Customer Reviews

Garmin City Navigator for Detailed Maps of Major Metropolitan Areas in Europe (microSD/SD Card)

5 star:		(32)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

I bought the Micro SD cards because I thought it would be better so that all the maps are on the card and can just plug it into my GPS. However, if you want to download specific routes or biking routes which I have done, you have to also purchase Way Point Trip Manager in order to transfer the information. If you purchase the CD you can transfer the information with Map Source which is included with the GPS. Had I known that I would have had to purchase extra software to be able to transfer the information, I would have bought the CD's.

OK, it IS stupid and overdone to give a name to your GPS monitor, but we did it anyway. She is Diane and we love her. Confused only rarely, she knows even the smallest, narrowest streets in France and Italy. Nearby hotels and gas stations are comprehensive and lifesavers, at times. The list of local attractions and historical points of interest and landmarks is also comprehensive and a nice addition to our "Rick Steve" tour book. I take (the map) loaded on my Garmin NUVI with me when I leave the car, not only to prevent theft, but to navigate the streets of Lyon and Rome by foot as easily as behind the wheel, also to mark where I left my car, etc. etc. etc. I will never leave home without it.

I found very little wanting in this product. The maps are incredibly accurate, even for areas far from city centers. My only complaint is that the interface does not behave the same as it does when looking at the built-in maps of North America. Many cities, for example, do not appear until the map is zoomed-in on the region, and only then does the map for that area load and zooming out is again possible. Before I discovered this trick I was under the impression that very few metropolitan areas were covered. Only after zooming in to the neighborhood level did the right panel load, and it was possible to see the full layout of that country or region.

The map also seems very recent. Some streets we did not expect to find were in fact on the map, so there is little to complain in this regard. I was also happy with the price. Definitely beats buying a dedicated unit for Europe.

[[ASIN:B000BS6RDU Garmin City Navigator NT SD Data Card for Garmin GPS Units, Europe (010-10680-00)

Having used a GPS extensively in Canada & the US we purchased this card for Europe specifically Ireland. We found it easy to use & invaluable for our trip. We found many sites that we would have missed with just a map & traveled back roads with ease knowing that we could never get lost. I highly recommend this tool for anyone driving in Europe who is not familiar with the roads.

As a set of maps, this product fine.

But, when I plugged this card into my Garmin Nuvi 660, it seemed to run much slower, and the battery life dropped from 3-4 hours to about 15 minutes. This was a real problem, since I was trying to use it in pedestrian mode. So I just used conventional paper maps for about 95% of my trip. For my purposes, this card was a waste of $100.

This problem is not an issue with the map card product per se, but you should be aware that you may not experience the usual level of GPS performance when you have a card plugged into your Garmin. This doesn't make much sense, since I suspect that the internal maps are also stored in flash memory just like the card's. But it is what I experienced. Other Garmin models might behave better than the 660.

We recently returned from our two- week holiday in the Czech Republic. We drove from Prague to Kutna Hora, Telc, Cesky Krumlov and back to Prague. This device was GREAT because the majority of the roads have either no name at the intersection or any other indication of what it is. For example, our Nuvi told us to turn right on Road 403 and continue for 20 km. At that turn there was absolutely no road marker and it wasn't until we were on Road 403 for 10 km that we finally saw a road sign. And the device was very appreciated at detours. We came to several detours and there were no arrows or any other indication of how to get through/around the road construction. The Garmin helped out a lot. In the small towns we were able to find our hotels using this device. Even though we had a very detailed Czech Republic driving map, we primarily relied upon the Nuvi. Bottom line----don't leave home without it.

I bought this for my wife's nuvi 260W as we were visiting the south of France. I've been here many times before, but traveling here can be a challenge, lack of (easy to find) posted street names is #1 on the list.

This (micro)SD did just what it advertised, having a fantastic selection of streets in all but the tiniest of towns (it doesn't have the Route des Cretes, between Cassis and Ciotat, which has been around for 2000 or so years, maybe the cartographer was scared of narrow roads without rails) but I saw parts of Marseille that I hadn't seen before and getting around Nimes, Uzes, Nice, Monaco and St Tropez was a breeze.

One caveat though, if you understand French (but speak English), choose French language on your GPS. The 'translations' to English (because they are phonetic pronunciations) are awful. You will spend a huge amount of time laughing your [...] (Try Francois, Allende, La Ciotat or pretty much any street name, they're all quite funny)

Highly recommended, worth every nickle!

We used this driving from Paris across northern France and it made the drive so much easier. Because I knew I had it, I neglected to get a proper driving map, but will get one next time. The only cons are that it took 10-15 minutes to initially figure where we were (and we had already started driving, so without a good map, we took a wrong turn or two right out of the gate - but easily back on track) and it needs to be updated, but again, easily back on track after a quick detour.) Supplement with a good map! P.S. If you're going to/from CDG and not in a hurry, program it to "avoid tolls" to avoid a 3ish mile stretch north of the city (on A1, I think) that cost E7.40 and had only one toll booth operator! We probably waited in line longer to pay the toll than it would have taken to avoid the expensive stretch altogether.

This SD card was the absolute hit of our recent trip to Scotland. We flew into Manchester and picked up a rental car there. It took a couple of minutes for our old Garmin 330 to pick up the signal but once it did, it took us everywhere. Can't imagine traveling without it now.

Just returned from a 4-day, 1500 km driving trip through the south of France and this map was invaluable in our successful navigation. From back country roads to avoid the ubiquitous toll motorways to navigating the streets of Monte Carlo in the middle of the night, this set of maps was very accurate and worked well with my Nuvi 500. Highly recommended and an excellent value on price from Amazon. Don't drive in Europe without it--