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Recommend sat nav for Canada


Big Al
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I'm going to be in Canada soon and I will be driving. I've avoided sat nav up until now but will have to relent now I fear.

If I'm getting one, I'd like one for UK AND IRELAND with Canada thrown in too. I'm not even sure if this is possible! 

Could anyone who knows about these things  (and I fear it may be everyone but me!) recommend at sat nav unit that

A - doesn't break the bank

B- Works well in UK Ireland and Canada

C - Is easy enough to use.

Thanks in advance. As you may be able to tell, I am Totally ignorant of these things.

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18 minutes ago, TIGHTCHOKE said:

It may well be easier and more economical to either buy one when you arrive in Canada, or hire one with your rental vehicle.

When you have got used to it, buy another of the same brand when back home.

TomTom are great, reasonably priced and relatively simple to use.

Thanks for that.

I've been looking online and it seems to be very geographical - buy in Europe and that's what you get. Buy in N. America that's what you get.

Is it even possible to get both?

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I have a sat nav for USA and Canada that I bought in Walmart.Its a Tomtom and it cost about $100. Don't call them a satnav they call them a GPS, Ones that cover over there and over here combined are more than double the price so best to buy two separate but identical ones. Find out from Walmart website what they are selling then get the same here.

You stand no chance of getting one over there that will cover Europe as well, there is no market for it. If you want a dual purpose one you will have to buy one here before you go. 

Either way get some good satnav practice first before you go. You don't want to start completely from scratch when you arrive  

Renting one from the car hire places is usually  around $15 a day so it depends how long you are staying. But they just hand you a satnav, they assume you know how to use it

Edited by Vince Green
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Do you really need a Sat Nav? I have a Tom Tom Go with all of the worlds countries on disc, not cheap, and never use it.

If you have a mobile phone just down load Google maps on to it. When you get to Canada, switch the phone off then on again, the phone will automatically download the maps of the country you are in. Job done!. Only discovered this by accident when we went to Spain earlier this year and couldn't understand why all the maps were GB, exploratory reboot, sorted!

You still get all of the routing options and peripheral stuff like ATM`s garages, supermarkets etc.

Edited by Flyboy1950
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29 minutes ago, Flyboy1950 said:

Do you really need a Sat Nav? I have a Tom Tom Go with all of the worlds countries on disc, not cheap, and never use it.

If you have a mobile phone just down load Google maps on to it. When you get to Canada, switch the phone off then on again, the phone will automatically download the maps of the country you are in. Job done!. Only discovered this by accident when we went to Spain earlier this year and couldn't understand why all the maps were GB, exploratory reboot, sorted!

You still get all of the routing options and peripheral stuff like ATM`s garages, supermarkets etc.

The only danger with using your phone over there on google maps is the data charges can be steep. When we go to usa we turn off data on our phones

Edited by Vince Green
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2 minutes ago, Vince Green said:

The only problem with using your phone over there on google maps is the data charges can be steep. 

Would it be cheaper to buy a local Pay as you go Sim Card? or better yet, borrow a sat nav from a mate who has the facility to put the North American maps on it prior to going.

 

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3 hours ago, Vince Green said:

I have a sat nav for USA and Canada that I bought in Walmart.Its a Tomtom and it cost about $100. Don't call them a satnav they call them a GPS, Ones that cover over there and over here combined are more than double the price so best to buy two separate but identical ones. Find out from Walmart website what they are selling then get the same here.

You stand no chance of getting one over there that will cover Europe as well, there is no market for it. If you want a dual purpose one you will have to buy one here before you go. 

Either way get some good satnav practice first before you go. You don't want to start completely from scratch when you arrive  

Renting one from the car hire places is usually  around $15 a day so it depends how long you are staying. But they just hand you a satnav, they assume you know how to use it

I did exactly the same as Vince,  Once you get over there pop into Walmart you can pick a GPS (sat nav) dirt cheap don’t hire one from car rental works out cheaper to buy one & when you get home if you are not going to go to the USA or Canada again bung it on EBay. Or if you are a scammer use the GPS to find a Walmart on the way back to the Airport to return home & return the GPS for a refund LOL 

Edited by blackbird
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When I went I used Navmii on a smartphone, with a dash holder thingy.
Navmii is free turn by turn navigation, very similar to Tom Tom , just download Canadian maps before you go.

The benefits are , a larger screen than most cheaper sat navs, its free ! (If you already have a smartphone)
Theoretically you could use a tablet too.
I did well over 1000 miles through mountains and cities and it worked perfectly.

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19 hours ago, johnnytheboy said:

We just hired one from enterprise in Canada, as per enterprise no matter where I hire a car in the world the factory sat nav was disabled 

It was a 20 dollar PER DAY extra for my Avis car over there, the sat nav was built in, but they take the card out.

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Get one in uk and take it with you . Most sat nav s in U.K. that you can buy do world wide .then you now you are sorted and have one 

so not need to worry when you get there .tom Tom and garmin do a world wide one 

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Don’t buy one. Download a free app called Here We Go onto your phone. You then download the maps of any country you need to visit. All free. Do this at home on your WiFi. I have used this app in lots of countries and it always works really well. It also works without a data signal when you are out and about so no need to worry about high data charges (it simp,y runs using the gps in your phone). It’s better than most sat navy’s that are built in to cars. 

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