overseas travel

[jsvos]

Hello! My husband and I are planning a European trip by shipping our Harley's to your fabulous country. Since it is Christmas, I have been researching different GPS options for a gift for my husband. Question is this: When purchasing a GPS in Canada, it seems that the only maps that are already stored are for North America. How do I go about getting the proper maps, especially for outlying areas, of Western Europe? And which GPS system would be the best for this?

[Jaws100]

Hi Jsvos,
Your best option in my opinion would be the Garmin Zumo 550. It comes ready to fit to a motorcycle and includes fittings for car use as well. You didn't specify which country or countries you were planning to visit in Europe. On your Canadian side I really don't know as the units sold on your side of the pond would have North America pre-loaded. You can purchase MapSource City Navigator NT Europe v9.0 for Europe and load it to the unit as an extra map set. I believe a newer version V10 mapsource for Europe is due out in the new year. Hope this is of help to you.

Anyway, have a look at the web site below to give you an idea of what you are looking for.

http://www.mysatnav.ie/garmin-zumo-550

[jsvos]

Thanks for your quick reply. We hope to travel for 3 - 4 months all over the UK, Ireland and Western Europe. Do you know if the maps that are pre installed for Europe contain any information on campsites and/or hostel/hotels?

[Jaws100]

Originally Posted by jsvos

Thanks for your quick reply. We hope to travel for 3 - 4 months all over the UK, Ireland and Western Europe. Do you know if the maps that are pre installed for Europe contain any information on campsites and/or hostel/hotels?

The maps pre-installed for Europe contain information for hotels (limited) upper end mostly, no campsites I'm afraid.

[Jaws100]

Originally Posted by jsvos

Thanks for your quick reply. We hope to travel for 3 - 4 months all over the UK, Ireland and Western Europe. Do you know if the maps that are pre installed for Europe contain any information on campsites and/or hostel/hotels?

Pm'd you
Cheers John

[davidr]

Hi,

Zumo 550 a good recommendation, but watch out as Garmin are restricting the license for City Navigator v9 now (no one seems to know why exactly)

More info here:

No more new unlock codes for City Navigator Europe v9 Available!

However, you might need to check with Garmin as if you are an existing customer (i.e. with a US or Canada version of MapSource) they might have a solution for you.

Suggest you might want to contact Garmin before shelling out cash though.

HTH,

David

[HMR]

No big deal. Garmin stops new sales of upgrades to the current map version every fall. Typically soemetime in September-November. For upgrades you must wait for the next version - City Navigator Europe 2008.

If you buy a map on DVD today (V9) you will get an Unlock Code with the DVD so nothing stops you from using it. But you will not be able to upgrade it before version 2008 becomes available in January.

Edit: Hmmm - I realize now that you plan to buy a separate map on DVD. Then the Unlock Code must be retrieved from www.garmin.com. And that's not possible at the moment. Since there are a lot of shops out there selling maps I assume Garmin have a solution somwhere. Sending Unit Id + Cupon Code by e-mail to support@garmin.com may do the trick.