GPS for road trip in the US

MaxTravels on 25/01/2017 - 14:54
Last edited 25/01/2017 - 14:59

Planning a 2 week road trip in the US - first time to the states.

Looking for the best budget way to navigate? Our trip will take us from LA to San deigo, Las Vegas, Death Valley, Yosemite, San fransico, big sur and back to la. Picking the hire car up at the airport in LA.

Been looking at purchasing a US SIM card for our phones so we may have Internet (not sure what coverage is like when we leave the cities and in the desert).

Any thoughts? Could buy a cheap gps or borrow one from a friend and buy the US maps for it? Or just rely on google? At l set everything is in English (not like our previous road trip around France). Refuse to pay $200 to hire one from the rental agency ;)

Travel

Comments

  • hashtagbargain on 25/01/2017 - 15:05
    +4

    Mate borrow/buy a nokia lumia phone with built in maps. Link - https://wego.here.com/

    Or if you have space on your iPhone - download here maps for the USA and wherever else you are travelling. (its free and works offline too for whenever you dont have coverage)

    I'd highly recommend it!

    • Cheap Charlie on 25/01/2017 - 15:09
      -1

      Or if you have space on your iPhone - download here maps for the USA and wherever else you are travelling.

      My thoughts also.
      If you have a tablet with built in GPS, that may also be an alternative

  • MaxTravels on 25/01/2017 - 15:12

    I have an iPhone and iPad, both with loads of space. Have downloaded maps before but didn't think about downloading to use as a gps (used maps for finding my way on foot). Think this is the best budget way to go.

    The banks for the quick response.

    • hellbound on 25/01/2017 - 15:24
      +1

      If you do get a sim it'd be worth using google maps over an offline one. The rerouting for live traffic and roadworks is much better over there and comes in useful around LA and San Fran

  • bottletop on 25/01/2017 - 15:13

    I have a GPS with US maps that I was going to upload on EBay in the next few days. As new, used for a 3 week trip last month. It's a Magellan Roadmate.

  • atris17 on 25/01/2017 - 15:25

    Why not used GOOGLE MAP offline?

    I download the whole NZ map for my roadtrip last December

    I am still amaze how it can tract your car movement and give direction, while there no interent acess (NO INTERNET, 4G)

    Check your google map app, there an download function

    • jelko on 25/01/2017 - 17:49
      +2

      It uses the GPS in your phone to track your car movement.

      • Flying Ace on 25/01/2017 - 18:19

        Not sure why you were negged - this is true!

  • [Deactivated] on 25/01/2017 - 18:26

    Tomtom GPS includes worldwide maps
    much better than any "phone"

  • Stewardo on 25/01/2017 - 21:42

    I bought an Australian Navman and rented the North America map thru the website. Claimed the gps Cost on my tax as I now use it for work.
    Bought a prepaid sim for tmobile https://www.travelgear.com.au/usa-sim-cards/
    Found mobile data patchy when on the interstate, I know you can preload maps but find GPS much easier as I drive around for work in oz and prefer it to google maps for navigating hours at a time. I always use Google maps/trip advisor to find destinations, gas stations hotels restaurants etc and then just transfer address into Navman.

  • HardQuiz on 25/01/2017 - 21:54

    Are you in Sydney/Central Coast area ?

    I have an updated GPS and don't mind sharing it

  • Gunther on 25/01/2017 - 22:01

    Unlocked phone + buy local (AT&T or Verizon prepaid SIM).

  • djkelly69 on 25/01/2017 - 22:57

    About 8 years ago I found the closest Radioshack to the first hotel I was staying at in LA, and did a click and collect for a GPS. Getting to the first hotel had to be done using a Google maps printoff (and hoping we didnt get too lost). That was obviously before phones were a viable option, but these days you could use data on your phone for that bit.

    Last trip (last year) I just got a US sim with like 7gb of data, so just used Apple maps on my phone. Also had Here Maps (not certain on name, it has changed a few times) as a backup, as it was free and allowed you to download the maps for a particular region/s in advance.

  • modsec802 on 26/01/2017 - 07:00

    Vodafone $5 roaming and Google Maps with live traffic: wouldn't do it any other way.

  • Hayesy22 on 26/01/2017 - 09:45

    Last year we just used a US sim card and google maps with offline maps as back up. The app I used for offline maps was maps.me
    We are actually flying out again tomorrow and will be doing the same thing

  • MaxTravels on 26/01/2017 - 09:56

    Download maps.me - check,
    Download google maps of the cities we will visit before going - check,
    Local sim. How do you recommend getting a local sim? Before we go. Or when we arrive? Can you buy them at the airport or just go after we have checked into our motel?

    • Hayesy22 on 26/01/2017 - 10:30

      The easiest way is just purchase local, I got mine this time from simcorner.com. The best Value way is buying from amazon and having it delivered to your hotel. Another thing you will need to decided is which network to go with T-mobile(Similar to optus) or ATT (Similar to Telstra).

  • kaos on 27/01/2017 - 17:35

    I was in the USA in July last year. We rented a van from Avis and got a GPS for $5 per day extra. It was actually a mobile phone and included unlimited data and a huge number of international minutes.

    So we had
    Wifi in the car and hotel room (took it out)
    GPS in the car
    Phone calls home

    all for $5 per day. Sorry I don't know if this is still offered. I also got a SIM Card from Sim Corner but obviously didn't use it much!

  • MaxTravels on 29/01/2017 - 18:07

    $5 is pretty good value I think. Guess we won't know if that deal is offered until we arrive.

    I'll download the maps, and make sure I have enough info in google maps to get us from the airport to our motel (my biggest concern is getting to the first motel, tired and jet lagged…). Then try and buy a mobile sim. Might talk to the motel about having a SIM card delivered from amazon… maybe

    Anybody recommend a network for California and Nevada?

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