeeds.Com - Unlimited-Uncensored-Secure Usenet
> News==----
> http://www.newsfeeds.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! 120,000+
> Newsgroups
> ----= East and West-Coast Server Farms - Total Privacy via Encryption
> =----
amount of learning time to make the best use of them. One thing is to
always check out the route on your own. They often will choose a
technically shortest route, but this may not really be the best way to get
somewhere. Also, entering locations and following the directions may
require some practice. I don't know how available the units are in rental
cars, but we weren't offered one in Nice, even though we had a higher end
model. Since they don't ever give you the car's manual, I'm not sure how
easy it would be to figure out the GPS system! Especially if they haven't
switched it over to English for you.
I have a Garmin iQue 3600 (they make the similar, slightly less expensive
3200 also). This is a PDA (Palm OS 5) format with colour screen and full
car navigation functions and works very well. The unit itself is quite
reasonable, for a unit of this nature, esp. if you shop around (try
www.froogle.com). The European maps are expensive, but seem to be the only
ones available that are fully integrated with a database of sites,
restaurants, hotels and other points of interest. HOWEVER, the maps seem to
have limited coverage of smaller towns and villages, which seems to be
common in Europe (Michelin's maps have the same limitations). Since
navigation in the big cities is really the most stressful, this may not
matter much and it will certainly get you from place to place. It comes
with a car kit usually, but I would buy the optional suction mount (includes
external speaker and 12V power connection) to place the unit up nearer your
normal line of sight and also the external antenna, which makes sattelite
acquisition much faster and more reliable.
On top of that, it has all the usual Palm funcitons and you can get internet
access if you get a modem and serial cable to go with it, including e-mail
(you can get free e-mail accounts at ISPs like Wanadoo, costing only the
price of a local phone call).
Michelin offers some similar units (www.viamichelin.com, go to the Store or
Boutique) but I don't know if they have North American software available,
which might limit their usefulness.
"Larry" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>I will be driving in Western Europe this summer and want to buy a GPS
> (probably handheld) especially for use in cities. Does anyone have
> experience with a handheld in Europe? Would a dash mount, although
> more expensive, be the better choice? What brand could I buy here in
> the US that would have maps available for Europe? Thanks, Larry
> ----== Posted via Newsfeeds.Com - Unlimited-Uncensored-Secure Usenet
> News==----
> http://www.newsfeeds.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! 120,000+
> Newsgroups
> ----= East and West-Coast Server Farms - Total Privacy via Encryption
> =----
Apr 13th 2005, 3:08 am
#6
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: What is the best GPS for Europe?
On Wed, 13 Apr 2005 08:03:41 -0400, "Keith" <[email protected]> wrote:
>.... A laptop, in my opinion is REQUIRED, unless you think you can find
>Internet cafe's that have CDROM's, access to serial/USB port, ability to
>load custom software, time, etc. I'm not making a judgement call here but I
>bring a laptop. With a decent model, you could expect to fit maybe (3)
>large cities with maximum detail in memory at one time. Or perhaps (10)
>smaller towns.
If you're going to bring a laptop along anyway, then why not just use a USB GPS
sensor along with MS Autoroute?
That's what we do for travel all over Europe, with a very small laptop, and it's
better than any hand-held GPS made.
-- Larry
>.... A laptop, in my opinion is REQUIRED, unless you think you can find
>Internet cafe's that have CDROM's, access to serial/USB port, ability to
>load custom software, time, etc. I'm not making a judgement call here but I
>bring a laptop. With a decent model, you could expect to fit maybe (3)
>large cities with maximum detail in memory at one time. Or perhaps (10)
>smaller towns.
If you're going to bring a laptop along anyway, then why not just use a USB GPS
sensor along with MS Autoroute?
That's what we do for travel all over Europe, with a very small laptop, and it's
better than any hand-held GPS made.
-- Larry
Apr 14th 2005, 12:12 am
#7
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: What is the best GPS for Europe?
"pltrgyst" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On Wed, 13 Apr 2005 08:03:41 -0400, "Keith" <[email protected]>
wrote:
> If you're going to bring a laptop along anyway, then why not just use a
USB GPS
> sensor along with MS Autoroute?
Well there's a couple reasons. And trust me, because I've done this too.
The main reason is that laptop (even the thin light subnotebook I have,
2.7lbs 8x11x1 tops) is just too bulky to have riding around with you. Plus
you have power issues, leaving a notebook powered up with the screen on
draws power, and sure you could do the car power adapter, but this just adds
to the bulk. Plus, you can't control, adjust, etc the laptop one handed
while driving --- handheld GPS's are designed for just that. There are
"boot-up" times with laptops, and if you are running windows, probably a
couple minutes. Startup time on a handheld is about 15 seconds tops.
Also, if you go out on foot, boat, train, etc --- a small gps is
inconspicuous, and portable, lightweight. No recharge times. Two AA
batteries, etc.
Don't get me wrong, I like MS Autoroute. Very nice software, and I've used
it regularly for a couple years.
> That's what we do for travel all over Europe, with a very small laptop,
and it's
> better than any hand-held GPS made.
Better? In certain situations, at most it might be roughly equivalent to
using a handheld. MS advertises "GPS support" on their mapping products, as
an add-on feature. It's an "oh yeah, we do this too" option. GPS
manufacturers' entire product *IS* the GPS. Their entire existence depends
on putting out a quality, usable device with their FOCUS on adding and
expanding features specifically tailored to the GPS function, not to a
generic mapping function.
There's some advantage, I suppose, to having a laptop with regards to the
actual maps. HD/CD/DVD storage kicks butt over the puny amounts of RAM GPSs
have, and so you can obviously store a buttload more maps, detail, etc on
the laptop at any given moment.
> -- Larry
Keith
Pittsburgh
news:[email protected]...
> On Wed, 13 Apr 2005 08:03:41 -0400, "Keith" <[email protected]>
wrote:
> If you're going to bring a laptop along anyway, then why not just use a
USB GPS
> sensor along with MS Autoroute?
Well there's a couple reasons. And trust me, because I've done this too.
The main reason is that laptop (even the thin light subnotebook I have,
2.7lbs 8x11x1 tops) is just too bulky to have riding around with you. Plus
you have power issues, leaving a notebook powered up with the screen on
draws power, and sure you could do the car power adapter, but this just adds
to the bulk. Plus, you can't control, adjust, etc the laptop one handed
while driving --- handheld GPS's are designed for just that. There are
"boot-up" times with laptops, and if you are running windows, probably a
couple minutes. Startup time on a handheld is about 15 seconds tops.
Also, if you go out on foot, boat, train, etc --- a small gps is
inconspicuous, and portable, lightweight. No recharge times. Two AA
batteries, etc.
Don't get me wrong, I like MS Autoroute. Very nice software, and I've used
it regularly for a couple years.
> That's what we do for travel all over Europe, with a very small laptop,
and it's
> better than any hand-held GPS made.
Better? In certain situations, at most it might be roughly equivalent to
using a handheld. MS advertises "GPS support" on their mapping products, as
an add-on feature. It's an "oh yeah, we do this too" option. GPS
manufacturers' entire product *IS* the GPS. Their entire existence depends
on putting out a quality, usable device with their FOCUS on adding and
expanding features specifically tailored to the GPS function, not to a
generic mapping function.
There's some advantage, I suppose, to having a laptop with regards to the
actual maps. HD/CD/DVD storage kicks butt over the puny amounts of RAM GPSs
have, and so you can obviously store a buttload more maps, detail, etc on
the laptop at any given moment.
> -- Larry
Keith
Pittsburgh
Apr 14th 2005, 4:22 am
#8
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: What is the best GPS for Europe?
Keith wrote:
> "pltrgyst" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>
>>On Wed, 13 Apr 2005 08:03:41 -0400, "Keith" <[email protected]>
>
> wrote:
>
>>If you're going to bring a laptop along anyway, then why not just use a
>
> USB GPS
>
>>sensor along with MS Autoroute?
>
>
> Well there's a couple reasons. And trust me, because I've done this too.
> The main reason is that laptop (even the thin light subnotebook I have,
> 2.7lbs 8x11x1 tops) is just too bulky to have riding around with you. Plus
> you have power issues, leaving a notebook powered up with the screen on
> draws power, and sure you could do the car power adapter, but this just adds
> to the bulk. Plus, you can't control, adjust, etc the laptop one handed
> while driving --- handheld GPS's are designed for just that. There are
> "boot-up" times with laptops, and if you are running windows, probably a
> couple minutes. Startup time on a handheld is about 15 seconds tops.
>
> Also, if you go out on foot, boat, train, etc --- a small gps is
> inconspicuous, and portable, lightweight. No recharge times. Two AA
> batteries, etc.
>
> Don't get me wrong, I like MS Autoroute. Very nice software, and I've used
> it regularly for a couple years.
>
>
>>That's what we do for travel all over Europe, with a very small laptop,
>
> and it's
>
>>better than any hand-held GPS made.
>
>
> Better? In certain situations, at most it might be roughly equivalent to
> using a handheld. MS advertises "GPS support" on their mapping products, as
> an add-on feature. It's an "oh yeah, we do this too" option. GPS
> manufacturers' entire product *IS* the GPS. Their entire existence depends
> on putting out a quality, usable device with their FOCUS on adding and
> expanding features specifically tailored to the GPS function, not to a
> generic mapping function.
>
> There's some advantage, I suppose, to having a laptop with regards to the
> actual maps. HD/CD/DVD storage kicks butt over the puny amounts of RAM GPSs
> have, and so you can obviously store a buttload more maps, detail, etc on
> the laptop at any given moment.
>
>
>>-- Larry
>
>
> Keith
> Pittsburgh
>
>
Actually I've been impressed with the amount of mapping data that can be
stored on the 256 Mb card for my Garmin.
> "pltrgyst" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>
>>On Wed, 13 Apr 2005 08:03:41 -0400, "Keith" <[email protected]>
>
> wrote:
>
>>If you're going to bring a laptop along anyway, then why not just use a
>
> USB GPS
>
>>sensor along with MS Autoroute?
>
>
> Well there's a couple reasons. And trust me, because I've done this too.
> The main reason is that laptop (even the thin light subnotebook I have,
> 2.7lbs 8x11x1 tops) is just too bulky to have riding around with you. Plus
> you have power issues, leaving a notebook powered up with the screen on
> draws power, and sure you could do the car power adapter, but this just adds
> to the bulk. Plus, you can't control, adjust, etc the laptop one handed
> while driving --- handheld GPS's are designed for just that. There are
> "boot-up" times with laptops, and if you are running windows, probably a
> couple minutes. Startup time on a handheld is about 15 seconds tops.
>
> Also, if you go out on foot, boat, train, etc --- a small gps is
> inconspicuous, and portable, lightweight. No recharge times. Two AA
> batteries, etc.
>
> Don't get me wrong, I like MS Autoroute. Very nice software, and I've used
> it regularly for a couple years.
>
>
>>That's what we do for travel all over Europe, with a very small laptop,
>
> and it's
>
>>better than any hand-held GPS made.
>
>
> Better? In certain situations, at most it might be roughly equivalent to
> using a handheld. MS advertises "GPS support" on their mapping products, as
> an add-on feature. It's an "oh yeah, we do this too" option. GPS
> manufacturers' entire product *IS* the GPS. Their entire existence depends
> on putting out a quality, usable device with their FOCUS on adding and
> expanding features specifically tailored to the GPS function, not to a
> generic mapping function.
>
> There's some advantage, I suppose, to having a laptop with regards to the
> actual maps. HD/CD/DVD storage kicks butt over the puny amounts of RAM GPSs
> have, and so you can obviously store a buttload more maps, detail, etc on
> the laptop at any given moment.
>
>
>>-- Larry
>
>
> Keith
> Pittsburgh
>
>
Actually I've been impressed with the amount of mapping data that can be
stored on the 256 Mb card for my Garmin.
Apr 15th 2005, 10:26 am
#9
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: What is the best GPS for Europe?
I have IQue3600 http://www.garmin.com/products/iQue3600/ for few years and
I love it! I travel to Europe often and find European maps very detailed.
As I travel often on business I tried to use portable car mount on many
different cars and it works extremely well.
It works well in pedestrian mode, too, and since it is portable, it will
give you a little bonus - if you save your car location after you park it
somewhere in new city, it will help you to find your car.
This always was a challenge when I traveled to European cities without GPS -
I used to do digital picture of the intersection with street name, so I do
not have to guess how to pronounce it if I need to ask someone how to find
my way back :-)
The only drawback I found is short battery life but since it gets recharged
in the car it is OK, but if you decide to use it as MP3 player then it might
be a problem..
In any case, I suggested this to few of my friends and they are addicted to
it now as well.
By the way, if you are on budget, you can even avoid buying European
detailed maps but load free worldwide basemap - it will have all major
highways and cities and you will not get lost., one of my friends did it.
However if you want detailed names of streets, businesses etc, you will need
detailed maps, they were updated recently for Europe.
"Mark Fagan" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]. ..
> I have a Garmin iQue 3600 (they make the similar, slightly less expensive
> 3200 also). This is a PDA (Palm OS 5) format with colour screen and full
> car navigation functions and works very well.
I love it! I travel to Europe often and find European maps very detailed.
As I travel often on business I tried to use portable car mount on many
different cars and it works extremely well.
It works well in pedestrian mode, too, and since it is portable, it will
give you a little bonus - if you save your car location after you park it
somewhere in new city, it will help you to find your car.
This always was a challenge when I traveled to European cities without GPS -
I used to do digital picture of the intersection with street name, so I do
not have to guess how to pronounce it if I need to ask someone how to find
my way back :-)
The only drawback I found is short battery life but since it gets recharged
in the car it is OK, but if you decide to use it as MP3 player then it might
be a problem..
In any case, I suggested this to few of my friends and they are addicted to
it now as well.
By the way, if you are on budget, you can even avoid buying European
detailed maps but load free worldwide basemap - it will have all major
highways and cities and you will not get lost., one of my friends did it.
However if you want detailed names of streets, businesses etc, you will need
detailed maps, they were updated recently for Europe.
"Mark Fagan" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]. ..
> I have a Garmin iQue 3600 (they make the similar, slightly less expensive
> 3200 also). This is a PDA (Palm OS 5) format with colour screen and full
> car navigation functions and works very well.
