Worth buying a Satnav rather than hiring one?

Heading to NY and boston on Friday and was wondering whether we should buy a sat nav for one week of car rental rather than hiring it with the car? Does anyone have any advice. Will also be heading to spain shortly so would be using satnav there again?

Any pit falls to buying sat nav systems arbroad?

I love mine and wouldn't be without it - super help and gets you where you want to go!! Mines the Tom Tom one Europe, which prob doesn't cover America, but im sure theres a better one that will. Good luck.

I'd say definitely buy one there, but it all depends on what you want to do on this trip and in the future.

A few points:

1) Last summer, the going rate in Eastern Europe for a GPS from a car rental place was €9 per day (which was very high in my view). How much is it going to cost per day in the US to rent?

2) Keep in mind that you will likely need to get both North American and European maps which adds to the cost (map software is very expensive to buy after you make the initial purchase; try to get what you reasonably need when you buy the GPS). If you get North American/European maps. you can then use it in both continents (for example, your upcoming Spanish trip).

3) A GPS with traffic and construction advisory functions is FAR more useful in the US than in Ireland. I took my Garmin to the US last month, and it was telling me that there was a 2 minute traffic jam up head or construction on certain points on my route. That was fabulous....I don't think we have this in the ROI yet.

4) I see no downsides to buying. A couple of more thoughts in this regard: it's generally much cheaper in the US than if you buy it here, you can use it on your trip, and the exchange rate is quite favourable.

indeed . buy it in the US and get all the maps you need on the day. it will pay for itself in no time at all

I'd say buy in the US and you can normally upgrade with European maps via an SD card.
We brought our Euro Garmin with us earlier this month and it was a god send, we had purchased a second hand garmin North american maps on SD card (ebay for around €25) and it worked perfectly. Very handy for planning trips, as it gives you a realistic idea of time frames for driving from A-B, instead of a guesstimate.... For example for one portion of our trip I guessed 2 hours, actual was 3.5h which matched the sat navs timings!
While i was there they were doing a lot of promotion for Fathers day presents of GPS systems, and the main ones mentioned were Garmin and Tom Tom, which would also be the main ones here.
Check out your closest, walmart, k mart, best buy, circuit city when you arrive (advance checking online should give you reasonable idea of actual costs).

mell61 said:

I'd say buy in the US and you can normally upgrade with European maps via an SD card.
We brought our Euro Garmin with us earlier this month and it was a god send, we had purchased a second hand garmin North american maps on SD card (ebay for around €25) and it worked perfectly. Very handy for planning trips, as it gives you a realistic idea of time frames for driving from A-B, instead of a guesstimate.... For example for one portion of our trip I guessed 2 hours, actual was 3.5h which matched the sat navs timings!
While i was there they were doing a lot of promotion for Fathers day presents of GPS systems, and the main ones mentioned were Garmin and Tom Tom, which would also be the main ones here.
Check out your closest, walmart, k mart, best buy, circuit city when you arrive (advance checking online should give you reasonable idea of actual costs).

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I thought the maps you could buy as an upgrade were unit specific. Didn't think you could just buy them from anywhere?
Does that mean you could buy a SD card and put them on it and sell them on?

so anyone any particular siggestions for where to buy in NY or boston?

Order it on amazon now and have it shipped to your hotel in time for your arrival. I do this any time I'm headind to the US.
I was there last week and brought my Tomtom with me. Compared to the garmin I had on my previous visit I found the tomtom much better. The garmin seemed to give instructions when you were nearly past your exit/turn

Order it on amazon now and have it shipped to your hotel in time for your arrival. I do this any time I'm headind to the US.

you buy a sat nav every time?

Thanks for all the advice here folks. I went there and bought one for €180 roughly and it was very useful when travelling around. Has only the US maps but it has an SD slot so I can but the eurpoean ones.

I see from your last post that you have already bought a sat nav. The one we find the best is the Garmin Nuvi770 which is a bit more expensive but has the Europe and the USA maps preloaded on it. They are more expensive but beneficial if you spend a lot of time going back and forth to the States.
Tracy
www.shopusa.ie

Thanks for all the advice here folks. I went there and bought one for €180 roughly and it was very useful when travelling around. Has only the US maps but it has an SD slot so I can but the eurpoean ones.

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Can you tell me A) Where you bought it and B) The make and model ? TIA