One example is if you learn the area you’re visiting doesn’t get good cell service or you don’t want to rely on offline maps. Is Your Smartphone and a Dedicated Device the Best GPS for Europe? When is a Dedicated GPS Navigation Device the Best GPS for EuropeĮven with the improvement smartphone navigation, there are still a few instances when a dedicated GPS device is a must-have rather than a preference when navigating in Europe. Before buying additional maps, just make sure they’re detailed enough for the areas you plan to visit. Garmin charges $100 for all of Europe and TomTom offers the map for about $50.
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If you have a portable dedicated GPS device but your maps are limited to the U.S., it will cost you $50 – $100 to get maps for Europe, depending on the number of countries and the device. Users largely prefer one brand over the other based on familiarity, so the users of each claim their own device as the best.
Garmin has traditionally been the most popular, but Tom Tom’s market share has increased due to its more affordable offerings. Rental car companies use different GPS systems with different amenities, so look at what’s available at the company you’re considering renting from.Ī number of manufacturers make portable GPS devices, but the major makers are Garmin, TomTom and Magellan. In car navigation systems are available in most European car rentals and typically costs between $10-12 extra a day to rent (although some budget rental cars provide portable GPS devices instead of in-car GPS). When navigating a rental car abroad, there are usually two types of dedicated GPS navigation: those that are already installed in a rental car and portable devices. As you zoom out, you’ll lose details such as street names, and you won’t be able to search for locations unless they’ve already been stored in your phone’s memory. You’ll probably also see a detailed area in your immediate vicinity because your phone has already stored (or “cached”) the map around you in its memory. That’s why if you turn your phone to airplane mode right now and press the compass icon in Google Maps to show your location, you’ll still see the blue navigation dot. If you already have a map downloaded on your phone, you don’t need an internet connection to show your location on that map. But that’s changing as smartphone applications are perfecting offline maps ( learn more about offline maps).
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The biggest difference between smartphones and a dedicated GPS device is that a smartphone needs an internet connection to download a map while a GPS device has pre-downloaded maps, so it can operate without the internet. What Are Your Navigation Options For GPS for Europe? Using Smartphone GPS in Europe But GPS data is raw, so you need a smartphone application like Google Maps or your dedicated GPS device like a Garmin to process the data and show it on a map.
Anyone can get a GPS signal so long as the path between the GPS receiver and the sky isn’t disrupted by things like dense trees or heavy metal (e.g., the inner depths of a big building). This guide to GPS for Europe is your answer! It walks you through whether to use your smartphone, in-car GPS or a portable dedicated GPS device, including the pros and cons of each and what each means for your cellular data, memory and battery life.īefore we get to your options for GPS in Europe, we want to make sure that everyone understands that you don’t need an internet connection to get GPS. You’ll be driving on an upcoming trip to Europe and don’t want to rely on paper maps.
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