Nav 11 use in USA, what do I need?

[shedracer]

I am off to the USA in October, to visit friends and will be hiring a car. I want to take my Nav 11/2610 and I am wanderring what mapping I will need and how much it might cost. I am currently using European City Navigator V6.

Cheers
Paul

 

[grasshopper]

Paul,

You'll be wanting to get City Navigator North America v7.
Check out your cost locally, my local dealer sells it for 400 Canadian dollars and ships worldwide.
Enjoy your trip over.

 

[PanEuropean]

Paul:

You might have two alternative choices, besides purchasing CN North America.

First is to purchase CitySelect North America, which is less expensive (about USD $100 street price) but will do the same job for you.

Second is to try to purchase an older version of MetroGuide USA. The current version, which is called MetroGuide® North America v6, does not support autorouting on the GPSR. But, earlier versions of this product (called MetroGuide USA) DID support autorouting on the GPSR. Obviously, the cartography will be a bit out of date - perhaps 2 years old - if you get MetroGuide USA version 5, but I don't think that will be a really big handicap. Double-check this, I am 99% sure MG USA version 5 will autoroute on a 2610. It is not a serial number locked product, which means you can try out a CD that someone else has to see if it will work before you buy it.

Be aware that regardless of what cartography you use, your GPSR will not support zoom levels greater than 5 miles. This is because you don't have a North American basemap in it, and the basemap is used to draw the screen at the wider zoom levels. This is not a huge handicap, but can be a bit of a nuisance. Most of the states in America give out free paper maps at the info stands located at the state borders, so you can refer to a paper map when you want to see the 'big picture'.

Michael

 

[shedracer]

Cheers Grasshopper and Michael. I don`t want to go spending too much, so Michael`s recomendation looks like the option for me.

Thanks again.
Paul

 

[Greg Masters]

Be aware that regardless of what cartography you use, your GPSR will not support zoom levels greater than 5 miles. This is because you don't have a North American basemap in it, and the basemap is used to draw the screen at the wider zoom levels. This is not a huge handicap, but can be a bit of a nuisance.

Michael

If you have Garmin WorldMap, load that too and it will give you something to look at on wider zoom levels. As Michael suggests, it will do nothing to support or hinder functionality - that will be solely down to the detail mapping that you load.

Greg

 

[PanEuropean]

Hi Greg:

From strictly a technical point of view, loading WorldMap will give you a display when you zoom out to wide views. But, I don't think that is a good idea anymore (in 2005), because WorldMap is so old now. There is a pretty good probability that the information that WorldMap displays will actually be inaccurate and misleading (in Europe and the USA) - in other words, it won't show major roads that now exist, and you will see significant changes (disconnects) when the display switches over from the CN, CS or MG detail maps to WorldMap.

Better, I think, to just use a paper map for the wide views - less chance of seeing inaccurate information being presented.

WorldMap was brought out in the mid 1990s for a very specific purpose, and that was to provide a very general cultural overlay on the first handheld GPSRs that were available around 1995 or so. Since 2002, just about any GPSR that is sold has came with a basemap in it - so, WorldMap is now not much more than a historical curiosity. If it were up to date, then I would install it. But, it's way out of date, and if it is installed in an automotive GPSR today, there is the risk of doing more harm than good - i.e. creating confusion with out of date information.

Michael

 

[Possu]

I am off to the USA in October, to visit friends and will be hiring a car. I want to take my Nav 11/2610 and I am wanderring what mapping I will need and how much it might cost. I am currently using European City Navigator V6.

Cheers
Paul

Got exactly what you need: City Navigator North America V.6, unopened, sealed & with unlock codes.

Steve

 

[Greg Masters]

Got exactly what you need: City Navigator North America V.6, unopened, sealed & with unlock codes.

Steve

I don't think that it will work. The lock codes are specific to a GPS unit.

Greg