I have whatever the base model is that garmin offers. It works great in areas that haven't been changed in a few years. The only places where I have encountered any trouble is Houston and Dallas. I have driven with it in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Iowa, and Indiana and those have been the only two cities that have given it any trouble. I didn't have to pay to download any of the maps for it. I find that it still helps to look up directions before hand and look over them just so you have a basic idea of where you are going and then keep them in the glove box just in case your GPS tells you to do something crazy.