Best Gps For Use In Thailand And Europe

[davehowden]

Hi,

We are going to be driving around Germany, France etc for two weeks in October and want to buy a GPS on arrival in Germany that we can also use when we get back home to Thialand. I intend to purchase the GPS in Germany as they appear to be a lot cheaper in Europe than here.

Any recommendations as to the best unit to purchase please?

Thanks

Dave

[dave_boo]

Hi,

We are going to be driving around Germany, France etc for two weeks in October and want to buy a GPS on arrival in Germany that we can also use when we get back home to Thialand. I intend to purchase the GPS in Germany as they appear to be a lot cheaper in Europe than here.

Any recommendations as to the best unit to purchase please?

Thanks

Dave

I would recommend going with Garmin. Adding on Thai maps upon return to Thailand is going to cost you 7 000 THB, and ESRI will do it for you.

[Havy]

Hi,

We are going to be driving around Germany, France etc for two weeks in October and want to buy a GPS on arrival in Germany that we can also use when we get back home to Thialand. I intend to purchase the GPS in Germany as they appear to be a lot cheaper in Europe than here.

Any recommendations as to the best unit to purchase please?

Thanks

Dave

I would recommend going with Garmin. Adding on Thai maps upon return to Thailand is going to cost you 7 000 THB, and ESRI will do it for you.

I also recommend the Garmin. I bought mine in the US and bought the Thai maps there as well. The Thai maps were about $120 USD, much cheaper than buying them here. They are on an SD card and you can toggle between the two.

[Gary A]

Garmin USA has discontinued selling the Thailand map. I would guess that ESRI pressured them to stop because the map was much cheaper than the ESRI map. That said, the ESRI map at 7,000 baht entitles you to one free update and after that, it will cost you 1,500 baht. I just received the ESRI version 8.1. Garmin service from Gadget Trend in Bangkok is very good.

[webfact]

Hi,

We are going to be driving around Germany, France etc for two weeks in October and want to buy a GPS on arrival in Germany that we can also use when we get back home to Thialand. I intend to purchase the GPS in Germany as they appear to be a lot cheaper in Europe than here.

Any recommendations as to the best unit to purchase please?

Thanks

Dave

Garmin is the best!

[aidenai]

Hi,

We are going to be driving around Germany, France etc for two weeks in October and want to buy a GPS on arrival in Germany that we can also use when we get back home to Thialand. I intend to purchase the GPS in Germany as they appear to be a lot cheaper in Europe than here.

Any recommendations as to the best unit to purchase please?

Thanks

Dave

Dave, I am not sure what you want. You can buy a dedicated GPS receiver, a PDA, a Symbian mobile phone or a Pocket PC. One thing is sure. If it can run Garmin maps, you have made a good choice.

http://www8.garmin.com/cartography/mapSource/citynavEuro.jsp for Europe and

http://www8.garmin.com/cartography/mapSour...vntThailand.jsp for Thailand.

[davehowden]

Thank you all for your very helpfull advice.

Dave

[WorldwideALOHA]

noeman (dot) org

I wouldn't post it, but I accidentally copied over my Thailand map and I was told I would have to pay another 7,000 to install it again. If the same has happened to you, it may be worth a look. Anyway, it's a forum. Register and search.

Aloha

Edited September 15, 2008 by WorldwideALOHA

[Gary A]

noeman (dot) org

I wouldn't post it, but I accidentally copied over my Thailand map and I was told I would have to pay another 7,000 to install it again. If the same has happened to you, it may be worth a look. Anyway, it's a forum. Register and search.

Aloha

From Gadget Trend;

In the case that your GPS can use with SD Card or CF Card, user should backup map on CD or PC otherwise user will have to pay for the reloaded map expense for 300 baht per time (for the lost of data).

The map can only be copied back to the original device the map was installed on. I just installed the update 8.01 on my Garmin. They sent me a new disk. If they don't have the serial number and the unit ID number in their records, you will indeed have to pay the 7,000 baht.

[paveet]

Garmin sells the South Eastern Asia 3.0NT map in the US which includes Thailand. The map source is provided by Teleatlas and the price is in the $1xx range. ESRI has a more detailed map in the countryside but is much more expensive. The latest is Thailand Street Map 8.1, price range is high four digits THB. If you're just driving in Bangkok and sticking to the main national highways the Teleatlas maps should be sufficient. (Don't get the 2.0NT because it'll get you to drive on the wrong side on Sukhumvit, thus running into oncoming traffic!)

I've used both and am currently using iGo8 in Bangkok instead of Garmin Mobile XT just because the interface is nicer, it does Text-to-Speech on street names ("in five hundred metres, turn left onto Silom"), and POI search is MUCH MUCH faster. iGo8 uses Teleatlas maps meaning they are exactly the same as South Eastern Asia 3.0NT.

The only complaint I have with the ESRI version is that the POI are spelt pretty badly in English. I've seen Greyhound Cafe spelt as Geyhaw for example! (edited to add more info)

Edited September 15, 2008 by paveet