Garmin 310D Euro Mapping

goonersnroses

Hey All,
Just bought the nuvi 310D and I'd like if someone could clear this up for me if possible

European street mapping: Yes
European major roads: No

Does this mean the nuvi is only useful for driving in european cities?

Krusty_Clown

The Nuvi 310 seems to include complete mapping, but only for a single country, or region (in your case, UK and Ireland). Have a look at the [In the box] and [Versions] tabs here: https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?pID=398&locale=en_US

goonersnroses

Krusty_Clown wrote:

The Nuvi 310 seems to include complete mapping, but only for a single country, or region (in your case, UK and Ireland). Have a look at the [In the box] and [Versions] tabs here: https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?pID=398&locale=en_US

I have the 310Deluxe model from halfords which I think has more mapping than the 310 but I think I might need a larger SD card as the one I have is only 256mb so maybe I couldnt get all the euro mapping I need on it?? can anyone confirm that?? I got European mapping on CD included in the box with UK & Ireland Preloaded! Here is what I got:

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_239687_langId_-1_CarSelectorCatalogId__CarSelectorGroupId__varient__categoryId_33962_crumb_31265-31468_parentcategoryrn_33962

Vireo

I also have the 310D deluxe and I too was worried that the strangely named "City Navigator Europe" CD would only include cities but it actually includes full European maps.

Use the Garmin Mapquest application to select blocks (areas) of the European map to transfer to your SD card. When you plug in the USB lead to your PC, the 310D itself appears as one drive and the SD card will appear as a different removable drive. On Mapquest there is then the option to transfer the selected blocks to the SD card.

The 310D unit has about 400Mb of space but the default UK and Ireland maps and other bits take up about 300Mb so there won't be a lot of space left to load any big maps. In any case it's safer loading to and from the SD card rather than risk losing pre-loaded data on the unit itself.

A 256Mb card will only hold one or two countries, depending on what you select - but this is not a big problem unless you travel around the whole of Europe regularly. In that case you would need a bigger SD card to load up most of Europe.

I drove around the south of Spain (not just cities) last week and I loaded the whole of Spain to a 256Mb card. Have to say the 310D deluxe was a dream to use in Spain and the maps were very detailed. Got lost a few times in some of the smaller towns but it's nice to know that the 310D is reliable and will guide you back on track no matter where you end up. I remember the bad old times of fiddling about with paper maps while stopped in the car on previous trips and discoverring that you don't have the right city maps etc. Stress in the heat. This toy is a dream! It's so portable you can stick it in your shirt pocket and put it on pedestrian mode in the cities.

By the way it works great in Ireland too. The bluetooth phone connection is brilliant and very easy to use (even in Spain!). Can't recommended it highly enough.

goonersnroses

That's some great info there vireo..Thanks!

I think I will unfortunatly need a bigger SD card as I'm travelling around europe for 5 weeks in the summer (main reason for purchase)...through france, to Barcelona, to Italy, Austria, Germany, Holland & Belgium. Unless I bring the laptop with me I could save say France then delete it and save Spain? would that work or would it just be handier to get a bigger SD card?

Cheers!

Vireo

If you have your laptop with you it won't be a problem as you can remove one country from your SD card and put on another (make sure you have the Mapquest application and the maps from the CD loaded on the laptop though!).

If you don't bring your laptop, then a 1 or 2 Gb card will cover all your maps - I just checked the size of all the countries you mention and it works out at about 900Mb so perhaps a 2 Gb card is safer.

One piece of advice - I presume you are driving but if you're not you will need to charge up the unit by plugging the 310D into a PC or Laptop USB connection for a few hours at least (unless you bought the home adaptor).

Also the language guide might be worth checking out at Garmin but perhaps a bit expensive at 75 dollars.

Enjoy your trip.

goonersnroses

Cheers Vireo!

I Think I might get the SD card just so I won't have to bring the laptop....less is more and all that....I'm driving alright, bit of a drive but should be ok over 5 weeks with my 310D loaded and ready beside me

Krusty_Clown

You can pick up a 1GB capacity SD card at 7Dayshop for around 10 euro, delivered.. Have a look here. 2Gb for 16 Euro delivered.

Vireo

Just to clarify - the Garmin application is called MapSource not Mapquest.

goonersnroses

Thats great guys thanks for your help...il get on to buying that 2GB SD now as well, thats a good price!