New GPS

[sayoung]

I WANT a new GPS for my TV.Currently have a Garmin and occasionally use my Iphone.Have an Ipad and a gps addon that I use in the plane.So is there a really good APP for rv'ers or is that RandMcnally on sale at Sams the way to go,or?

[slarsen]

Don't know if it would interest you, but Garmin has a new 'heads up' GPS that receives blue tooth info from your smart phone. The heads up unit is $150, may be available for about $130 if you shop around on the internet, and the Garmin App is around $40/$50 depending on your phone type and your choice of software. It isn't specific to RV's, though. Still, I find it tempting. You could take a look: google 'Garmin heads up GPS' and you can find reviews, etc.

[mwool]

We use both iPhone5 and the new Rand Mcnally . They both have their place and separate benefits. As stated, getting the RM set up correct if or your needs is key. Coming from Garmin was another learning curve but at this point we have developed a lot of trust in what RM does now. No nav is perfect!

Just FYI. DW will use iPhone sat image up ahead of us to understand which stations or exits we have ease room for our rig. RM seems to have an edge over iPhone finding WalMarts and helps to find which ones do not allow RVs or gives you phonenumberto call and check.

Before you buy the iPadversion I would call RM and find out what might be diff in operation. I.e. does iPad version need an active data signal to do a rerouteorother items....

[sayoung]

Duh,I went home for lunch and was looking at the Itunes store on my Ipad,there is now an APP by the RandMcnally folks that mimics the RV GPS they sell ,app is $99.I got to think about this as I have a Dual-GPS receiver for my Ipad now.
Looked at the Garmin but ship time is several weeks after ordering(?)and never found the TomTom rv one.will look again.
My current Nuvi has worked for a long time,its just I WANT ONE,Gotta HAVE IT CAUSE ITS COOL thing.Its not a need it to continue living.

[n7bsn]

Garmin has the new RV-760 LMT, and Tomtom has an RV specific GPS (sans some of the built in POI files that the Rand and Garmin both have.

If you are generally happy with Garmin, take a look at their new offering. (All GPSs can, and will, route you oddly or badly at times)

[TucsonJim]

We recently purchased a Rand McNally RV GPS and had some significant issues on our first trip. However, we were able to work with the company to get them sorted out. Kudos to them for being so responsive. Here's what we ran into:

Problem 1. During set up, it asks for the length of the Tow Vehicle and RV. The answer was not as simple as we thought. We put in 48 feet because that was the length from the front of our Tow Vehicle to the rear of our fifth wheel. However, the GPS calculated this as a full length commercial vehicle, and kept us routed to accepted truck routes only.

Solution: When setting up the unit, Select travel trailer or fifth wheel, then put in the length of your trailer or fifth wheel only. In our case, it was 28 feet. This solved the problem.

Problem 2. While on our first trip with the unit, it kept trying to route us down dirt roads. It was very frustrating.

Solution: There is an option in the set up menu to avoid dirt roads. Once this was selected, it solved the problem. Note: The dirt/paved road preference is buried deep in the menu set up, so it wasn't intuitive during set up.

Now that those two problems are solved, we'll be trying it out again this weekend with a trip to Flagstaff AZ.