RV-friendly GPS instructions?

[whoot]

I was going to a friend's house, to show her my tow vehicle, and my little Garmin unit had me taking all kinds of twisty steep-incline roads right through the center of the little city she lives near. There was an a longer, but much flatter path, had the Garmin unit simply took me around the little city. I was thinking the whole time, what a disaster it would have been, had I been towing a trailer.

Is there a GPS unit that gives more RV-friendly instructions? Something where it takes the easiest to drive path, instead of the shortest path? Commercial truckers probably have the same problem.

EDIT:

Answer may be here: Does the mapping software in my device have truck routes?

"The nuvi 465 and dezl series devices will allow you to create a custom truck profile to enter the specifics of your truck, such as height, weight, length, and other restrictions."

[neparker]

Rand McNally makes one that you can set for different kinds of RVs. It's a little slow to load, but won't send you where you won't fit, and avoids the kind of route you experienced.

-- Anne



Sent from my iPad using Fiberglass RV

[whoot]

Garmin actually makes a GPS for RV's: Amazon.com: Garmin RV 760LMT Portable GPS Navigator: GPS & Navigation

and here is one with a backup camera: Amazon.com: Garmin RV 760LMT with Wireless Backup Camera: GPS & Navigation

[rgrugg]

A GPS is a wonderful device but........ I always compare the directions with a map or with what you know. Example: I live north of Grand Rapids, MI and my son lives in Indianapolis which is about 300 miles. He's lived there for 23 years but I still use my GPS because I like to know how many miles are remaining. If I don't do anything, the GPS programs me around by Gary, IN to I-65. I don't want to go around Gary so I program Kokomo as an intermediate point and it routes me exactly the way I intend to go. After you enter your destination, review the whole route as the device plans. If you don't like it, put in some intermediate points or specify that you want the least traffic route or the fastest route or whatever you might like to avoid.

[Rich Ess]

I have a Garmin 760 LMT (LMT = Lifetime Map Updates and Traffic) and I like it a lot. I can put in my TV + trailer characteristics and presumably it will route me around obstacles.

I can tell it to avoid toll, non paved, etc. I suspect all modern GPS units will do this. It can route me the fastest way or the most Eco way. The easiest way in not an option, how could it know what I think is the easiest?

As RGRugg said, I can put in waypoints to force it to the route I prefer. Depending on what I want, multiple way points may be required.

I really like is the ability to plan trips in advance. I can create multiple trips (I usually do one trip per travel day) and specify all the waypoints I want well ahead of traveling. Then I call up the desired trip and go. When I do this, it asks which destination to navigate to because I may be resuming the trip rather than starting at the planned start point. It took me a couple tries to realize that I needed to put in my next waypoint, not my final destination. If I picked my final, then it ignored the waypoints.

I have the version with the wireless rear view camera but I don't use it yet because of an electrical fault in the trailer. If you get the bundled GPS + camera, you save about $50 over buying them separately.

This is the best GPS I have owned. It's easy to use, has a very large bright screen, voice navigation, Bluetooth, etc. It's the first built-for-purpose GPS I've used in 5+ years. The technology has come a long way!

I have not seen or used any competing GPS units so I cannot compare.

[whoot]

Originally Posted by Rich Ess

I have a Garmin 760 LMT (LMT = Lifetime Map Updates and Traffic) and I like it a lot. I can put in my TV + trailer characteristics and presumably it will route me around obstacles.

I can tell it to avoid toll, non paved, etc. I suspect all modern GPS units will do this. It can route me the fastest way or the most Eco way. The easiest way in not an option, how could it know what I think is the easiest?

As RGRugg said, I can put in waypoints to force it to the route I prefer. Depending on what I want, multiple way points may be required.

I really like is the ability to plan trips in advance. I can create multiple trips (I usually do one trip per travel day) and specify all the waypoints I want well ahead of traveling. Then I call up the desired trip and go. When I do this, it asks which destination to navigate to because I may be resuming the trip rather than starting at the planned start point. It took me a couple tries to realize that I needed to put in my next waypoint, not my final destination. If I picked my final, then it ignored the waypoints.

I have the version with the wireless rear view camera but I don't use it yet because of an electrical fault in the trailer. If you get the bundled GPS + camera, you save about $50 over buying them separately.

This is the best GPS I have owned. It's easy to use, has a very large bright screen, voice navigation, Bluetooth, etc. It's the first built-for-purpose GPS I've used in 5+ years. The technology has come a long way!

I have not seen or used any competing GPS units so I cannot compare.

Your post confirms all the good things I have read about the RV 760LMT. It skipping the waypoints sounds a little weird, unless it automatically continues to work its way towards the final destination (via the waypoints). Thanks

[Byron Kinnaman]

Actually I've never found anyplace that I couldn't go with my 13' Scamp.

[Rich Ess]

Whoot,

The problem was operator error.

Let's say I have my trip set up to go from A to B with waypoints 1, 2, 3, and 4. If I simply start at A and say navigate the trip, it will take me to all the waypoints and then to B.

But if I decide to stop for lunch after waypoint 2, when I come back I need to resume my trip. The 760 seems not to remember that I've been to 1 & 2, so it asks for the next destination. I can select 3, 4, or B. (Maybe 1 & 2 as well.) If I say my next destination is B, then it navigates directly to B without bothering with 3 & 4. The appropriate response is to tell it that my next destination is 3. Then it takes me to 3, 4, and B.

Just like everything in life, it's easy if you know what you're doing.

Rich


Sent from my iPhone using Fiberglass RV

[Roger C H]

I used to have a Magellan. In Brea, it kept taking me back and forth about a half mile from my intended destination. "Please make a U-turn at your first opportunity." Driving in Hollywood, CA killed it.

Now I have a Garmin 50LM. It doesn't have truck mode and it does take you some interesting ways. Going to the Red Lobster in Ventura, CA, it took us down Strobe St. which has a speed bump every hundred feet it seemed.

Wanting to go to Wenden, AZ, the Garmin offered me Wendeng, Shandong. Here I thought that I had only the lower 48 states. I didn't know China was part of the US!

I often get the chance to go to Puerto Rico and other exotic spots with my Garmin. When computers first came out, we used to call them, "Dumb Boxes." It seems that that name is still appropriate in some cases.

We just consider it part of the entertainment when traveling. We also get a laugh out of her pronounciation of names.

[Andrew Gibbens]

GPSs are known as SatNavs here, so signs like this are springing up everywhere: