Hire Cars with 'Sat Nav'

[Martyvan]

Hi All,

Just wondering if anyone here has hired a car from Hertz with Sat nav?(Or any company) I am considering getting it when i travel to Melb and Adelaide in a few months, are they the factory inbuilt units? or portable GPS with suction cap onto the windscreen?

Anyway, just asking for opinions before i book it....

Cheers
Marty

[flappist]

Originally Posted by Martyvan

Hi All,

Just wondering if anyone here has hired a car from Hertz with Sat nav?(Or any company) I am considering getting it when i travel to Melb and Adelaide in a few months, are they the factory inbuilt units? or portable GPS with suction cap onto the windscreen?

Anyway, just asking for opinions before i book it....

Cheers
Marty

If it is a Hertz ford one they are great but the data is a bit old and some of the new freeways aren't there.
If it is the Nissan Maxima one it is utter crap and will drive you nuts as it will never shut up.

If you are doind several trips, buy one for yourself. The rental cost is $20-30 per day over the normal rental and you can buy a cheap one for $300

[csv8]

I hired a PT Cruiser with sat-nav in America. Was only an extra $10 a day. Well worth the $10. THRIFTY America use NAVMAN. very easy to use and would recommend sat nav, if not in a familiar area. It was the suction cup to windscreen type.

[Martyvan]

I am spending 3 days in melbourne, and 10 days in adelaide. So if it did work out to be $20-30 per day more expensive, it would certainly be better in the longer run to get it... I believe the quote was about $50 per day including sat nav though, will keep that in mind when booking though...
cheers
Marty

[BAWagonWheels]

the worst ever are the factory satnav in the rental VY-VZ commowhores. had one for the week on the gold coast. that satnav had tell us u-turn so many times i turned it off. it was only a guided black & white digital screen with no maps. also it did not tell you in advance the advancing direction was until you were close enough.

back home we got the tomtom one ii which is the best navigation i've used to date. i even got movies to play on it and customised splash screens and lots of voices.

[Scott]

I drive rentals a lot.... far more than the GT. I find the simple system in the Commodores to be about the easiest to use. Flappist is spot on with old maps, try fangin around Perth atm...... just a nightmare if you trust your trusty satnav.

Avis only have them in their cars (as do hertz IIRC). Europcar will hire the stick on ones.

[sarrge2001]

Just watch out with the hire car units. In a car we hired, someone had programmed a suburban house as "Airport" - luckily we had left with plenty of time to spare!!!

[Martyvan]

Originally Posted by sarrge2001

Just watch out with the hire car units. In a car we hired, someone had programmed a suburban house as "Airport" - luckily we had left with plenty of time to spare!!!

Thats quite amusing... But I will be sure to log a waypoint at the airport as i am leaving, that way it should find its way home

[MoreHPformyXR6]

Originally Posted by flappist

If you are doind several trips, buy one for yourself. The rental cost is $20-30 per day over the normal rental and you can buy a cheap one for $300

Are the cheapie GPS SatNav's any good say Mio C310 that Harvey Norman have at the moment for $399 after cash back plus bonus accessories. I want one that has fixed & red light cameras. Also can someone give me an overview of text to talk.
:eclipsee_

[Pedro]

Originally Posted by sarrge2001

Just watch out with the hire car units. In a car we hired, someone had programmed a suburban house as "Airport" - luckily we had left with plenty of time to spare!!!

There was a news article some months back that reported a couple hired a car in Europe and some clown had altered the program and the poor buggers followed it's instructions on a dark and snowing night and ended up down some valley on a dead-end road, got bogged and nearly froze to death.

[JACK250]

We had one in America which was great because the highways are like spaghetti over there, but we also had one in Commodore in Perth which was completely useless.

[JACK250]

*A Commodore