I happen to have a Brit auto that came with a built in GPS navigational
system. I'm sold on 'em. It's saved my bacon many times, not only here in
England, but also while in France and Italy. My particular brand is an
outfit called Navtech, and its headquarters are in Belgium I think. It
needs a different disk for each of the major countries, and each disk runs
around £95.00 GBP. I'm satisfied with its performance all around. I like
that I can set its "voice" to several different languages, and that I can
tell it what gender I want to speak to me; believe me, the "British woman"
that it came with was utterly unintelligible to me; (she had a pronounced
lisp, believe it or not); I had the dealer set it for the "male American"
and it's been fine since.

My sister-in-law happens to be a honcho at another company that makes these
gizmos, Garmin. I've seen her company's system on their yacht, and it's
quite amazing. Impressively detailed. I've not seen their automobile
version however. Anyhow, I understand that their automobile version is
supported by a data disc that covers all of Europe with just one disc,
rather than the numerous ones that NavTech needs. If that's true, then it
would represent a very significant cost difference.

My sister-in-law has offered to lend me a Garmin for our next trip to Europe
by auto, together with the disc. Sorry that I don't have the info as yet to
pass along.

Overall, I'd have to say that my system has increased my enjoyment of
traveling in Europe enormously, as it relieves the stress of driving. Sadly,
my wife is map-challenged. But, my GPs takes the hassle out of, for
example, getting through a large town, with numerous road exchanges. It
tell you, well ahead of time, that a turn off is coming up, and which lane
to get into, etc.

Good luck.

HH



in article , Frank F. Matthews at
wrote on 06/01/2004 4:09 PM:

I would suggest a few issues for you to consider ahead of time. The
first is that you consider just what type of service you desire. At the
low level GPS simply tells you where you are and the direction to a
preset location (your hotel for example). This tends to not be of much
use for me. A second level shows your current location and a map of the
local on a changeable scale. The use of this type depends on the detail
level of the maps and the size of the display. An intermediate variety
let you enter a trip and help you to track your progress on the maps.
Finally the high level systems provide directions from your current
location to an identified address. If you drift off route they will
recompute a path to the destination. They are serious computers with
the associated costs.

Another issue is the cost for the map licenses. This can be significant
for detailed maps and availability can be complicated.

Also consider how much mapping can be loaded without access to a
computer. While systems are coming with more memory and sometimes with
changeable CF or other plug in memory this can be a problem on a
complicated trip.

Good luck. Tell us about the experience when you return.

Jeremy Henderson wrote:

Following a suggestion on this group, I have been looking int the idea of
an in-car GPS to help me navigate beyond my driveway withut getting lost -
a rare occurrence when I venture out armed only with a map, and completely
unkown when my wife volunteers to navigate.

The units I've seen advertisd are the Garmin GPS V Deluxe, the
Garmin Streetpilot III deluxe, and the Streetpilot 2610. see eg
http://navcity.co.uk/catalog/index.php+c_path+7

Does anyone have any experience of driving in Europe with such a gadget,
these models in particular, other recommendations?
cheers, J;