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GPS

I don't have an answer for you, but I would like to know!

Recently we were traveling and tried to enter the address of our hotel in our Garmin GPS, and it wasn't finding it. Then I searched under lodging and found the hotel- the zipcode was the same, but the city name was different. I would imagine this happens fairly frequently.
 
No zip code entry for the Garmin. Not sure why they don't have it, as the zip code to city mapping is already stored in the maps.

The Garmin's definitely can be picky when it comes to entering the city. Both my brother and my sister live in different 'Garmin' cities than what's accepted for their mailing city.

If you know a nearby Point of Interest, it can often be a good idea to select it, that will sometimes should you what city the Garmin thinks it is. If you can't find your location in the Garmin, they you might need to use an online site: usps.gov, or one of the other mapping sites (yahoo, google).

Jeff
 
GPS in Europe

We will be driving in Ireland. My TomTom doesn't have Europe info but I found this NEW unit available on Amazon that has pre-loaded Europe info

Garmin nüvi 270 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator
It is $600+ unit available for $139.99 and has rec'd excellent user reviews.

Does anyone have anything to offer? Thanks
:eek:
 
We will be driving in Ireland. My TomTom doesn't have Europe info but I found this NEW unit available on Amazon that has pre-loaded Europe info

Garmin nüvi 270 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator
It is $600+ unit available for $139.99 and has rec'd excellent user reviews.

Does anyone have anything to offer? Thanks
:eek:
Just so you realize, the nuvi 270 is a 2-year old model. Second, the list price is $399, not $649 as Amazon shows. You can see all of the specs here at the Garmin website.

I am looking for a new GPS w/ Europe maps (going to Italy in Sep), and although the 270 has the smaller-sized display and is an older model, the $139 price is very tempting. My other options were in the $300+ range.

Kurt
 
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I ordered it - didn't see any other model for that price. Tom Tom, which we loved wants close to $100 just to download maps for one country.
 
Great!!

Have been anticipating a purchase of another Garmin Nuvi which has Canada maps loaded (flying into Buffalo and driving up north of Toronto in August)
and this was too good a deal to pass up. It even has Europe pre-loaded, though with the weak dollar I have no forseeable plans to go.
Ordered a travel case for $8.40 to go with it whilst I had the Amazon Free Super Saver Shipping option.
:)
 
It would be nice locate my address...

No zip code entry for the Garmin. Not sure why they don't have it, as the zip code to city mapping is already stored in the maps.

The Garmin's definitely can be picky when it comes to entering the city.

Walking among tall buildings tend to make "Mindy" a little scatterbrained.

I bought "Mindy" (our Garmin 270) only because it was discounted at Costco a while back. That it came with Europe maps was a minor advantage since we don't often travel outside the US or Canada. Just finding our way around the SF Bay Area is enough to justify the cheap price.

We do like it as it gives both verbal and written prompts for directions. It doesn't prompt with the actual upcoming street names. I've since discovered that this is a feature I'd like in the next one we upgrade to.

It does have some interesting navigation feature mode settings for:
-- Automobile, bike path and pedestrian.
--Settings for shortest distance, shortest time, and off road modes (My son used it in Knab, UT?)
--Avoidance mode for Highways,toll roads,ferries and carpool lanes, etc

Remember to switch back from pedestrian to automobile mode after navigating through NY's Central Park. It drives "Mindy" nuts trying to get you to do a U-Turns while driving under the river in the tunnel from NY if you don't ;)

I wasn't originally too impressed when I discovered that it wouldn't recognize my own home address. To be fair, I don't believe that my house is listed on ANY GPS currently out there.

I live on the 5100 block of Willow Estates, San Jose CALIF but if I enter it, it suggests that it's actually Willow Est.

At least it DOES that. I don't know how many delivery people I've talked to on the phone calling from elsewhere in the city saying they can't find the address. Some even claiming it must be a new housing development that hasn't been entered into the database yet. We've lived here since 1976.

For those of you with a GPS, try locating my location at: "5100 Willow Estates, San Jose, CALIF".

I'd be interested to see if any GPS comes up with the correct location.
 
Walking among tall buildings tend to make "Mindy" a little scatterbrained.

I bought "Mindy" (our Garmin 270) only because it was discounted at Costco a while back. That it came with Europe maps was a minor advantage since we don't often travel outside the US or Canada. Just finding our way around the SF Bay Area is enough to justify the cheap price.

We do like it as it gives both verbal and written prompts for directions. It doesn't prompt with the actual upcoming street names. I've since discovered that this is a feature I'd like in the next one we upgrade to.

It does have some interesting navigation feature mode settings for:
-- Automobile, bike path and pedestrian.
--Settings for shortest distance, shortest time, and off road modes (My son used it in Knab, UT?)
--Avoidance mode for Highways,toll roads,ferries and carpool lanes, etc

Remember to switch back from pedestrian to automobile mode after navigating through NY's Central Park. It drives "Mindy" nuts trying to get you to do a U-Turns while driving under the river in the tunnel from NY if you don't ;)

I wasn't originally too impressed when I discovered that it wouldn't recognize my own home address. To be fair, I don't believe that my house is listed on ANY GPS currently out there.

I live on the 5100 block of Willow Estates, San Jose CALIF but if I enter it, it suggests that it's actually Willow Est.

At least it DOES that. I don't know how many delivery people I've talked to on the phone calling from elsewhere in the city saying they can't find the address. Some even claiming it must be a new housing development that hasn't been entered into the database yet. We've lived here since 1976.

For those of you with a GPS, try locating my location at: "5100 Willow Estates, San Jose, CALIF".

I'd be interested to see if any GPS comes up with the correct location.

Just tried your address on my Nokia N85 that uses Navteq mapping. It also finds nothing for "Willow Estates" but does locate "Willow Est", Zip 95135
 
If you use Google Maps, it has an option where it can 'send' a destination to your GPS (saved as a Favorite).

There's a Garmin Communicator plugin you need to download from garmin.com, and install. That's basically the driver. Then with a USB to mini-usb cable, you can connect your GPS to the computer (the garmin website has a test page to verify communications).

Then, on maps.google.com, after you find a destination, you can select Send, then GPS, then Garmin, and it will download the destination to your GPS automatically.

I used that for a destination in Las Vegas which wasn't available to my Garmin (760) maps. Even trying to key in the address manually had problems, but thru Google maps, it seemed to work fine. It's really nice, because in google maps you can do a search for "Caesars Las Vegas", have google find the site and the address for, and then you can just send it to the GPS. Much better than the 2-step approach of finding an address online, and then entering it manually.

Jeff
 
So my GPS arrived yesterday from Amazon. I took it out today for "test drive." It was easy, out of the box experience and it seems to work perfectly. No, it doesn't announce street names but they do display quite well on the screen. ANd I know it will be amazingly helpful when we travel. FOr $139.99 this is a keeper!
 
If you have a USB-miniUSB cable, you should attach your GPS to your computer, and see if there are any updates for it. At least with the Garmin, you likely won't get updated maps (those you need to pay for), but there will be firmware and other updates available.

Jeff
 
My 270

Received the Garmin 270 and powered it up. Then left it in the car to charge the battery.
When I came back it wouldn't turn on, so I returned it for an exchange. Got an e-mail today that the new one was shipped.
 
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