GPS,
Ask Engadget: Which GPS rules both North America and Europe?
By Darren Murph 
posted Apr 17th 2008 9:19PM
posted Apr 17th 2008 9:19PM
Yeah, you definitely have our permission to be incredibly envious of someone who is actually going to be motoring about in both Europe and North America on a frequent basis, but in all seriousness, we're betting Sneaker isn't the only chap out there looking for the best GPS for intercontinental travels. "I'm headed to Europe in the near future and will be doing some extensive driving. Thus, I'm wondering which GPS units your readers have found to be effective for cruising on the back-roads of Europe, while still getting the job done in North America as well? Would appreciate some recommendations."
You'll notice a budget is glaringly absent here, so feel free to toss out your recommendations from low-end to princely. Meanwhile, you can beam in a burning question of your own by writing us at ask at engadget dawt com -- who knows, you might find your very own words in this space next week.
Any Garmin Nuvi series.
Not true. Garmin nuvi 270 is the only nuvi in the 200 (economy) series that comes preloaded with Europe and USA. I own it and love it. I use it at home (Italy) and in my hometown (Ohio); works great.
When I saw the title I thought it is a comparison between Galileo and US GPS.
i didnt think that when i read the title but it would be a great idea for an article! guys?
NA - Garmin
Europe - TomTom
I personally liked Garmin better! Just works better!
You know what.. i looked around a bit, and I think you'll be better off just buying a different GPS in each of the two continents. Because if you buy a GPS in NA it'll have North American maps, and European maps cost ~120 USD.
so whats the way to ask a question?
ask at engadget dawt com.
i usually use a compass that you can buy at any army/navy store for 50smackers and a good map from randmcnally. ($5.00 Walmart)
i find my start point and my end point. then, i shoot an azimuth and off i go. using my brain--i rarely get lost.
you did mean GPS as in:
go. plot. survive! right?
That's like... doing math when you have a calculator!
I don't have a GPS or a compass though, I use my Man Instincts.
Reader, is that you, Maddox?
http://www.dan-marc.com/28985.html
SIMRAD HS52 GPS COMPASS SYSTEM
at the low low price of $7,995.00 : P
Where does the azimuth shoot from? Is it like Spiderman's web slinging abilities?
Good for you, acidstorm, as long as you realize that your strategy does not work for 99% of the population. Not only does it not work, but it would be foolhardy.
I lived in Germany for 3 years before I moved back to the States. I have the factory installed GPS for my MINI Cooper S. I think the hardware will be about the same with any unit you use but the data came from NAVTEQ. I had a DVD for all of Europe and another for the United States. Drove in Paris, Rome, Vienna, Amsterdam, Brussels, to and from and never had a problem, never got lost. Come back to the States and had problems in DC / NY / Philly. Data wasn't updated for the US (2007 version).
This is a real cheap way to ask for advice. Shouldn't you use a forum for this kind of thing?
I'd be interested to know what a good GPS entails.
Personally I us TomTom 6 for windows mobile and assuming you have sufficiently large enough memory card or multiple cards or just only load Europe before you take your trip it would work great sort of expensive for both sets of maps but the best solution. If it is going to be a one time trip to Europe you might look into someplace that rents GPS navigators.
I second this. I use TomTom on my Windows Mobile phone. It has worked beautifully both in the US, Canada, France, and Switzerland (with the appropriate maps, of course).
The Garmin nuvi 270, 370 and 770 each have maps for NA & Europe right out of the box. Terrific little devices.
Of course, Garmin, Tom Tom, et al, don't own the map data, they're 'agents' for the companies who collect it, so any (inevitable) errors are theirs.
Not so true anymore. Tom Tom bought Tele Atlas so they do own the maps and the device now. Nokia owns Navteq I think. I love my tom tom here in the usa and have heard they are better in the uk. Tele Atlas has more detailed uk maps and navteq has better us maps I am told. tom tom tele atlas garmin navteq I am told.
TomTom. Have used it in the UK, in France and Italy, East Coast and Midwest US and southern Ontario, never let me down.
I believe Tomtom is more for europe and Garmin is geared towards US. BTW, TomTom has a two hidden Ss, they are right befor the T. It's the word for dumb.
Don't use a tomtom in NYC, it is a major pain
StomStom?
What?
I personally liked TomTom Navigator 6 for palm, i have it for treo 650. Its been very reliable. Now i am starting to like MapThis for my psp.
The way the economy is, it seems few will be able to answer this question.
Wow, didn't see that coming.
Garmin nuvi 770
Garmin nuvi 770
"low-end to princely" ?
Not so true anymore. Tom Tom bought Tele Atlas so they do own the maps and the device now. Nokia owns Navteq I think. I love my tom tom here in the usa and have heard they are better in the uk. Tele Atlas has more detailed uk maps and navteq has better us maps I am told. tom tom tele atlas garmin navteq I am told.
Actually neither TomTom nor Nokia own a map company yet, neither acquisition has been approved and are both looking like they might be shot down because of monopoly restrictions.
Garmins have always worked well for me
TomTom. Hands down.
Its really not that expenisve, and you can stil get full maps, on a large screen, and the voice notices if you really want, but I would advice a laptop mounting gps. You can get any maps you may be needing right on it. Plus with memory in the gigabyte range, theres lots of room to mark locations without changing memory cards. Easy updating, and such as well. Yall being the gadget type, I am sure you will packing a laptop along anyway.
Any recommended brands of gps receivers, and software and maps to go along with it?
I will never type in a hurry again. I am ashamed at my spelling heh.
I use a NavMan for my laptop. I can get map packs from various places and it works with them still, problem is, I think NavMan discontinued producing the laptop attachments. Most the newer ones from the larger more popular companies like Garmin, look lot better than what I have anyway.
The Garmin Gps 18 Deluxe set comes with the sensor, and MapSource® City Navigator® North America DVD, and attaches with usb connection. The City Navigator Europe DvD is 150$ separate, so that is not so cheap. It needs a car lighter plug to run I think, but won't have the bother of batteries. The other one they make is the Garmin Mobile 10 for Laptops, which has a 22 hour rechargeable battery, with bluetooth connection. So if your in a car, and don't plan to be changing in and out of it alot, and its for long trips at a time without rest, and your unsure of just how well the bluetooth would work, I would go for the more rugged Gps 18. For the maps themselves, I have used city navigator before, and never has it been unable to find where I wanted to go, and it gets me there without any unexpected error.
Dido to the Nuvi.
In addition to the US, my 350 has most of the UK; loaded via Metroguide Europe. Had no problems with roundabouts or anything as long as the British voice was selected.
I love my Garmin GPSMAP 60CSx while I am on the trail of tupperware.
My Garmin Nuvi 660 hasn't let me down. Great price and has lots of great features.
It lets me down almost daily. I have never seen a more outdated POI database. Literally half, I'm not kidding, of destinations picked from the POI db ends up not existing. Severely outdated, and apparently it's not something Garmin feels should be updated. I hate those bastards.
Similar requirements lead me to purchase a TomTom 920, which ships with maps for North America and most of Europe. I created custom Points of Interest (POIs) in Google Earth, and transferred them from my PC to the 920. Really slick. The 920T includes real-time traffic, which is a feature I didn't need.
I also have a Garmin etrex HCx handheld, which has slightly different use cases (more for hiking than driving). Thus far I've used the TomTom far more.
Lastly, my HTC PPC-6800 Windows Mobile phone has GPS functionality, too, and I can't say enough good things about Microsoft Live Search mobile. Since Sprint's my carrier, though, it was of limited use in Europe. It's tremendous in the US, however.
TomTom Go910 here, came with product codes for both North America and Europe -- maps update via USB, I believe... I've never tried it, but I may soon, headin to Paris this summer.
It's a little big I guess -- the Nuvi's are pretty... The screen/map quality could be better, and it got me lost in Cincinnati a couple weeks ago..
(me: "but.. I can't u-turn there! There's a wall! Damn you Moneypenny!")
Takes a little getting used to, insists on informing me of a right turn coming up about 1.5km in advance and when you turn (although I'm sure this is common with all GPSs) there's a bit of lag, so if you're at a particularly confusing intersection, it may take you a try or two. Re-calculating routes is top notch though, very useful on roadtrips (Ottawa to Alabama 2 weeks ago, only went crazy in Cincinnati)
I also wish it could tell me where things were, besides gas stations, although that is pretty useful too.
Hope that helps!
It has to be TomTom. I love my GO 720 here in California, and I'm sure they have Europe covered.
In our work we travel a bunch and have even done a trans-continental USA trip (don't mention the rental that got wrecked in Montana when it hit a bear) and have driven most of Europe. You need a good GPS. It is never easy to find one. Firstly it is down to the maps - better maps, better experience. Second, when you get "lost" you need it to help, not give you dumb directions. A lot of the routing is just dumb. We also want good POI support - need to find lunch!
We have a Tom Tom which works excellent in Europe, not so great in the US. That is down to map quality. Also have a Magellan, it sucks, it couldn't find itself let alone a destination, I need to dump it. We have a Garmin handheld and a Nokia N810 with GPS, they are OK - I used the N810 to get around a freeway shutdown today. It is an occasional tool, but satellite acquisition is slooooww .
But when you are doing 100 MPH down the Autobahn. I want that TomTom with me. It is so natural to understand, clear UI, good maps (in Europe) and good routing.
But what do we know. We didn't even get a picture of the bear.
Nuvi 680 took me through Germany, Austria, Switzerland with no problems. Even if you dont have the traffic alert subscription in the United States, it is free in Europe and works great to avoid traffic jams. Also used the German to English dictionary program that is available with the Nuvi.
I've been incredibly impressed with my Navigon GPS system. It's a newer German brand, and it has a more features than the TomTom or Garmin in its price range. I have a Navigon 2100, and it's spectacular. It comes with free traffic updates for life, gets great signal lock, and has an innovative 3-D map display that shows overpass and exit signs, so you stay in the correct lane on those complicated interchanges. Since its a European company, SD card maps for all of Europe are readily available. I got mine on sale for $100.
http://navigonusa.com/
I've had a Garmin 376C for about three years now. I used it to travel the east coast of the US from Florida to Nova Scotia, make two round trips across the US, explored the wilds or Oregon and spent four weeks traveling 2000km on the back roads France in an RV. It has the same problems as everyone else with maps that send you to blocked roads occasionally, but other than that I have found the GPS functionality to be fantastic and the maps to be very accurate. I originally bought it for our boat (charts of the entire Atlantic coast and Great Lakes) but found that we are using it for road travel as well. It's a bit on the expensive side, but I still think it was a great investment.
Must have the Garmin GPSMAP 496 --
Will not only help you on the roads both in NA and Europe, but also the airways and waterways!!
Built in weather and traffic as well...
Whichever one doesn't make buses run into bridges and rivers...
Sorry Chicksta, current GPS technology is not that advanced to take into account human stupidity.