Advice please - what satnav for USA holiday?

[BIGDAI]

Complete satnav numpty here - I have a 3 or 4 year old TomTom One which does everything I want in the UK - i.e. tells me nice & clearly which driection to turn & when I'm there.
I'm off to the USA in a couple of months for a 4 week holiday touring Colorado, South Dakota, Wyoming & Utah and apparently I can't have USA maps added (TomTom site says they are not available for this model).
Soooooooo - what do I do? Hire a satnav when I get there or buy a new one here with USA maps on it?
If the latter what make/model do I buy - bearing in mind I don't want to spend a fortune.
Any advice appreciated.
Thanks

[Magic919]

We used a Tomtom 910 there a whle back and it was great. Have swapped to a Tomtom 1005 World recently.

[briang9]

My car has in built satnav so when we went to America I hired one here in the UK, (Google Satnaveasy), they get it to you a couple of days before you leave and you get a similar time to return it when you get back, came with pre-requested maps preloaded, and was cheaper than the cost of hiring from the car rental co on the US but we were only on a two week break so the hire cost for your longer trip might not be cost effective and may make buying a newer model cheaper, but if you intend to travel to US frequently might be better to buy one you can load US maps to anyway

cheers

Edited by briang9 on Thursday 28th March 22:02

[Crafty_]

I've used a garmin in California, it was hired from the same place as the car. Worked fine apart from one particular junction, where it told us to turn left and then changed its mind just after we made the turn and asked for a U-turn.
It was a junction we used a few times so learnt to ignore what it said !

I'd check with the car hire company.

[DennisCooper]

Hi,

A number of options

1. Buy a TomTom standalone which has UK maps and USA or North American maps included
2. Search out which UK TomTom standalone models can be updated with USA/NA maps and find one off ebay and then update it
3. Use the TomTom software app on your smartphone
4. The 3 options above, but from Garmin
5. GPS software on your smartphone - Route 66, Co-Pilot Live, TomTom, Garmin etc etc.
6. Renting a car in the US that has a GPS unit built in

Perhaps a few other choices like freeby satnav software as 'apps' from Apple or Google Play.

Cheers, Dennis!

[SimonOcean]

Hi. I was in Los Angeles last fall and hired a few cars from Hertz LAX. Although I did not pay any satnav fee, all of the cars had a very good Hertz badged unit in the car which was active. If you hire from Hertz LAX I expect you would be as lucky, and maybe too if you rented from another large Hertz office.

If you don't want to take the risk of finding satnav already installed, my plan B would be to use my iPhone. I have a iPhone 5 with OS 6. T-mobile offer very competitive contracts which allow you unlimited calls, unlimited international and data use for a fixed fee and a 1 month contract. T-mobile's reception is not the best, but this could be an alternative to buying a satnav unit. Something to bear in mind.

Have a nice trip.

[blaineuk]

YHM

[sykes]

I've been looking at the same issue, but without owning my own kit in the first place.

I've decided to buy a new SatNav when I'm out there and bring it home. A TomTom that costs £130 here is around $90 (£60ish) state-side, so even once I add the UK maps when I get home (around £35) it'll be a good saving.

Looked at renting - more expensive than buying new over 20 days. Put-off iPhone apps by California's recent outlawing of the technology.

[BIGDAI]

Apologies for the delay in replying - haven't been well.

BlaineUK - didn't get your mail but thanks anyway.

Well I've bought a Tomtom Via 130 today - hopefully will have a bit of time tomorrow to set it up & order the USA maps for it.

Thanks to everyone for your thoughts & advice.

[Supernova190188]

I went to Canada and USA end of last year, I bought a new tom-tom off anerican eBay as it was cheaper and then sold it on eBay here for not far off the same money, worked out as a cheap way of doing it.

[matsoc]

Given the duration of the trip I recommend you to buy one once you get there. I did this in 2011 summer. The hire cost was fairly high and anyway I was probably going to visit US again shortly.
I landed in LA, I got a basic TOM TOM for $99 plus some taxes in the not far Best Buy in Culver city. Before leaving from home I checked online that there was an offer but if not at Best Buy you certainly should be able to find some kind of offer in a Wal Mart or something like that, just check their sites.

I don't recall the TOM TOM model but I can check at home even if now there will be something newer for sure. Anyway it worked perfectly, better than the Garmin I got at the time at home with European maps, that I paid €249 in 2010. It guided me in 3weeks California trip without any error in maps or directions. And it was a wise choice because I returned to US twice since then and I used it again.