Hpanchmatia:

To reply to your question above about buying European or American versions of the same GPS product (sorry for the delay, I was in Africa for 3 weeks):

First, appreciate that about half the price of any GPSR that comes with street level detail cartography (meaning, a CD that contains detailed map data that you upload to the GPSR) is allocated to the price of the mapping data. You can see this for yourself just by comparing prices on various GPSR's - those that don't come with detailed map data cost between half and a quarter the price of those that come with mapping data.

Garmin does not collect or make the mapping data. They buy it from other companies who specialize in mapping data, and all Garmin does is to compile it in a format that Garmin brand GPSR's can read. It's very similar to buying a computer - IBM makes the hardware and the BIOS, but at least half of what you spend on a computer will be to pay for the software (e.g. Windows operating system, word processor software, etc.).

GPSR's that have routing capabilities and come with CD ROM map data are bundled together as follows: The GPSR will have a basic map burned into it (the basemap), and in the box will be a CD with the detailed maps. You then upload the portions of the detailed maps that you want to use to your GPSR. The North American GPSR's come with a CD containing North American maps, and the European GPSR's come with a CD containing European maps. Likewise, the South African and Australian GPSR's come with South African and Australian basemaps and detail maps, as appropriate.

If you buy a North American GPSR, you get the North American detail map CD, which is useless to you if you plan to ride in Europe. So, now you have to buy (as a stand-alone product) the European CD containing the detail maps. This is very expensive, and will negate any price advantage of buying the kit in America. Plus, you then have a GPSR with the wrong basemap in it.

The bottom line is that it only makes sense to buy the GPSR that comes with the CD containing the detail maps for the region you intend to travel in. In other words, yes, you could buy an American GPSR, and also buy the appropriate map CD for Europe (or South Africa, or Australia) and load it onto a 512 meg chip, and it would work fine (except for the display problem above a certain zoom level) - but doing things that way would be at least as expensive as buying the appropriate region product in the first place, so why bother?

I hope this puts it all in perspective.

PanEuropean

Just a follow-up, something I forgot:

Flying Dutchman notes above in his post that he purchased a Garmin 76 GPSR in America, then loaded European cartography into it for his use in Europe. He's using it for para-gliding purposes, so it's safe to assume he does not need turn by turn autorouting guidance - he's flying through the air, not riding a moto down a road.

He could have sourced and installed his European cartography in one of three ways:

1) Purchased the European "City Select" CD, which supports automatic route creation - this is unlikely, because it is a quite sophisticated and thus far more expensive map product than he needs;

2) Purchased the European "MetroGuide" CD, which shows the same visual detail but does not support the automatic route generation feature (so, this would not be a good answer for anyone except those who do not drive on roads, for example, hikers, sport paragliders, bicycle riders, etc.);

3) Purchased (or perhaps he already had the CD from a previous GPSR) an older cartographic product, such as "Roads & Recreation", which also does not support autorouting, and is now about 6 years out of date. The 6 years out of date part is of no consequence to a sport paraglider, because it is no problem if the latest streets and roads are missing - all he wants to do is identify his postion relative to villages and cities.

So, what Flying Dutchman says is correct, and his answer makes sense - but only if you plan to use the GPSR for paragliding or parachute jumping, and not for street and road navigation.

PanEuropean

[This message has been edited by PanEuropean (edited 05 June 2004).]

Sorry but things still aren't clear. To me anyhow. I have read the detailled posts several times and there seems to be a contradiction. Help me out.

It is said 1., that the map CDs are specific to a particular GPS, that they only work with the GPS they are bundled with. But it is also said that 2., you can buy new CDs (which aren't of your area) in the shops that will work. So I infer that the bought CDs are not specific to a GPS. Yes?

This means that copies, for example, will work.

I have been travelling in the americas with a US-bought Garmin V GPS for a year and now am in Europe. I am looking for a way of saving myself expense and hassle.

Of the course the guy in the shop Totnm Court Road siad "yes yes, it will work fine on your US GPS, just hand over the readies and see". You wont be surprised to hear that I trust the opinions of the good people of the BB just a little more.

Ahhh...tried it. Doesn't work.

The European maps all load to the GPS and are apparent on the screen, but when I ask for a route the box says "no roads near starting point". This is despite there being plenty of roads, right next to the starting point, shown on the display. Hmmm.

As someone who has moved to Europe after being in the US I am a bit miffed that the GPS is useless here. Unfair innit.

Simon

I would add though that the route function does work. So if you work out your route on your PC then load it to the GPS you will have street by street routing. The drawback is that the processing can only be done on the computer. So if you go off the route the GPS cannot recalculate. Similarly, if you want to change your route the GPS cant do it.

The USA GPS shows blank spaces for everywhere outside the american continent. While you can upload a selection of European maps that will display on the GPS screen, if you go out of the map areas the display is blank.

So by using a US GPS in Europe you get maybe 60 per cent of its features. Darn I hate capitalism.

[This message has been edited by Simon Kennedy (edited 10 July 2004).]

Simon:

I can't really answer your above two questions, because I don't really understand what it is you are talking about.

When you get cartography (map CD's) bundled with a GPSR at the time of purchase, you also get an unlock code that allows you to install the cartography on that specific GPSR. The unlock code is tied to the specific serial number of the GPSR that you buy.

You can purchase cartography (map CD's) apart from a GPSR, meaning, you can buy the CD's standalone. But, be aware that not all of the product families support automatic route creation on the GPSR.

When you get CD's with a new Garmin GPSR purchase, they will be either the 'CityNavigator' or 'CitySelect' family, both of which support autorouting on the GPSR, and both of which use the serial number unlock process. You can buy 'MetroGuide' CD's standalone, these do not support autorouting on the GPSR, but they do display the roads, etc. on the screen of the GPSR.

Sounds to me, Simon, like you just pirated a copy of a 'MetroGuide' CD, and installed it on your GPSR, and now can't figure out why it does not support autorouting. Is my guess correct?