GPS in the USA

[Oz-kateer]

Has anyone taken their Aust GPS to the US?

How were the downloadable US maps? Reliable?

What brand/model did you take? Any recharging issues?

Or should we wait till we get there, rent one from the car rental company, and hope to goodness we can make sense of how to use it?

Or rely on good old paper maps like the old days?

The last couple of times I've driven in the US I've used regular maps but had no kids in tow and only drove mainly during daylight (only times I drove at night were on routes I was alreday familar with). This trip will have kids in the car and will NEED to drive unfamiliar routes at night so will need all the help I can get.

Has anyone ever used a GPS at WDW? Am renting in LA and am ok driving there but how good is it inside WDW and around Orlando? Will have a car for 3 days of the 12 we are there, and want to take advantage of going off campus to do some shopping, maybe go out to NASA.

 

[ColB]

I took my TOM TOM XL there last month with a US downloaded map off the TOM TOM website.

I used it in LA, Vegas and Arizona and WDW to Kennedy Space Center.

It worked perfectly, I charged it both in the hotel and kept it plugged in the car.

I pre loaded it with all our destinations, restaurants, car rental places, hotels, tourist things, even our beverly hills tour of homes.

WDW it worked perfectly

I highly recommend bringing your own.

 

[AussiePJ]

I travel for work a lot and got a TomTom with preloaded US and Europe maps.

Used it in Italy, New York, California, Arizona, New Jersey and Nevada.

 

[Oz-kateer]

Thanks! I have a Tom Tom - was trying to cut down on the amount of electronic/rechargeable stuff on this trip but I think it's a losing battle - the camera, the camcorder, the Nintendo, the mobile phone(s), now the Tom Tom.... the kaptop DEFINITELY stays behind. I don't want work emailing me. And they will.

 

[ColB]

I know what you mean, I had an entire backpack dedicated to Electronics.

Video, Laptop, GPS, Phones, Chargers, Inverter, Adaptor, Powerboards.....The list goes on.

Buy those coloured velcro cable tidys from Big W or Kmart to keep the cables out of the way and compact. They were brilliant.

 

[Jade+3]

We brought a Tom Tom in America as there was not enough memory on ours to load the maps.

The only incident we had with it was in Orlando. We were going to Animal Kingdom and Tom Tom took us into the staff car park, which was also used for the buses and car park trams. We realised we were going the wrong way but there was nowhere to turn around. They had to let us into the staff car park as that was the only way out.

Another tip for Orlando is there is a toll road (turnpike, I think), and it would always ask us if we wanted to avoid the tolls. I wish I had a map so I could look at the different routes as in some cases I think we would have been better off taking the toll road. Only reason we didn't is that we rarely had much change on us.

 

[darren123]

Has anyone taken their Aust GPS to the US? Yes

How were the downloadable US maps? Reliable? Good brought of the TomTom site and Yes never had any trouble
What brand/model did you take? Any recharging issues? TomTom XL No use the cig lighter in the hire car I had the GPS fully charged before we left Australia and did take a few minutes to find where we are
Or should we wait till we get there, rent one from the car rental company, and hope to goodness we can make sense of how to use it? No because I have heard from friends that they can break down and not work you do not want to be in the middle of nowhere and the thing to stop working atleast with your own you know how to use it
Or rely on good old paper maps like the old days? Risk an argument no way you are on holidays
The last couple of times I've driven in the US I've used regular maps but had no kids in tow and only drove mainly during daylight (only times I drove at night were on routes I was alreday familar with). This trip will have kids in the car and will NEED to drive unfamiliar routes at night so will need all the help I can get. Just remember not to creep over to the right as I do wife keeps telling me keep left but after a day I am good no drifting into the other lane I am left handed and for some reason I am really good at knowing my way around it just feels so natural to me and confuses the dickens out of the wife and she is right handed
Has anyone ever used a GPS at WDW? Am renting in LA and am ok driving there but how good is it inside WDW and around Orlando? Will have a car for 3 days of the 12 we are there, and want to take advantage of going off campus to do some shopping, maybe go out to NASA. No sorry

Hope this helps enjoy your holiday

 

[awesomebrownfamily]

We are buying a GPS when we get to the USA. We’ve go one back here in Oz (Garmin) which is really great, but it only has local maps.

I checked on the Garmin website for USA maps, and then called Garmin as I thought I must be reading the site wrong…but no, new maps for the US…$190.00

So I had a look hiring one from National (our hire car provider)…that worked out to about $140.00

As it turns out I can buy something like a tom-tom or another garmin for about $100.00 from best-buy or target….so once we pick up our car our first stop is the Westfield mall in Culver City on the way to Santa Monica…. We’ll also grab a couple of pre-paid phones from the same place ($20-$30 each).

 

[darren123]

We are buying a GPS when we get to the USA. We’ve go one back here in Oz (Garmin) which is really great, but it only has local maps.

I checked on the Garmin website for USA maps, and then called Garmin as I thought I must be reading the site wrong…but no, new maps for the US…$190.00

So I had a look hiring one from National (our hire car provider)…that worked out to about $140.00

As it turns out I can buy something like a tom-tom or another garmin for about $100.00 from best-buy or target….so once we pick up our car our first stop is the Westfield mall in Culver City on the way to Santa Monica…. We’ll also grab a couple of pre-paid phones from the same place ($20-$30 each).

Question for you what will you do with the GPS when you get back home, Will you buy Australian Maps for it or just keep it for your USA Holidays.

 

[kylieh]

Question for you what will you do with the GPS when you get back home, Will you buy Australian Maps for it or just keep it for your USA Holidays.

Thanks for this thread - we were only having this conversation this morning.

We have a Navman which is 3 or so years old now, so we're about to update. DH and I were going to purchase a Tom Tom in the next day or two, then purchase the US maps depending on how much memory is on board. If not purchasing one in the US. But I hadn't thought of waiting to we are in the US and purchasing there then buying the Australian maps.

Has anybody priced that out yet? I'm wondering though if the US accent would get to me after a while!!!!

 

[darren123]

Thanks for this thread - we were only having this conversation this morning.

We have a Navman which is 3 or so years old now, so we're about to update. DH and I were going to purchase a Tom Tom in the next day or two, then purchase the US maps depending on how much memory is on board. If not purchasing one in the US. But I hadn't thought of waiting to we are in the US and purchasing there then buying the Australian maps.

Has anybody priced that out yet? I'm wondering though if the US accent would get to me after a while!!!!

I switched mine from the Australian voice to the American voice but change it back because I was so used to the Australian voice.

It would be most likely be cheaper to purchase the GPS in the States then add the Australian maps you would be able to add the Australian voice especially with the TomTom.

 

[Jade+3]

Thanks for this thread - we were only having this conversation this morning.

We have a Navman which is 3 or so years old now, so we're about to update. DH and I were going to purchase a Tom Tom in the next day or two, then purchase the US maps depending on how much memory is on board. If not purchasing one in the US. But I hadn't thought of waiting to we are in the US and purchasing there then buying the Australian maps.

Has anybody priced that out yet? I'm wondering though if the US accent would get to me after a while!!!!

I can't remember exactly how much I paid for the GPS, But it wasn't much over $100. It will be around another $100 for the Australian maps. There is not enough memory for both US and Australia, but we did not buy it with the intention of using it back here. For us, buying was the cheapest option as we were renting a car for a month. I brought it from Best Buy at El Segundo, which is close to LAX. I printed out the driving directions from National to Best Buy and took that with us.

 

[awesomebrownfamily]

Question for you what will you do with the GPS when you get back home, Will you buy Australian Maps for it or just keep it for your USA Holidays.

Not too sure at this stage…to be honest I could just throw it in the bin at the end of the trip and I’d still be in front financially, over the hire option…..

What we actually do with it will depend on 3 key factors…

• How much it would cost to buy the Aus maps
• When our next trip to the US is likely to happen (given this our first we may not want to go again)
• If the new GPS has any cool new features that our old unit doesn’t have…

One option I’d given some thought to was simply to sell it to someone else going to the US once we get back…maybe on ebay or something. Even if I only get half what I paid for it, it would still be a cheap option.

 

[darren123]

agreed

 

[kylieh]

One option I’d given some thought to was simply to sell it to someone else going to the US once we get back…maybe on ebay or something. Even if I only get half what I paid for it, it would still be a cheap option.

I could take you up on this - I'd be happy to buy it from you, "rent"it for a month and return it, whatever!

 

[awesomebrownfamily]

I could take you up on this - I'd be happy to buy it from you, "rent"it for a month and return it, whatever!

Sure thing...If we decide not to hang onto it you can have first right of refusal if you like........we’ll post something up about it once we get back….

 

[kylieh]

Sure thing...If we decide not to hang onto it you can have first right of refusal if you like........we’ll post something up about it once we get back….

Just an update - we ended up purchasing our new GPS tonight. We got a Tom Tom GO 950 which has Oz, NZ, US, and European maps. It was around $550 at Ryda. We were going to buy a new Navman, and for the features that we wanted plus then buying the US maps it worked out pretty much break even just to have the one device. But we're also thinking of popping over to Auckland later this year so we will end up in front.

My favourite feature - you can set a warning/reminder for when you are driving on the other side of the road. It lets you know. Haven't got to test it yet thought.