Travel to Italy by Google

[Pingalong]

I have owned TomTom's for about 7 years and currently have a 720t which is about 4 years old. I travel less for work and tend to know where any cameras are and with age am tending to keep to spped limits.
I am going on holiday to Italy this year and wonder what anyone's thoughts on my options are:
I could update my TT Europe map for about £50.

I have an iPad and acces to the wife's iPhone and for about £50 buy TT Europe.

I have just bought an HTC android which allows you to buy maps for a month for about £10.

Will Google maps do the job? I will not be using the local phone networks when abroad.

[AliOnHols]

Hi Pingalong, the maps on my go730 are about 4 years old also and although a few of the roads have changed the cities and towns are still where they should be and I am able to navigate my way through France and Spain without too much trouble, so I'd be inclined to say that unless you want to treat yourself your 4 year old maps and your common sense shall get you to Italy without too much trouble. Plan your intended route from a conventional map, make a note of the key cities you shall be passing by and keep an eye on the road signage for when your TT finds itself momentarily "lost".

I don't have experience of your other options so shall leave others to comment further.
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Garmin Nuvi 2599
Android with CamerAlert, OsmAnd+, Waze & TT Europe.
TomTom GO 730, GO 930, GO 940 & Rider2.
SatMap Active 10 & 20.

[peterc10]

You will have to use phone data from the local phone network if you want to use Google maps on iOS or Android, because you cab't save the maps. And that will be VERY expensive. So forget that option.

Not sure what your reference to the £10 on the HTC is. The newer ones (I have a Sensation) have free maps which you can download and which are not bad. It will move and update as you move. However if you want turn by turn guidance then you have to pay extra, either per month, per year or for a one off payment.

If you want turn by turn instructions then I would recommend that instead of either of those options you buy Sygic, either for your Android or iphone and ipad. Western Europe is £35. The maps are all downloaded to your device so you do not need any data connection.
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Peter
HTC Sensation
Sygic GPS for Europe (No more TT "support"!)
Copilot for USA
Bury CC9060 bluetooth car kit & Brodit mount

[DennisN]

I included Italy in our 2006 Grande Toure de Europe, using a TomTom GO700. It did us fine. But my conclusion at that time was that Italy was building new roads far faster than anyone could keep up with - we wanted to stay away from toll roads - not for cash (although that was useful), but in order to meander gently along country roads. Near Milan, the difference between my (up to date) Europe map and the roads was enormous and somewhere else the nice TomTom lady sent me along a road which turned out to have been replaced by a paying motorway entrance. That went down to experience (I managed to reverse out under the guiding eye of a nice toll man in my guise as a stupid dumb foreigner). With a few such problems we never starved, crashed or became lost in a sea of bewilderment - probably because we had decided very early on that we were heading for wherever the front of the van was pointing (after reverse parking one night, we started off travelling east back into central Italy instead of west into France!!).

As Ali infers, I bet you could go with your existing Europe map and have a wonderful holiday, providing you don't have too rigid an attitude towards routes and look out of the windscreen frequently.
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Dennis

If it tastes good - it's fattening.

Two of them are obesiting!!

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