dia1

Thinking of getting a Garmin unit for an upcoming trip to western & northern Ireland. Would appreciate input from anyone who has used gps in Ireland regarding the level of detail available, especially for remote areas. Have read that the smaller roads and especially the backroads are not well signposted.

Thanks much.

jpmcdonough

Don't have experience with a GPS in Ireland, but I agree that it would be a good idea to have one. The roads are in fact not well signposted, and it's not limited to the back roads. Getting lost is very, very easy.

We have a Tom-Tom unit which we plan to use over there later this year. It seems to be able to accept some relevant local maps.

I think you can get a GPS in a rental car, but it would need to be an upline car. And of course, what if it doesn't have one, what if it lacks the doc, etc., etc.

MIKESILV

Actually if you go the Garmin website ( i called them and they e-mailed me the link) there is a link which you can get an idea of the detail provided by the Garmin units. Of course if its a area you are not familiar with, you might not get a feel for it.
A friend who building a home in a very small village Spain checked out his neighbourhood usinf the link and said the detail was very good.
I would expect the Ireland maps to equally as good.

mike

alect

I will let you know in 2 weeks - we're leaving on Tue night for a 11 day driving trip in Ireland for which I purchased a Nuvi 370. Have already created custom POIs for the places we want to visit.

We just came back from Palm Springs where we used it for the first time in an uknown place - very happy with it and it really does take the hassle (and time) out of not knowing and/or trying to figure out where to go.

dia1

Would really appreciate your report, alect. The 370 is exactly what I was eyeing. Did you find a 370 in person or order on-line?

sllevin

I'd suggested getting some very good maps. I have a great one and can't recall who made it -- not Ordnance Survey, although those are pretty good.

Using maps, I've not had a problem getting around Ireland, even in the remote regions. The only places a GPS has been useful has been is in the major cities like Belfast and Dublin. Even Cork isn't that bad to get around in.

I'd also disagree with the signposting issue; although, to be honest, I *have* noticed a similarity between an Irish kilometer and an English Mile

Steve

alect

Well we're back. And all I can say is that once you're used to having a GPS, it's hard to go back. We found the nuvi 370 excellent in all respects. It was a liberating experience not to have too worry about signs, which way to turn. Simply select your destination and let the nuvi direct you. I swear we saved hours upon hours (as well as marital breakdown) by navigation being done for us. There were several instances where we drove by other cars obviously tourists, either stopped and lost asking for directions, or stopped and flipping through maps. In the few instances I made a mistake and went the wrong way it doesn't take too long to realize it. On one occasion following the nuvi route we were confronted by a closed road. Simply - press "Detour" and it comes up with another way to get to the destination.

One of the most useful features we found on a driving holiday was the estimated arrival time (and hence estimated trip time) - this allowed us to decide whether to go to a particular destination or to go elsewhere depending on how long we had or wanted to spend. In another instance, we stayed at the Airport Hilton the last night. Having arrived earlier than expected, we decided to go into Dublin. On went nuvi, led us straight to city center, I then clicked on Parking and it took us to the nearest parking structure. it really felt like we were driving around Dublin's one way streets as if we were locals.

There were a coule of instances where the maps were outdated - highways and overpassess where apparently roundabouts used to be (this wasn't really an issue). In another instance there must be a new section of the N6 between Galway and Dublin as nuvi thought we were driving cross-country. Other than that, even when we doubted its recommendations, we were proven wrong.

We even used the unit in pedestrian mode (in Cork and Dublin), and it worked equally well.

So I can highly recommend the Garmin, and 370 particularly. I thought about the 670 with the bigger screen, but the size of the 370 suited me perfectly (anything bigger would obscure more windscreen space) and in pedestrian mode anything bigger would be harder to stow and carry.

alect

Oh BTW - i ordered mine online - happened at the time the best deal was at CompUPlus. But check online comparison engines like pricegrabber at the time you are buying for the best price.

Also note that I have recently been reading up that Garmin is now going back on previously stated policy and providing free upgrades to City Navigator NA NT 2008 for those who buy units with the V8 maps (see gpspassion.com).