Best GPS device - going to CHINA, THAILAND, INDIA, GERMANY

[AndrewT1]

Hi,

I am going travelling overseas. I will be backpacking through thailand, china, india, then to western europe, then through eastern and southern africa.

I am looking at purchasing a GPS device to navigate me through these countries. As i will not have a constant power supply, i am also trying to find one with a long battery life.

Currently the only products that fits my description are Garmin devices, as Garmin is the only company i can find that will sell maps to china and thailand. I cannot find anyone that will sell me maps to india. But it is expensive to buy the maps as Garmin wants almost 200 for China maps, 200 for south east asia maps (for thailand) and then 200 for western europe. In the Garmin range i am thinking i should purcahse the nuvi 500 as it has 8hrs battery life.

I was told that nokia will sell you maps of the world, through there Ovi maps. But i dont know of any phone that has sufficent battery life to last me more than a couple of hours using constant turn by turn navigation. The only way to solve this problem would be to buy 4 batteries with a phone, or gettin an external battery source such as the power gorilla. If so, i would be thinking about buying a 5800 navigation edition.

Can anyone think of any other options?

[DerekF]

Hi Andrew,

Are you planning to drive in most of these countries? If not, then I would probably go for the Nokia Maps solution, if you have a Nokia that is. It's more than good enough for a few directions when you're completely and utterly lost. It should be cheaper too, and from our experience, the Nokia phones with an internal compass work better when you're on foot than a portable nav device designed for cars.

[AndrewT1]

Yeah we were thinking of using it while we were on foot, rather than in a car. We might use it while we are on buses/trains aswell, just to get a general idea of where we are going. Do the phones take a while to get directions? How long did your battery life generally last when you were using it. So the maps are fairly accurate, and the nokia devices generally work correctly. What sort of nokia phone were you using? Thanks again for all your information. Andrew