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Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

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Traveling Europe and beyond

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zeil
Master Marine Consultant

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Canada
1314 Posts

Initially Posted - 05/29/2009 : 14:35:51

Perhaps a little off topic but... if you ever travel Europe bring your GPS along and obtain a Europe map for you unit... It is absolutely wonderful and pays for itself in many ways.

We're still in Barcelona, Spain for another 3 days after spending nearly 2 months in Holland traveling Germany, Belgium, Italy, Greece, Spain and Turkey by boat & car and plane including Israel... The unit works without fail and is easy to operate. The cost to include a GPS with a rental car is 14 Euro (20 plus dollars) per day... so it really pays to bring your own unit. Besides it allows peace of mind in areas where it is easy to get lost even when you're walking

Henk & Johanna
"Floating", a few off your "barnacles".
"Someday Lady" '95 C250WB #151 ('03 - 2016)
"Sea ya" 30ft Bayliner (04-2018 - 09-2018)
"Mariah" '96 C250WB #191 (05-2019 - 15-05-2023)
"Lady J" '00 C250WK #499 (05-2021 - 09-2022)

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dmpilc
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
4593 Posts

Response Posted - 06/02/2009 : 21:19:02

For traveling Great Britain, we were low-tech, using an atlas and the TI's (Travelers' Information booths/kiosks/stores) which seemed to be everywhere. We had a rental car for almost all of the trip, excluding London. We used public transport there.

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delliottg
Former Mainsheet C250 Tech Editor

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USA
4479 Posts

Response Posted - 06/02/2009 : 22:34:46

I always take a GPS with me when I travel, although I've never taken one that has a moving map capability. I usually bring one of my Garmin GPS 12's and use them constantly. If nothing else, I can find my way back to my hotel on my own, or do some research online & get Lat/Lon of where I want to go and either drive there, or direct a cabby there. When I get home, I have a record of the interesting places we've gone to.

Next time we go, I might bring my 276, or maybe Rita's Nuvi 880, it's much smaller and has a much more intuitive interface.

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Dave Bristle
Master Marine Consultant

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Djibouti
10005 Posts

Response Posted - 06/03/2009 : 07:50:30

Good idea! I'm going to Italy later this year--should I get maps (and charger?) for my 276-C, or get a Nuvi?

BTW, I played with the new Garmin 640 touch-screen chartplotter... Nice package, but I don't like the touch-screen interface. Scrolling and pointing were very erratic. Maybe it was overused...(??) I still like buttons.

Edited by - Dave Bristle on 06/03/2009 07:54:03

zeil
Master Marine Consultant

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Canada
1314 Posts

Response Posted - 06/03/2009 : 13:54:53

Although we hummed and hawed at the expense of CAD $160.00 for a complete Europe map it was worth every penny. Our Carmin Nuvi 255W came equipped with a SD slot to load the additional Euro map.

We purchased the Garmin up-datable CD version and loaded it on a SD card. (Only Garmin's CD and not the SD card is up-datable) If you plan to travel in one or two European countries you may wish to consider a group of 5 countries for about half price.

While driving a rented car in Holland/Germany/Belgium to do a multitude of family visits in many locations as well as sightseeing it took us everywhere without fail including ATM's, parking, restaurants, touristy stuff, etc. Punch in a postal code and... voila!! We completely depended and trusted it... In fact we did everything with it!!

It was fun to use the Nuvi in Mediterranean cities/harbors where we had never been before. It helped us locate places and saved money where English is not the main language. We won't ever again leave home without it.

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zeil
Master Marine Consultant

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Canada
1314 Posts

Response Posted - 06/03/2009 : 14:01:45

Forgot to mention that, if a low voltage plug-in is not available, consider getting a standard 110-230 V 50/60 H charger for the unit... We did and used it!!

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delliottg
Former Mainsheet C250 Tech Editor

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USA
4479 Posts

Response Posted - 06/03/2009 : 15:32:52

Dave,
I think I'd take the Nuvi over the 276, for one thing, it's much smaller, has a better interface (as long as you like touch screen), and if it's one of the newer models, has Bluetooth so you can use it for hands free phone, it's also an MP3 player / book reader / photo album and uses standard SD cards for memory as opposed to the 276's proprietary cards. You could preload your entire trip on a few SD cards and not have to worry about bringing a laptop to update with.

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Notice: The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.