• The Forums are now open to new registrations, adverts are also being de-tuned.

Canadian Sat Nav ideas

fabes

fabes

MB Enthusiast
Joined
Apr 12, 2007
Messages
2,997
Location
Southampton
Car
SLK55 & E400 Coupe
Morning all

Am off to Canada in three weeks and have just been let down by a Canadian Ebay seller who apparently had posted me an upto date SD card for my Garmin

I do have an immediate refund (hmmm....?) of the CAD paid but now have a problem.

I am renting a mid size SUV, so will contact Enterprise just in case it DOES come factory fitted with Sat Nav (and maps) but if not - does anyone have a decent suggestion to help?

Options I have so far are:

1. Pay Garmin £65 for official maps that I will use for 1 week to load onto my Garmin
2. Rent a Satnav from the UK with Canadian Maps for over 2 weeks (we're off to the US as well but not driving there) for £30 inc postage
3. Buy a s/h unit with old maps off Ebay for £50 (and sell when I get back)
4. Risk bricking my Garmin with some 'genuine' Garmin maps of some file sharing site....
5. Rely on an app on the phone - but I don't want to use data so Waze is out and Navmii after its recent update is not great (will use that for walking around Toronto though)
6. Get lucky and someone on here has a better solution...:bannana:

I am all ears boys and girls....

PS I have 3 weeks until we go, so still 'some time' but no longer enough time to order from Canada
 
fabes said:
Morning all

Am off to Canada in three weeks and have just been let down by a Canadian Ebay seller who apparently had posted me an upto date SD card for my Garmin

I do have an immediate refund (hmmm....?) of the CAD paid but now have a problem.

I am renting a mid size SUV, so will contact Enterprise just in case it DOES come factory fitted with Sat Nav (and maps) but if not - does anyone have a decent suggestion to help?

Options I have so far are:

1. Pay Garmin £65 for official maps that I will use for 1 week to load onto my Garmin
2. Rent a Satnav from the UK with Canadian Maps for over 2 weeks (we're off to the US as well but not driving there) for £30 inc postage
3. Buy a s/h unit with old maps off Ebay for £50 (and sell when I get back)
4. Risk bricking my Garmin with some 'genuine' Garmin maps of some file sharing site....
5. Rely on an app on the phone - but I don't want to use data so Waze is out and Navmii after its recent update is not great (will use that for walking around Toronto though)
6. Get lucky and someone on here has a better solution...:bannana:

I am all ears boys and girls....

PS I have 3 weeks until we go, so still 'some time' but no longer enough time to order from Canada
Click to expand...
How much is he whole trip costing ? what percentage of that is £65 ?
I know how you feel, I had the same dilemma on a business trip to Morocco some years ago. I bought the official map, saved my life...literally.
 
Petrol Pete said:
How much is he whole trip costing ? what percentage of that is £65 ?
I know how you feel, I had the same dilemma on a business trip to Morocco some years ago. I bought the official map, saved my life...literally.
Click to expand...
P.S I have also worked in Canada (Toronto/Mississauga) pre SatNav days and it could sometimes be a bit of a struggle to find places using a map when driving alone.
 
Frankly the line of least resistance (and one that is guaranteed to work) is to pay £65 for an SD card with up-to-date cartography from Garmin. BTW, there's a Canada Only cartography option from Garmin for £35 if you really don't need the North America lower 49 states.

I've never had a rental car in the USA or Canada that has come with inbuilt sat-nav - probably because that would close the door on the rental companies sky-high charges to rent a sat-nav from them.
 
I use Navmii on my Android tablet. Free downloadable maps for anywhere in the world, then just uses a GPS signal when abroad. I've used it in Europe and NA and always been brilliant
 
Google maps can work offline too. Just download the area of interest before you go. Stays active for 30 days.

Don't know about Canada, but I was in the US earlier in the year and just bought a £15 top up from BT that gave me 100Mb of data, which was plenty for the driving about I did.
 
If there a reason why you are not considering using a smartphone?


When I am in countries where I have free (or cheap) 3g/4g mobile data, I use Waze and Google maps on my mobile phone (fixed to the windscreen via holder).


When I am in countries where I do not have free (or cheap) mobile data, I use Copilot on my mobile phone - it works 100% offline so no need for data. Their maps are quite cheap - North America is only £14.99.

https://copilotgps.com/en-gb/map-coverage#north-america

The only caveat is that you need to have enough free storage space on your mobile phone to download the maps.

(You will need to enable mobile data only if you want to use the Live Traffic subscription for your Copilot app)


If however you must use your Garmin device... then I would buy the official maps rather than download a pirated copy. Renting a GPS could mean having to deal with a new device that you are unfamiliar with.

And always have an old-fashioned printed map or road atlas as backup......
 
Last edited:
When you get there find the nearest supermarket and buy the cheapest one they have, stick it on the bay of fleas when you get back. I have navmii on my phone but will buy a cheap one there if it turns out to be crap, when we go in sept.
 
Petrol Pete said:
How much is he whole trip costing ? .
Click to expand...

An absolute fortune, hence not having money to throw away now.....
 
st13phil said:
Frankly the line of least resistance (and one that is guaranteed to work) is to pay £65 for an SD card with up-to-date cartography from Garmin. BTW, there's a Canada Only cartography option from Garmin for £35 if you really don't need the North America lower 49 states..
Click to expand...

Yep Canada only as I am dropping the car at Niagara and flying from Buffalo to NY

Can you post up a link to Canada only as I haven't found that reasonable option on the Garmin service.....:thumb:
 
derekthetree said:
I use Navmii on my Android tablet. Free downloadable maps for anywhere in the world, then just uses a GPS signal when abroad. I've used it in Europe and NA and always been brilliant
Click to expand...

Navmii is getting slatted following recent update and I don't want to risk it (I am a Risk manager...)

As to other suggestions

I didn't know Google maps was available off line :thumb:
Will look at this as well

I am on contract with Virgin so no data use in Canada or NY can be considered
 
fabes said:
...I didn't know Google maps was available off line :thumb:
Will look at this as well..
Click to expand...

It can be used off-line BUT you will need to manually download the maps for the area in advance. So if you are using it off-line and stray out of the pre-downloaded map area......
 
I use a navigation app called Scoout (sat nav) on my iPhone. Works offline just with the GPS signal. Used it in Canada last year ( and the US with no problems) I think the maps were about a fiver to download - The app is free.
 
You could just get a different SIM which does have data , and use that for the duration of your trip ; you can set your phone to forward all incoming calls to the new number before swapping the sims over .
 
Why not buy a paper map? They are cheap, show more detail and give a better perspective of area and distance than Satnavs.
 
tron said:
Why not buy a paper map? They are cheap, show more detail and give a better perspective of area and distance than Satnavs.
Click to expand...

I agree and could stare at maps for ages, but not great for driving in a big city (Toronto)
 
fabes said:
...does anyone have a decent suggestion to help?
Click to expand...

The first time we were in Canada we bought a cheap satnav from "Canadian Tire".

Cheap? Certainly. We paid just CAN$ 39 plus tax. Even the dearer ones were far less than the car rental places wanted to rent one.

We are off again in a couple of weeks - our third time - so taking it with us again.

Canadian Tire are on many out-of-town shopping estates - maybe you could search Google for one near the airport you are flying into?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 1 (members: 0, guests: 1)

Similar threads

M
Update Sat Nav
Replies
2
Views
1K
rudey
R
PSVERTANNES
My E220D SE Estate does not display the speed limit on the road driven.
Replies
6
Views
335
TC350
TC350
H
Sat Nav/ Reversing Camera fitting. Advice needed.
Replies
0
Views
411
Helsinki
H
mpc
SatNav Live Update Expiring
Replies
16
Views
1K
Headhurts
Headhurts
R
Sat NAV Update
Replies
1
Views
1K
richard
R
Back
Top Bottom