Sat Nav in Europe (mainly France)

[LesleyRussell]

We are thinking of investing in a sat nav to be used while holidaying in France (never used one before) and wonder if anyone has any experience / recommendations.

 

[Philip_374349976]

Hi

I bought a Tom Tom several years ago, when I bought it, it said GB and euopean maps, but the euro maps where only main road maps, so I had to buy seperatly street level maps at about

 

[VIP640]

Lesley,

Do not expect the French post codes to be like ours, they cover a much greater area and will often be a number of miles away from the intended destination...

 

[vectisrambler]

In the past we used a TomTom 'GO 700' with full mapping. No problems, other than it did not allow us to navigate to GPS positions, other than ones we had saved. Later we used the system built in to our Audi and that was excellent. Now using the Freelander Satnav and that is also excellent. However, same as at home, these things are moronic and are only aide to navigation and will not replace common sense.

 

[LesleyRussell]

Thanks to all for replies. Probably run it alongside the map reading to be on the safe side.

 

[Jaydug]

For a few years I've used a basic Tomtom One 3rd Edition and I find it very satisfactory both in France and Spain. To find a particular spot in a foreign city I first find the GPS coordinates from Google Earth or Microsoft Autoroute then tap them into Tomtom. Only last week I needed to meet family members at the coach station in Toulouse. Although I've never been there other than on the ring autoroute, Tomtom directed me accurately.

 

[RayS]

If you have a PDA which is GPS enabled you can get a download of Michelin mapping. Being French this is likely to be more up to date than some american based mapping which is somewhat behind the times (to put it politely).

 

[otherclive]

I have a Garmin 1490T which allows you to plot a caravan friendly route from the PC and then download it to the satnav. So if you know your route is okay for a van then it means that I can go on trips alone without having to grab my maps and bullet cards. Although they are never far away in case the satnav should go bonkers. For normal routing into strange towns without the van I just use its own navigating option.