Americas SPIII

[Silence]

I am new and very ignorant to this GPS stuff.

My farther has returned form America with an alleged Bargain ! of a SPIII (but it has an Americas base map)

How can I make this work in Europe without spending more money than just buying one here ?

What Garmin software is required? I am confused as to the City Navigator, City Select, and Metro Guide and where can you get base maps?

Alternatively can other company software be run on it for Europe at reduced costs?

I know that it is a lot of questions but I would appreciate any guidance.

Thanks

 

[John Armstrong]

Points I know:

Base map - you get it with the unit and to my knowledge cannot be changed.

If you only want to know where you are then city select / world map etc are in the £50 to £100 area.

If you want to autoroute, spend the cash on returning the SP3 back to the USA ,and buy one this side of the pond! Which may be in the EU.

 

[MiGSel]

Yes indeed.

The base map is internal, you can't change it at all.

Detail maps you can use on the SPIII are City Navigator of City Select. If you have to buy those, the US deal is not a deal.

If you own 2 units though, and you have European City Navigator with one unit, you can install it on a second unit by getting a second unlock code for free. Then you're fine as long as you're on the loaded detail maps. As soon as you "leave the maps" you are still nowhere, as your base map is not European. This double unlock is of course not allowed when the other unit is not yours. So you're a bad person if you do that!
But I've been told that is does work

You may want to read this thread. It's about the 2610 but the same goes for the SPIII. The difference is that the 2610 can take detail maps of most of Europe on a 1 Gb CF card and the SPIII is limited to 256 Mb per card.

Cheers,
Michel

 

[Silence]

Thanks for that advice, all may not be lost then.

I will look at ways around things !

TA......

 

[Shooter]

Migsel is spot on, I had a US SP111 and loaded the UK maps on it with the datacard. Worked fine. I now have the BMW Nav 11, like the 2610 with a few extra's euro basemap but a 2gb card with the US and world map on it as well. It works great here and in the US.

 

[Greg Masters]

To get the best out of this unit, you will need to load Garmin WorldMap (the UK takes up about 1½Mb) as a substitute for your missing euro basemap.

Your real difficulty comes in getting decent mapping software. You should use European City Navigator (although there are some inferior Garmin products with fewer features) and you will need to have the unlock code which matches the mapping data to your SPIII.

Garmin will sell you the mapping data and unlock code, but, in reality, it will probably cost you more than your SPIII is worth. The alternative is to share the mapping data since Garmin will allow one set of maps to be used on two units.

However, you may find struggle to find someone who is prepared to 'share' their data as many, me included, have (or want) two units.

You may do better selling what you have got via eBay and buying a unit with European base and data maps.

Greg

 

[Howard Millichap]

Yes indeed.

If you own 2 units though, and you have European City Navigator with one unit, you can install it on a second unit by getting a second unlock code for free. Then you're fine as long as you're on the loaded detail maps. As soon as you "leave the maps" you are still nowhere, as your base map is not European. This double unlock is of course not allowed when the other unit is not yours. So you're a bad person if you do that!
But I've been told that is does work

1/ What you need "silence" is a friend with an SP3 with the European "City Navigator" CDs.
2/ You then register YOUR SP3 in his/her name as a 2nd unit.
3/ Garmin gives him/her an "unlock" code for your unit.
4/ You copy his/her CDs and install them on your PC.
5/You then have full access to the European mapping and "Auto-routing" data.
(2 & 3 are done on the Garmin web site.)

This is what I did with a friend when he bought a USA version. So he got the European stuff from me and I got the USA mapping from him. It all works fine. Although Garmin probably wouldn't like it too much, but hey! If they didn't rip us off by making everything with codes and charging arms & legs for things we wouldn't need to fiddle them.

 

[richie]

1/ What you need "silence" is a friend with an SP3 with the European "City Navigator" CDs.
2/ You then register YOUR SP3 in his/her name as a 2nd unit.
3/ Garmin gives him/her an "unlock" code for your unit.
4/ You copy his/her CDs and install them on your PC.
5/You then have full access to the European mapping and "Auto-routing" data.
(2 & 3 are done on the Garmin web site.)

This is what I did with a friend when he bought a USA version. So he got the European stuff from me and I got the USA mapping from him. It all works fine. Although Garmin probably wouldn't like it too much, but hey! If they didn't rip us off by making everything with codes and charging arms & legs for things we wouldn't need to fiddle them.

Howard is correct thats the way to do it. If you can find someone willing to give you there 2nd unlock key. It is what I did...