GPS Southeast Asia

Latetom

Observer
Does anyone have experience with a GPS in South East Asia -- either by a specific country or the region in general? Would like to know how well the systems work. So far my search keeps taking me to Garmin. I do want a stand alone device that gives verbal directions (turn right in 100 feet, etc.)

We anticipate staying on paved roads (where they exist). It is not our plan to explore off road. We will visit national parks, tribal villages, and urban cities. We can't live without technology nor do we understand it. Five years ago I drove to the end of the road in Panama without a GPS -- this time I would like the ease of travel a GPS provides.

We will overland through all the countries of South East Asia beginning in early Dec. 2016 (after five months in Australia beginning in June 2016).
 

plh

Explorer
Not offline, but I've used Google maps in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, So. Korea, Thailand, Malyasia and Indonesia over the past 4 years.
 

Latetom

Observer
We drove using the Garmin. Very good except for one major issue. Twice it took us over an hour out of our way just to make a U-turn! The audio needs to say make a U-turn rather than just giving directions. In Australian cities we used the Garmin plus my wife's phone (Australian sim card) Google maps. Google maps is better but due to the limit cell phone coverage is not available in something like 70% of the country.
 

dlh62c

Explorer
For international travel Garmin rules. Third party mapsets can be found at Open Street Maps. Best of all the OSM mapsets are FREE. Downloadable by country.

The second half is Garmin's BaseCamp route planning software. You can build a database of your travels as well as those of others.YouTube has plenty of videos on how to use BaseCamp.

You can't beat a true GPS that will show you where your at, point you to where you want to go and if you have tracking turned on and displayed, where you've been, ALL at the same time.
 

Latetom

Observer
I like Garmin but unfortunately they are not close to perfect. They are not as good as other mapping software that rely on cell phones. Example:

Automobile Association of Malaysia, 225 Block 4, No. 7 Persiaran Sukan, Laman Seri Business Park, Section 13, 40100 Shah Alam, Selangor Darul Ebsen, Malaysia

Garmin could not help at all. However, Google maps and Waze (a taxi driver used this to help us) could give directions.

The biggest issue in SE Asia is the lack of addresses. Taxi drivers deliver you to buildings or malls or other prominent locations. Google maps you can type in ViPod Apartment and get directions (the Airbnb apartment we are staying in) however if you type in the address of ViPod into Garmin it takes you on a very long trip that doesn't end up at your apartment.

I have purchased my third set of maps -- India and hope it is easy to use and provides better information.
 

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