Using Navigator II outside the US

[JayW]

Our family is going to fly to Costa Rica for vacation, and will then be driving a rental car around the country. Would it be worthwhile to take my Nav II? I have no idea what it will do when I try to use it there. Of course it will not tell me what road I am on, but could I still use it as a compass? I would consider getting the software for that country installed if it doesn't cost much and is easy to do. Any ideas?

 

Thanks.

 

Jay

[AdventurePoser]

Our family is going to fly to Costa Rica for vacation, and will then be driving a rental car around the country. Would it be worthwhile to take my Nav II? I have no idea what it will do when I try to use it there. Of course it will not tell me what road I am on, but could I still use it as a compass? I would consider getting the software for that country installed if it doesn't cost much and is easy to do. Any ideas?

 

Thanks.

 

Jay

 

Google your name before you go....

 

Steve in So Cal

[JayW]

All right - I got very little response from this inquiry when I originally posted it last month, so I decided to just take the thing down to Central America and find out. We just got back today.

 

In case anyone is interested, here is what happened: I plugged my Nav II into our rental Toyota Prado SUV in Costa Rica and it powered up as usual, then shut down and restarted itself. I was surprised and pleased to see a map of Costa Rica appear, together with our current location.

 

Now, the maps were not detailed, but did have the major geographical landmarks, larger towns/cities and major roads. Note that many roads down there are just rocks and pieces of concrete holding the potholes together. The unit was not as accurate as I am used to in the States, with Betty (as my kids affectionally call the female voice) frequently chastising us as "off route". On one occasion we were driving right through a lake according to the GPS.

 

My wife thought bringing the unit along served only for comic relief, but I did all the driving and found it to be somewhat useful as a compass and general "about where are we?" guide.

 

In any case, I was surprised to find a map of the area of any sort, since I thought it only came with USA and Canada maps. I wonder what other countries are in there?

 

Jay

[smiller]

There is a Garmin product called WorldMap that covers, well, the world. No real city detail and no autorouting of course, but more data than the basemap and cost is only around $80.