I-PAD

You can't go wrong. Easy to use, reliable, big screen.
There is little not to like.

You will be connected all the time.. using up your plan minutes.. I think...

Most plans allow 5 gigbytes (GB) per month of data usage. If you go over the 5GB you pay extra and it can get costly.

5GB equals about two 2 hour movies. The navigation applications use a lot of data because they are constantly reconfiguring the map and other data as you travel.

The good thing, once you access a WiFi site (RV Resort, Starbucks, McDonalds...etc) the data usage over the 3G or 4G cellphone network stops so you're not eating up your data plan.

We are heavy users and as long as we don't download movies we are able to stay under the 5GB limit.

Between the iPhone and iPad I rarely use my laptop or PC any more.

PF&PM wrote:
You will be connected all the time.. using up your plan minutes.. I think...

Depending on your plan I don't think GPS or Wifi use "minutes" . Most plans (I have VZ) have GB download limits. Usually 5-10G per month. That said, the GPS is a true GPS and can be used without a plan at all - provided (and this is important) you use preloaded or locally stored maps as opposed to streaming maps. If you do that it won't affect your minutes or GB parameters. If you stream maps then yes it will use your GB useage and some maps are HUGE in terms of data storage size. The biggest hurdle I see is mounting it to the dash. But I am sure there are a ton of aftermarket solutions for this. Ipads are awesome. I pan on getting rid of Satellite altogether and using the Ipad for on demand programming, movies, and monitor my business while on the road.

You can use a downloaded GPS that does not use data so that is not a problem.

Also be sure to check out some great apps like:
RV Park Finder
Woodall's
RV Parks
iExit
Road Ahead
Rest Area Guide
Truckstops
AllStays Diesel

As for mounting, take a look at the various cup holder based mounts. No holes to drill or screws to leave marks.

Just be sure that your Ipad has the google version of maps. The apple version is not worth the plastic it is in.

There are many apps like CoPilot live. I use it on my Acer Tablet, which does not use a cell phone plan only wifi. wifi is only needed for maps. CoPilot live downloads the maps so the only connection to wifi needed would be to download the maps and program. There should be a version for Apple. I also have a Verizons and ATt wifi card, I can use, and CoPilot live takes very little off my plan.

Your Ipad must be a wifi/3g model. Even though you will not
be using the 3g, this ipad version has a GPS chip in it that will
use satellites for navigation.

Also check out an app called "HEMA" USA maps. It is
9.99 but it replaces the need for an Atlas. As to the
apple version of maps, I think it is better. However, if
anyone is so stupid to depend solely on any GPS to to
anywhere, they probably will have a bad outcome.

As others have indicated both Apple Maps and Google Maps require a live internet connection at all times. They download maps dynamically (for the most part). There are alternatives at additional cost that will actually load the GPS map data on the iPAD itself. These can be used without an internet connection for navigation. There are two that come to mind Tom Tom and CoPilot.

in a word, GARMIN
bumpy