Originally Posted by
ROW2Aisle
I bought the full European version ($299) for my Nuvi 350 and used it extensively in UK, Ireland, France. See the link above from previous poster and select the maps tab. The map worked especially well in UK and Ireland at roundabouts letting me know which exit ( e.g. take exit 3 ) to take out of the roundabout of the several exits.
I've recently used the Garmin Europe maps in the UK, and have been less than impressed with how they handle round-abouts. I'd say in about 10-20% of the cases, when it says 'take the 3rd exit' in the roundabout, th exit count is misleading or just wrong. When counting the exits, one of the exits may not be be a real road or street, something as simple as a short dirt road, or even a parking spot, off the round about gets counted, but on the directional route signs on the approach to the round about (
examples) , no such road is shown. Therefore the exit count that the Garmin maps tell you do not match the pointed-lines radiating out from signs. And if you're driving in unfamiliar territory, you have a few short seconds to decide which exit is correct.
I like Garmin's hardware and software, but the europe maps are not up to the usual high standards. This happened to me again twice this evening on a short 25 mile drive. Maybe it's just the location I'm in, but it seems to be happening too frequently to be a one-time fluke.
One more thing, I'm specifically talking about the City Navigator Europe v9 maps. If you're unfamiliar with Garmin maps, note that these maps come in two slight variations, one being normal, and the second being the "NT" version, as in City Navigator Europe NT v9. You'll want the NT version (no relation to the MS operating system), if you need the features that allow dynamic routing based on traffic and weather conditions. This distinction is not very clear to the uninitiated.