GPS questions????

[zaccy]

Hi All

We have trip planned for Dec/Jan and will have a car for most if not all of our time. We are wanting to purchase a GPS but would love some opinions.

If we purchase one in Australia how do we get USA maps and whats the approx cost of those.

If we purchase one in the USA how do we get Australian maps and what would be the cost of that.

We don't have have a GPS so it would be nice to be able to use the one we purchase for the USA here but if maps and upgrades are too expensive or too much of a hassle would we be better off just getting a cheapie for the USA and not bother about using it here??

We also have the choice of buying one on line in the next few weeks and having a friend who has a work trip to the USA bring it back - my DH likes the idea of this so he has had a chance to play with it prior to our holiday.

Thanks for your help

 

[jacs1234]

I can't answer all your questions but I looked up the price to download current Aussie maps onto my gps the other day and it was $99. I didn't check how much USA maps were but I thought about downloading them and taking them but dh said it's probably cheaper for us just to hire a gps there.
Most come loaded with current maps anyway so if you buy one there it will cost you $99 when you get home to use it here.

 

[ColinA]

Buy one with the US maps already on it, buy it before or when you arrive there.

 

[Caroline NZ]

We have our own TomTom GPS. The latest USA maps we purchased online earlier this year cost around NZ$90 (AU$70). We had a car in the USA for all of our 22 day stay so it made sense to take our own GPS rather than hire. Plus my husband uses it on business trips as well, and it means he is familiar with it.

 

[youcansmellit]

If you can get your self to a Walmart or a Target They have a tomtom for about $50us

 

[Sugarglider]

Do you have a smartphone? That gets you all the maps - no purchase. And it can do the whole direction guidance thing. You can buy an app so that woman shouts at you - or you could just ask your passenger to hold the phone and do the shouting themselves.
Although I'd want a passenger who can do it in a Darth Vader voice.
http://youtu.be/2ljFfL-mL70

 

[shushh]

Both options will work, you will just have to do some homework and work out which one will work out cheaper for the unit that you want.

We ended up buying a Garmin nuvi 1450 from ebay, got it shipped to us for $140. It was preloaded with US maps. I then bought 2011 Australian maps for $40 loaded onto an SD card that I can insert into the unit. If I were to rent the GPS, it would have cost us about $200. The downsides...the Australian maps will not be able to be updated. I am ok with this, I figure this will do us for the next 5 years or so. If I were to buy Australian maps from the Garmin site, they were going to charge me $90!