Hi everyone,

I just got my brand new Swiss driving license and I'm over the moon. Now, for the first time in my life want to get a GPS to start crusing in Europe. I am completely ignorant of what should I look for in a GPS, what is a good brand, where to get one.

I tried to look over the internet, I read a couple of reviews and TOM TOM seems to come out quite often but then even within that brand, there are models and I am not sure what to look for.

Can anyone educate me?

Thanks

TomTom is the best, buy the biggest screen you can afford

Or alternatively: if you have a Windows Mobile phone, put TomTom on that.

I've always had Navman, never had a problem with them. Nice designs as well

Well I think my Navigon is the best... I have a Navigon 2110 max. It cost 288 from Media Markt (saw somewhere later for 229). It has TMC included to guide you around road closures and traffic jams, shows graphics of the motorway exits with the road signs and destinations for each lane etc.
I spent ages researching and trying and decided on the Navigon.

I reckon there are no truly bad ones on the market these days. Go into a shop and play around with a few. Take the one which you like the most.

FWIW I got a Garmin Nuvi 760 and find it great. Works as a phone hands free kit (SMS messages too!), MP3 player, photo viewer, translator and much more.

Thanks a lot for the inputs. very useful. will some of these work only on cars or some I can use also to download hiking trails?

Like the OP I was recently looking to buy a GPS system (to use on rental cars) what I was wondering is: Is it possible to use a road GPS system for hiking? Are there two different sorts of GPS systems (roads and hiking paths)? Or is it just a problem of having the right map installed?

Something that I have also read is that some systems take ages to locate satellites (I read it was worse with TomTom), anyone experienced this problem?

Thanks

Damn 1 minute too slow

I have an older TomTom 710 for 3 years and it's great, no downsides other than it's bulky, but the new one are much slimmer. As Eire said, there aren't really any bad ones anymore, and dependant on the model are bluetooth, MP3, picture viewer, will pick up your SMS... and will even tell you where to go in a variety of voices, I had Master Yoda for ages.

The TT has Car, bike, foot modes, so it's pretty good almost everywhere, but to make best use of it make sure you buy one with European street level mapping. Many budget models only have country specific at street level, the rest is main route only.

Regards sat' finding speeds, my TT is quick, but cars with heated screens etc can slow it up, they must interfere with it somehow.

I've also been thinking about getting a (new) GPS (I already have a marine GPS, a garmin GPS76). I am thinking about the Garmin Zumo 660. The main thing I like about Garmin is that you pay a one-time fee and then all the map updates are free forever (but only for that particular device). So every year you then get updated new maps. I don't think TomTom provides this service.
Second thing to look out for is a SIRF 3 receiver, these are way more sensitive than older types are (I think) can even get a fix indoors.
If you want hiking and driving maybe a Garmin Colorado 400 is the way to go...

The wiring inside the windshield makes your car much more like a 'Faraday's cage' blocking all electromagnetic transmissions. Its a common technique in electronics to block interferance

I've never paid for a map up date yet, and I dock my TT when ever it tells me, which is about every 6 months. It won't pick up a signal indoors, but then if I know my way round my apartment, and if I need to do something I just dock it, and do it via the PC.... or use Via Michelin as I prefer the print out.

Oh, and the US garmin website has all the manuals online, reading the manual is a good way of finding out what a GPS can do

One time I couldn't find my bicycle anymore I had it parked somewhere in Florence (holiday) and wanted to use my GPS to find it again as I had put a waypoint at its location. No reception because of all the buildings .

That's a neat thing I've never done it, but have 'lost' the car in the Metali in Zug more than once, and that would have saved me a lots of frantic wandering. My TT is a little to bulky to carry as it's the original style, and if I put it in my pocket I'd have a bigger lunch box that Linford Christie.

If it's any help, my little TomTom One (which was just about the cheapest one you could get when I bought it, at £150) is still going strong after 2 years, inspite of being dropped and bashe around plenty! It's directions are good, and it's very rarely wrong (occasionally get confused about roads with restricted access at certain times of the day though).

This is not true about Garmin map updates. You get one free update with your device and then you have to pay for them after that. If tom tom still do free updates then that is a plus point for them. I have the European map 2009 on my Garmin and to update to 2010 I theoretically should pay for it.

Also, there is no way any GPS can get a fix indoors it needs a clear line of sight to the satellites for it to function. Your only options for a fix indoors are connecting the device to an antenna that is outdoors, or getting a very VERY sketchy fix through telephone masts with aGPS.
I dare say all manufacturers have their manuals online.

I've been using GPS for over 15 years now. Almost since the very start. When you see the technology on even the basic devices today it would not have been believebale back then. This was when selective availalability was still turned on (position accuracy reduced to +/- 100m by the american military). I was once in a moored boat in clear view of the sky from all angles and our position on the plotter would change from one side of the river to the middle of a forest on the other side! A few years later I was on a government survey ship which had dGPS (Differential GPS) this system would radio back to a point of known coordinates which could then calculate the difference between the GPS location and the actual location. It would then radio this difference back to the device on board the ship which could plot a relativley accurate position. Back then this was hugely expensive. Now my phone (not iPhone) will give me a more accurate position then that system would have!

My point is. Any high sensitivity GPS chip will have similar performace capacities and similar problems. The device which anyone chooses will ultimately come down to personal preference. I chose Garmin because it seemed the most practical for me, but also because I had used them in the past in marine applications and then had found them to be good.

I'm not overly technical, so I chose TT after talking to a friend who was a manager for Avis and was responsible for trialing portable satnav for rental with thier cars. They took 100 devices from TT, Garmin, Navman and another, TT was the only one with no failures and got the best score in the feedback survey for ease of use, functionality etc. So I got a TT and have never regretted it, but that was nearly 4 years ago.

Gotcha!

Got a TT one Europe about 3 years ago and have uploaded the Australian and North American maps on it. Never had a problem.

I didn't want to spend too much money on it because I always thought that the next car we buy was going to have its own SatNav system.

So got a new car end of last year but the SatNav, which costs almost Fr.3000 is absolutely rubbish. Much prefer my old Tom Tom. On top of that the updates costs Fr.300 a pop, which is about 10x more than the Tom Tom updates!