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[marpel]

As per another post, I am beginning to look for a new truck. Have been to a couple dealerships and have done some preliminary net Price and Build queries.

I have been surprised that not all/most new vehicles have in-vehicle GPS nav, outside of premium packages, and a salesman told me many get one of the packages with a monitor and no nav, but with the ability to sync with a cell phone, from which they use Waize (sp?) or other, in fact he said that's what he uses.

So, my question, which I did not think to ask at the time, how does this set-up work in areas with no cell service?

Marv

[Retired_JSO]

ktmrfs wrote:
you need cell service for phone/messages etc. For NAV all that is needed is GPS coverage as long as the map is already loaded into the device, and the cell phone will get that as will the NAV system even with no cell service. Now traffic info etc. needs cell service as well.

FYI, once the destination is entered into the phone and the desired route selected, cell service is no longer needed to receive turn by turn navigation.

[APT]

The market has/is going towards Phone->vehicle interfacing (Apple CarPlay, Android Auto). There are a lot of apps that allow offline data storage to not use cellular data while traveling, and the latest vehicles offer much larger screens to show the maps/directions/POI than the phone screens.

I personally use a combination of Google Maps and Waze. I prefer Maps for researching POI at a location and Waze for navigating/routing.

[marpel]

Funny enough, I always have a (large-ish) country/state/province map book in the truck when we travel and also will sit in a cafe and peruse the various routes available. We would then use the in-vehicle nav to lay out and follow the route to our next destination. Just seemed so much easier than having to rely on cell phone, cell service and paying a subscription fee. Don't have traffic et al, but I don't find that much of an issue. Bit of a luddite, I suppose.

Marv

[BarabooBob]

Maps are more fun. My wife and I sit in a restaurant and enjoy deciding where we want to go for the day. GPS and smart phone don't give you the big picture of where you are traveling. For us, it is a road trip to be enjoyed and we try to find really out of the way places to visit. We just happen to be dragging our house behind us.
We also like the strange looks we get because we still use paper.

[LouLawrence]

I still believe the most important part of any trip is planning before you leave! The GPS is a great reminder of upcoming turns, what lane to be in and the last turns to the final destination, but I already know what route I plan to take just in case the GPS decides I should take the route through downtown Toledo instead of the Interstate around the town (true story!). The live traffic data alone is worth having the system running. Someone posted earlier asking how much data was used. It is an extremely small amount. I measured it once a while back and I think a 250 mile trip used about 250 MB.

[Tvov]

wa8yxm wrote:
My Cell loaded the map at startup (With internet) then so long as you did not CLOSE the map app you were golden... I also have a darn hood geo-memory so even if I lost the phone map I was USUALLY at least silver if not Gold.

Now it's kind of hard for me to find "NO COVERAGE" spots.

That must be what has happened to me, closing down the map app and then trying to "restart" it while in a no-coverage area.

I have had Google maps on my cell phone many times tell me "no coverage" or "out of range" while traveling around New England, especially the mountains of Vermont.

I used to religiously bring a large map book when traveling... then it was printing out maps for our trips... then it was using a Garmin... now it is usually just using my smart phone with Google maps.

It is just so easy to use the smart phone, I've gotten away from everything else.

If satellites and cell towers ever stop working, people (including me) won't be able to find their way to the bathroom.

[ktmrfs]

philh wrote:
I have waze and a garmin 890. Truck nav is pretty much useless given the other two options. It does get interesting when they don't agree and I have I have to use that normally dead space between my ears.

A couple of times when towing our trailer (65ft combo overall) we hit stopped traffic. Luckily a call to onstar and they were able to download a turn by turn route to the gps around the traffic that was ok with the trailer.

The first time it was in an area I was familiar with and new the "typical" route around it was NOT a route for our trailer combo, and onstar downloaded the route I knew was ok with the trailer.

Other than that I agree, most vehicle GPS systems aren't as current as stand alone or google.

[Thunder_Mountai]

It's actually a simple answer... Up to date paper map, cell phone app and a GPS. Sometimes you will still find yourself cussing all three. I usually try to also preview my route/destinations using Google Earth and print a copy if it looks sketchy.

[Walaby]

Michelle.S wrote:
OK, someone tell me which Internet Map base you use that can let you input your RV's height into so it won't route under a low overpass???
My Garmin allows me to input height, weight, and length to keep me off of roads I shouldn't be on.
After all this is an RV Forum.

I use the Smart Truck Route app.

I think it's $100 for 3 or 4 years. Can't remember exactly.

Lets you set vehicle height, weight, length etc

Mike

[philh]

I have waze and a garmin 890. Truck nav is pretty much useless given the other two options. It does get interesting when they don't agree and I have I have to use that normally dead space between my ears.

[marpel]

Thanks everyone for the replies and all the info.

So, just so I am clear. If I use a cell phone and e.g. Waze, does downloading "the map" before I leave, mean a map of the whole U.S. or a map of the planned route (we routinely travel to/from Denver, Co and BC, Canada with unplanned deviations in routes/way-stops where no cell service is common)?

If an entire country/continent can be initially downloaded, then I don't likely need a traditional navigation system.

Marv

[chrisguld]

https://copilotgps.com/en-us/CoPilot GPS is an app that works offline AND is RV aware. You enter your height, propane etc. and it will route you accordingly. It's not free like Google or Waze. The RV version is $30/year.

[ktmrfs]

you need cell service for phone/messages etc. For NAV all that is needed is GPS coverage as long as the map is already loaded into the device, and the cell phone will get that as will the NAV system even with no cell service. Now traffic info etc. needs cell service as well.

[Michelle_S]

OK, someone tell me which Internet Map base you use that can let you input your RV's height into so it won't route under a low overpass???
My Garmin allows me to input height, weight, and length to keep me off of roads I shouldn't be on.
After all this is an RV Forum.