Good Sam GPS woes

[Vince-Charlette]

I recently planned an 8,000 mile trip with the Good Sam trip planner software. It is really immature and is quite difficult to change stopping points, can only accept 25 sites and offers a very shallow set of user options. After days of working, I planned the trip and downloaded it to my new Good Sam (Camping World) GPS. Fortunately, I had enough foresight to bring along my Garmin GPS. On all of my 5+ hour segments, the Good Sam unit was off by over an hour, and it proposed routes far from the fastest path. (All the "avoid" features are turned off.)
Is there a solution to my problems, i.e. dumb mistakes I've made? I'm ready to box up the Good Sam GPS and ship it back to Camping World!
Can anyone propose some robust trip planning software?

[Chalkie]

We have a Garmin Nuvi and smartphone and hard copy atlas. Sometimes for fun, I will run both the GPS and Google Maps on the phone. Google Maps wins every time for total accuracy, but both have some quirks. Disadvantage of using Google Maps is that if you are somewhere where you don't have data service, you cannot update your route. The atlas is our fallback and has been used more than once.

I will have to check a truck stop for the motor carrier atlas, on Amazon it is closer to $50 than $20. I like the idea of knowing clearances, etc. in advance. There is one railroad bridge in Texas that I literally stopped and watched, making sure several 18-wheelers made it under, before I was brave enough to try it. I still grit my teeth every time we go through there.

[cKarlGo]

Vince-Charlette wrote:
Thanks for the wisdom from you more senior members. So far it seems the best thing to do is travel with both a GPS and a good quality map by your side. I will definitely heed the advice to get the truckers road atlas at the next truck stop. And, I'll make sure I have the latest map update even though I recently bought the unit and downloaded the database during start-up. Thanks for your replies. Keep em' rollin!

My new Itasca came with the Rand McNally branded version of this GPS. While it's generally handy, it has shown a couple of quirks here and there.

1) If you run it for a long period of time (seems to be in the range of 3-4 hours), the GPS seems to lose position by about 1/2 mile. A restart of the unit corrects this, though it can be problematic if it happens at a time when you're having to make a lot of turns/exits/etc.

2) The Rand McNally lady sometimes gets confused about what she wants to say. On a recent trip, she would randomly shout "warning!" but I couldn't figure out what it was she was trying to warn me about. I restarted the unit and the problem cleared up.

My dealer is about to replace the unit because of issues with the physical buttons sticking, so I'll see if a newer one with (hopefully) later code will resolve these problems.

I keep an iPhone (T-Mobile) and an iPad (Verizon) handy in order to look for stops and the like. While the GPS has a lot of information in it, I find it easier to rely on Google and then retype addresses right into the GPS interface.

[Vince-Charlette]

Thanks for the wisdom from you more senior members. So far it seems the best thing to do is travel with both a GPS and a good quality map by your side. I will definitely heed the advice to get the truckers road atlas at the next truck stop. And, I'll make sure I have the latest map update even though I recently bought the unit and downloaded the database during start-up. Thanks for your replies. Keep em' rollin!

[jdb7566]

We Cant Wait wrote:
We've all become to dependent on computers to do our work for us. I'm still of the OLD SCHOOL, after 20+ years driving truck my most trusted routing guide with our MH is the Motor Carriers Atlas by Rand McNally. It's available at all truck stops for around $20. which is a WHOLE lot less then all these fancy GPS units that route you over fire trails, etc. The Atlas list low clearances, restricted routes, etc.

X2

[We_Cant_Wait]

We've all become to dependent on computers to do our work for us. I'm still of the OLD SCHOOL, after 20+ years driving truck my most trusted routing guide with our MH is the Motor Carriers Atlas by Rand McNally. It's available at all truck stops for around $20. which is a WHOLE lot less then all these fancy GPS units that route you over fire trails, etc. The Atlas list low clearances, restricted routes, etc.

[TinyoneRV]

I have a relatively inexpensive Garmin Nuvi. I plan my routes in segments with a map in front of me and use the GPS to keep me on the planned route. I never entirely trust the GPS with my motor home and my life. Once it routed me over a single-lane dirt fire-service road in the mountains. Google "Death by GPS" to read some horror stories. I think the problem the OP relates is inherent in the mapping systems and not unique to any brand. Also, I've tried two mapping programs that are supposed to transfer the plan to the GPS and never found them satisfactory.

[enblethen]

I have been using Microsoft Streets and Trips. I use it with the Pharos GPS antenna that came with it. I use the 2011 version. Microsoft is dropping S&T at the end of 2013 version.
I normally do the trip routing before leaving home then update the actual route every day or so on the road.
I use a Rand McNally 7710 GPS for each days travel.
Make sure you have the latest updates in your GS GPS which is from Rand McNally.

[Good_Sam_Care_T]

Hello Vince-Charlette,

Thank you for your time and post. If able can you please send me a PM with your contact information. I would like our executive team review and follow up with this situation.

Thank you in advance.

Marcus' Rapid Response Team
goodsamcs@goodsamfamily.com