Sat Nav Hire/Purchase in the USA

[TomE]

I'm off on honeymoon on Friday, we are flying into San Francisco, hiring a car and driving down to LA and then across to LV.

I just had to ring Hertz to change the drop off location for the car in LV, and whilst I was on I asked about the cost of hiring a Sat Nav to which the nice lady at the other end replied "Unfortunately Fishermans Wharf don't do portable sat navs"

So.... does anyone know my options? Is there anywhere anyone can recommend to buy one in San Fran? We'll be in San Fran for 3 days before we pick up the car, so I will have chance to nip into a shop during that time. Presumably the alternative would be to take a built in sat nav, but that would limit me on the type of car its attached to!!


Also, does anyone who is travelling to the US later int he year wan to buy a cheap US sat nav off me when I'm done with it?!

[TomE]

Thanks alot for all the reply's!

Alex said:

What sort of phone do you have? Co-pilot Live USA with North America maps is £15 on Android and iPhone.

I've used a sat nav on the iphone before (albeit a free one), but I found that it took quite a while to update my location and so I had sometimes missed the turning I was supposed to take!

Roo said:

Union Square will have somewhere to buy one, or find the nearest Wal Mart.

I've had a look and there don't seem to be any Wal marts near the centre of SF, they all seem to be in the outlying areas on the other side of the bay. I'll definitely have a look at Union Square though.

bigandclever said:

I wonder whether the problem is more related to the different pick-up / drop-off points?

Nail - Head I reckon, especially because I’m going out of State.

h0b0 said:

California have updated their laws on GPS,

So does this mean I can attach it to the windscreen then? I would normally put it in the bottom right hand corner of the screen in the UK, would I be OK doing the opposite in the US? If not I'll have to pick up one of these bean bag jobbies.

I think the route I'll go down initially is buying one from Amazon.com and getting it delivered to the hotel we are staying at. The seem to have some for $60-$70 so that doesn't seem too bad! Anyone have any experience of Tom Tom ONE 130?!

I have no real use for it back in the UK and I know this road trip is quite a popular route too, so if anyone has a journey coming up and they would like to buy a cheapo Sat Nav off me when I'm done with it then let me know! It could become the PH US Roadtrip Sat Nav, with customised points of interest.

cjs said:

I've driven many times in the US, it is very difficult to get lost, just buy a good map.

Norbury90 said:

Buy a map you donkey! You surely don't require a sat nav?

I'd be quite happy with just a map (I got all the way to Mongolia from London with rubbish maps) but I'll be driving and Mrs TomE will end up being navigator, so $60 is money well spent I think.... at least for the sake of my fledgeling marriage.

P.s. Norbs - I've been away with work over in the Middle East for the last month and I prob won't get chance before I go away again either, pass on my hello's though! I'll be on as soon as I'm back to kick your ass.

[TomE]

Right thanks again you lot, I think I'll be finding my nearest best buy or ordering from amazon with next day delivery, whichever I can get cheaper!

Presumably TomTom's work straight out of the box? I dont need to register it online or anythign do I? I realise that it may need to do a map update though.