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Zumbruk
Original Poster
4,564 posts
129 months
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What's the best (cheapest!) way to get a SatNav for an upcoming trip to the USA? The options as I see it are;
- Rent one (several people in the UK do this)
- Buy one on an American site (ebay.com/amazon.com) and have it delivered to where we're staying (with relatives). This has the advantage I can donate it to the people we're staying with when we leave - they don't own one.
- Buy USA maps here - I have a TomTom OneXL which I guess I can get US maps on SD card for?
I'd prefer a TomTom since I already understand the UI. I also want to spend as little money as possible - chances are we'll never use this again.
Can you copy the SD cards? I've read that the satnav customises the card so you can't resell it - I could always make a copy first.
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Freakuk
475 posts
20 months
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Car rental companies in the US will offer you one also
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Zumbruk
Original Poster
4,564 posts
129 months
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Freakuk said: Car rental companies in the US will offer you one also We'll be using my relative's car ...
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marting
63 posts
43 months
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I did option three a few years back, worked out fairly cheap iirc (as I only bought maps for a given state/area)
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Zumbruk
Original Poster
4,564 posts
129 months
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marting said: I did option three a few years back, worked out fairly cheap iirc (as I only bought maps for a given state/area) Any suggestions as to a good place to look for them? I've looked on Amazon (UK & US) and eBay (UK & US) without much success.
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mudster
236 posts
113 months
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I used NavFree on the iPhone. Free app and it's all stored on the phone so no data charges. Stored all the hotels as favourite destinations before setting off. Worked a treat.
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matts4
498 posts
60 months
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I just bought one on eBay (£40)for my trip last month. (was a UK seller)
I used it for the 3 weeks I needed it and just sold it for the same amount on eBay yesterday.
I could have purchased a brand new one in the States for around $70, but this would have meant me not having it from the off at San Fran airport, and after a 11 hr flight with two kids under 7, I didnt want the hassle of paper maps, to find my way to the hotel in Fishermans Wharf.
There are quite a few on eBay, mostly being sold by people who did the same as me.
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Deva Link
26,879 posts
114 months
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matts4 said: I could have purchased a brand new one in the States for around $70, I was surprised that a Walmart I called in to in Florida didn't have any sat-navs at all. One of the assts said people don't buy them any more?
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matts4
498 posts
60 months
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Deva Link said: I was surprised that a Walmart I called in to in Florida didn't have any sat-navs at all. One of the assts said people don't buy them any more? There were plenty for sale in smaller electrical shops down the west coast. Maybe Walmart have kicked the arse out of the market so much, they've now given up stocking them.
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Deva Link
26,879 posts
114 months
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mudster said: I used NavFree on the iPhone. Free app and it's all stored on the phone so no data charges. Stored all the hotels as favourite destinations before setting off. Worked a treat. Apparently iOS6, which I guess will be here in a few days, includes TomTom based sat nav.
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bad company
1,866 posts
135 months
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Deva Link said: Apparently iOS6, which I guess will be here in a few days, includes TomTom based sat nav. iOS6 seems to have some problems so not a good solution imo. Is it possible to buy a Garmin or Tom Tom with Europe and USA maps?
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marting
63 posts
43 months
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Zumbruk said: Any suggestions as to a good place to look for them? I've looked on Amazon (UK & US) and eBay (UK & US) without much success. Tomtom sell them direct, have a look on their site. There are a few satnav forums about too.
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Fas1975
564 posts
33 months
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Buy one. Ridiculously cheap. I bought one for USA / Canada for $60.
When do you need it? And how long for? I don't mind lending if you need it though it's a Garmin, but simple simple to use
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SixtySpeedTwin
221 posts
21 months
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Just download the map from tom tom to your PC, its cheap at about £35 and save it onto a SD card. Then just pop it into into the unit and swap maps from the set up menu. it works just like over here and can even remind you to drive on the right  they do call roundabout rotarys though which is novel. our maps served us well on some big tours and gives you the confidence to explore a bit more.
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nutsytvr
145 posts
67 months
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I have a tomtom xl live, which doesn't have an sd card. However I have found it very easy to swap maps using TT home. Save Europe to computer, then remove it from device.
Purchase & download USA map £35.00. Open a bottle while download does its stuff - a fairly lenghty process - may need 2 bottles. Stagger back to PC. USA downloaded and installed!.
To reverse the process, you will find that the download saved the USA map to your PC, so simply remove it from device and reinstall europe whilst consumimg another bottle.
Simples.
Nutsytvr
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big_boz
1,390 posts
76 months
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I got a 2nd hand TomTom on e-bay delivered to my Hotel in San fran last year in anticipation of needing it to get from Sanfran-calistoga-yosemite-death valey-vegas, then Miami-St petersberg.
Complete waste of money, only used it once or twice and even then i could have managed without. I just ended up stopping in at places with free wifi and going on my phone and downloading maps to use offline if i got stuck.
If i was doing in now, i would take my Nexus 7 and do the same as it has offline Google maps, you just need to be in a free wifi zone (golden arches/starbucks/KFC bsically all over the place) to download the maps to the device, although you can store 1000sq Miles in one go.
The only saving grace was i sold the TomTom to a friend of a friend in Florida who happened to be after one, so i didnt loose the $100 i paid for it.
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