Any Luck gps.

has anyone had any good luck with these rv gps unit? Seems like no matter if its magellan, garmin or rand mcnally, everybody is having problems with them. I would like to buy one but I hate giving money away. Anybody like one more than the other?

Thanks...

I've had Garmin, Magellan and Tom Tom units but none specific to RV travel. With all three there has been situations where I couldn't find a location I was looking for by name. If I had an address, they all work pretty much the same. Getting around the touch screens can be interesting at times so it's best not to try it while driving. I currently have a Garmin Nuvi 1350 LMT (lifetime maps and updates) in the truck.
I seem to have better luck using my smartphone. Google Maps and directions with voice recognition. (Android)

Until I got my new truck with a great navigation system, I used either Google maps or Bing maps on my Android handset. Bing took the place of Google maps on the rare occasion it took me to the wrong place, Google was right nearly all the time.

I tried to teach my sister how to use her new Garmin, she finally gave up. I liked my smart phone much much more than her Garmin.

I have been using Garmen GPS for several years and several different models. They do not make a gps that is 100% correct. I always print out the route on goggle maps and then compare to see if they are the same or close. I also carry paper maps for all locations I will be driving through.
Don

I'm happy with our Garmin DEZL. I added an RV profile with the height, width, length and weight of the RV and it manages the routes pretty well. It keeps us away from low clearances and avoids toll roads and/or interstates if we set it that way.

I think all the majors buy the map data from the same source and have similar deficiencies because roads change and map corrections lag. I've updated the maps 3 times on this unit. Lifetime maps is worthwhile.

The Points of Interest loaded on the GPS make life simpler or harder. The DEZL POI database is oriented toward truckers. It includes lots of RV parks, but many are missing. I just added favorites for parks we'll be staying at on our upcoming summer trip and had to use addresses for about half of them. I've loaded favorites from mapquest.com in the past, but skipped that this time. Just compared the map on the GPS to the map on the computer to make sure the location was the same.

I have used Garmin GPS for many years and find it to work just fine. Routinely I update special points of interest files from http://www.poi-factory.com/ and http://www.lowclearances.com/ . Using these two web sites and with some careful planning I have been able to avoid the majority of the problems you might run into. The POI site is free while the low clearance site does require a membership fee but is is very reasonable.

I will also use Google Maps and the good old Rand McNally prior to any trip to a new area to double check routes.

I have used GPS systems since they were only available to the military which btw we have came a long way. On the beginning the systems we had were so user un-friendly we used them for weights to hold down our maps. Been thru many since to include civilian style for personal use and the Tom Tom XL so far has worked best for me. I use a truckers map for clearance as well as Allstays Low Clearance app on my smartphone.

i know i ask a lot of questions. just want to make sure i'm spending my money smartly. good sam has come out with the rvnd 7725. i know that rand mcnally makes it. i'm curious if anyone has her anything about it. it's not even on the rand mcnally website. that's alittle scary. i'm leaning more towards garmin's dezl. that seems to be the least problematic of the major brands, although i'm sure it has its share.

If that unit is kin to the 7710,,,7720 Rand McNally I would not have it. The screen is hard to see in daylight, even thou they say it has been improved. I had one new out of box and would not work correctly.. they wanted me to pay to return for service... I returned for refund and they still did not give full refund,, kept the tax money even thou they said it would be returned.

jimtoo said:

If that unit is kin to the 7710,,,7720 Rand McNally I would not have it. The screen is hard to see in daylight, even thou they say it has been improved. I had one new out of box and would not work correctly.. they wanted me to pay to return for service... I returned for refund and they still did not give full refund,, kept the tax money even thou they said it would be returned.

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thanks jintoo. think i'm just going to stay away from it. i really expected more from rand mcnally.

I have a pretty good sense of direction and can read a map if I need to, but I still have a GPS. Not so much for the directions, but to keep me advised of how much longer to my destination in real time. Also, I can monitor my speed without taking my eyes of the road to look down.

Milton and I got the Rand McNally/Camping World 7725 about 2 months ago. So far, we've used it on 3 trips, it's working great. You plug in specific info for your rv and it gives you routes where you won't have any issues with propane, clearance, sharp curves, narrow roads, etc. I have no problems seeing it in the day or night. It has a tutorial on how to use it, it is user friendly, you get free map updates when they come out. It's just like a regular GPS system but for rv's. Last August we drove our Aruba up to Long Island. I had gotten a trip-tik from AAA for RV use. It was wrong on several points, enough to make me want to burn it, and we had to drive thru downtown Baltimore,MD because we couldn't drive thru the tunnel due to the propane tanks. That was a harrowing experience that we would never attempt with this 5th wheel. We have a Tom Tom but it regularly gets directions wrong, so we don't use it.

If you have an android tablet, you may want to give CoPilot Live Premium a try for 9 bucks. The software allows you to input the height of your RV, and is supposed to route you accordingly. It also allows you to download the map information so you don't have to worry about using data or losing your cell signal.

I've downloaded it but haven't used it enough to have a strong opinion either way. Looks promising though.

I like my PC Miler GPS, I have the larger screen. This is a trucker unit and you can
set height, length, etc. It has many features compatible with RV driving. The POI is OK too.