Had a look for map updates for our TTOne Europe....£59 You can buy a complete new unit for £150, sell the old one on Ebay and buy a new one could work out cheaper!

Mind you ours is only used when we need to locate someplace in Torrie, Murcia, Elche. Alicante, anywhere else is easy enough to drive slowly and find. The traffic in those places needs your eyes on the road, not scanning for street names/places!!

Thanks everyone who has replied. I am now convinced to buy as enough people have proven that they are using Satnav systems in Spain.

It seems the trick is to keep updating via the Internet. I know myself that roads in Spain keep changing (which is good) but it seems the companies that supply Satnav are doing their best to keep as up-to-date as possible.

I will also buy in Spain thanks to the advice on this forum.

Just got to decide on which system now!

Mark

I have the Tom Tom one with european maps and find it to be a godsend, but ,as is already mentioned, "turn around when possible" happens in Spain quite a bit even on motorways!! Did get me to my destination last time I was over. Did I not read somewhere on this site that it is illegal to use screen based items in the car and these items should be out of the drivers view or am I mistaken?

[QUOTE=Bri and Katee;6223104]Had a look for map updates for our TTOne Europe....£59 You can buy a complete new unit for £150, sell the old one on Ebay and buy a new one could work out cheaper! QUOTE]

Sorry if this is a stupid question but I had gotten the idea that purchasing any unit would entitle you to (free) updates via the net whenever they became available.

If this isn't the case then the Satnav could become quite expensive in the long run especially in Spain where lots of new roads/changes are happening.

With for example the Tom Tom - do you get any free updates afterwards for a certain time?

Mark

Not that I am aware of! You get the disk with the unit that gives you access to the homepage but that is it. If you want anything extra like speed camera positions, different voices etc you pay.
The only thing that is good is the map is very comprehensive when you buy the unit, and because it will be newish from the manufacturer, then it should have the latest maps installed, where this falls down is if like us, you have had the unti for 12 months, the maps could have been updated in that time.

This does not apply to SatNavs, at least, not yet.

I heard a rumor that it did, so when I was in the petrol station I thought I would ask the local Guardia who always stopped there to have their coffee, they told me it is * not * illegal to have a sat nav as long as it is placed where it does not restrict the drivers view, like to the lower left corner of the windscreen, but... if you got a police man with mala leche and you where giving him a hard time then he might use it to give you a ticket as * he felt * that where the sat nave was positioned on the windscreen was restrictive, if you think about this it could in reality be classed as restricting the drivers view no matter where it was placed on the screen... so if you are stopped don't get the coppers back up.

Basically it is the same as with most laws in Spain, they can be used to suit the authorities and the person who is enforcing the regulation. Many years ago when I first came here there where people 'mostly Brits and Irish' who came over and worked illegally and it was generally always a case of 'if you keep your nose clean they won't bother you', in other words, if you behave and are not cheeky then the law will not be used against you, if you are it will. It is the same with most law in Spain, if it is decided it can be used against you and they want to then they generally can.

I am not saying this because I disapprove (to be honest I don't), only to let those who don't know, that things don't work here as they do in the UK... at least not yet.

I love that phrase so much.