Sat nav in the usa

headpin

I have a Becker Traffic Assist Highspeed 7934. To buy the US maps for it costs £68. A Sat Nav in a rental car in the US is usually around $12 - $15 per day. So for 2 weeks rental you are looking at around $200. So it looks like buying the maps and taking my own Sat Nav is cheaper.

However, in Walmart you can get a cheap Sat Nav (GPS in US parlance) for as little as $78 or a Tom Tom One for around $100. So, would I be right in saying the most cost effective option for Sat Nav in the US is to buy one in Walmart on arrival?

Unless of course someone knows where I can get the Navteq US maps for a Becker for significantly less than $100? Or can come up with a better solution?

richardw

Perhaps do it a bit of a cost benefit analysis to decide if you really need the sat nav in the US, IMHO it is much easier driving in the US.

UltraCheap_2

Unless you want to upgrade your GPS system to a new model and purchase US & Europe maps in the US at a bargain price?

bobby9205

We bought a brand new US sat nav from Ebay.com (Americas ebay) and got it for $80 including delivery, it took around 2 weeks to arrive. So this could be another option for you.

We go to America twice a year so its definately paid for its self!

old_motters

bobby9205 wrote: »

We bought a brand new US sat nav from Ebay.com (Americas ebay) and got it for $80 including delivery, it took around 2 weeks to arrive. So this could be another option for you.

We go to America twice a year so its definately paid for its self!

This never occured to me... thanks for sharing!

neilbond007

A colleague bought one from a pawn shop here in the US for $50!

Also worth looking for a TomTom 910. I have one of these. They're superb.
Does US and UK/Europe. 20Gb harddrive to load music etc...
Ebay have loads. You can pick them up for less than £100!! I paid $500 for mine a couple of years back. Never let me down
No need to worry about taking the right one then! And you can sell your existing sat nat

headpin

TomTom's 910 are going for well over £130 (normallly £150+) on ebay. So any other advice?

Nordictat2

We take our GPS with us every time we go to the US (every year).
A few yrs back we bought a map for the US off ebay uk and I think it was about £20 total. It was a copy of the original map but it works great and never let us done yet

kalos

I suspect Martin might disapprove of advocating cheap copies of copyright GPS maps bought on e-bay.

However, to address the original question..... last year during the 'Black Friday' sales period (Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving - 4th Thursday in November - in the US, and is reputedly the biggest single spending day of the year) , I bought a TomTom One 125....they were available then at $100 in many stores.

The best price for the same unit I saw in major stores last month in the US was $120 (Walmart or K-Mart). Electronic giant Best Buy no longer apparently stocks this item in stores (for the time being). and despite offers of on-line purchase @ $99, won't deliver to a store for pick-up. Tough if you don't have a mailing address you can use in the US. The best alternative TomTom unit which Best Buy offers from in-store stock is the TomTom One 130, at $130, when I checked out the situation for a friend. The only difference between the 130 unit and the 125 is that the 125 doesn't have the Canada Map. If you're visiting the US as often as I do, the 125 at $100 is a terrific buy if you can spot it at any sales point. It works straight out of the box, and has a very compact and versatile mount. However, mounting it on the windscreen on some vehicles can be pointlesss, as that's too far away to really see clearly whilst driving. It comes with a suction mount and self-adhesive mounting plate, so it has options.

Finally, if you do buy one of these TomTom units, remember to back up all the files from the unit (including the map) and then connect to the web to get the most up-to-date maps - you have 30 days from date of purchase to do so (a USB to mini-USB connector is supplied with the TomTom One units). There are no data disks supplied with these 'basic' TomTom units, and they work on a limited internal memory only, not data cards.

jackieblack

richardw wrote: »

Perhaps do it a bit of a cost benefit analysis to decide if you really need the sat nav in the US, IMHO it is much easier driving in the US.

I agree, we've driven several thousands of miles in different states of the USA, never needed Sat Nav.

eslick

jackieblack wrote: »

I agree, we've driven several thousands of miles in different states of the USA, never needed Sat Nav.

I am the same as you but can see the benefit of sat navs as if you miss a turn off on an interstate you can go miles until the next one and often the signs are right on the junction so easily missed.