Any GOOD RV-oriented dashboard navigator?
I've got a regular plain vanilla Garmin dashboard navigator my kids gave me for Christmas. It's ok, but it's not particularly customized for RV driving. I've just learned there are RV-oriented n...
Forum Discussion
Everything you're asking for is reasonable, but most of it is beyond the capabilities of a typical GPS device, even the RV/trucker ones. We have a Garmin 465T which is a trucker GPS that was the predecessor to today's Garmin RV ones. It steers us around towns using the "truck routes" which is part of what you are asking for. It also allows us to define the physical dimensions of our RV so we don't get directed to bridges that are too low, etc.
However, it announces roads in exactly the same way that all Garmin's announce them and most other attributes are the same as any other Garmin GPS. It has the ability to plan out routes in advance of being at a location but it is far easier to use Microsoft Streets & Trips on my laptop (or Google Maps) to do the same thing. It used to be possible to download Google routes to the Garmin, but I don't think the new Google Maps version has this feature.
For long trips I find it easier to plan the route using Microsoft Streets and Trips and then take "chunks" of it and transfer it to the Garmin. I can force the Garmin to take the route I want by putting in waypoints. As we get to one of my false waypoints (an arbitrary address in a town along the way) I skip over that location and proceed to the next waypoint. That way I still get the advantage of the Garmin's ability to use truck routes while being able to specify the particular choice of route.
For the trip we took yesterday I looked at Google's choices of route and compared them to what the Garmin had selected. In at least one case I noticed it had made a selection because it took us on a truck bypass around a small town. The Garmin's route looked reasonable so I didn't bother to change it.
However, it announces roads in exactly the same way that all Garmin's announce them and most other attributes are the same as any other Garmin GPS. It has the ability to plan out routes in advance of being at a location but it is far easier to use Microsoft Streets & Trips on my laptop (or Google Maps) to do the same thing. It used to be possible to download Google routes to the Garmin, but I don't think the new Google Maps version has this feature.
For long trips I find it easier to plan the route using Microsoft Streets and Trips and then take "chunks" of it and transfer it to the Garmin. I can force the Garmin to take the route I want by putting in waypoints. As we get to one of my false waypoints (an arbitrary address in a town along the way) I skip over that location and proceed to the next waypoint. That way I still get the advantage of the Garmin's ability to use truck routes while being able to specify the particular choice of route.
For the trip we took yesterday I looked at Google's choices of route and compared them to what the Garmin had selected. In at least one case I noticed it had made a selection because it took us on a truck bypass around a small town. The Garmin's route looked reasonable so I didn't bother to change it.
