Our newest GPS unit is more than 4 years old and getting glitchy. We have always used Garmin (except for the VERY first little guy we ever purchased, which was a TomTom) and they have been reliable and fairly intuitive to use. My Wish List would include Lifetime Maps and the ability to configure for the size of the vehicle and towed ... but we have been getting along without that for years. I always travel with the paper atlas on my lap and can anticipate problems. What units are getting rave reviews from all you folks just now????
Carol,
We have the Rand McNally RV unit. You can do all that you want with it EXCEPT it ignores what you have entered sometimes. IE Directed us through a small town centre that was not suitable for a 30' vehicle let alone a combined train length of 65'. Also sent us through Mobile AL which was an hour extra from the direct route. Also it has a feature to warn you - incessantly - about being oversized for some states. Does not mention which ones though. Lastly it will tell you what is at the next junction, just as you pass it!! All this has happened since the last two updates.
Keith
Carol,
Last year I purchased the Garmin RV760LM , 7" screen, Bluetooth, lifetime maps, local weather etc, small rear camera(wireless, so I will be using it as a side cam) it even warns you about any school zones coming up.
Geoff
Our RM7710 is much less reliable since the last couple of software updates. Not one I'd recommend.
X2 on the Garmin RV760LMT. We're not GPS "experts" by any means, but it seems to work good. We bought ours last Nov. on Amazon (prime), but recently I've seen it advertised cheaper. Watch for it on sale!
Be aware that the first full "Maps" download/update took over 5 GB of our monthly data allotment. Best to do it in a place where you have a good, strong WIFI signal.
Amazon.com: Garmin RV 760LMT Portable GPS Navigator: Cell Phones & Accessories (http://www.amazon.com/Garmin-760LMT-Portable-GPS-Navigator/dp/B00CZ6WFXM/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8)
Google Maps on iPhone or iPad has been our guide. Works great and always up to date.
Ditto. We use the RV760LMT in the coach and a Nuvi 765 in the cars. I've been pleased.
RV760LMT: The voice command sometimes works, but I seldom use it. The weather overlay via bluetooth from the iPhone is handy for locating the edges of bad weather. I set our rig as 8.5' wide, 55' long, and 12.5' high. Routing appears to honor those numbers. ETAs are accurate if you don't plan to stop. I know how much time to add to ETAs for our normal travel patterns. Speed limit displays mostly correspond with posted numbers. If bluetooth is on, be prepared for the the RV760 to "ring" on an incoming phone call. You can use it as a hands free device, but I prefer to use the iPhone and bluetooth hearing aids. "Lane assist" for upcoming highway interchanges is very good.
Updates for each Garmin device are 4-5 GB. I've found that our city library is the best place to do updates. Their WiFi is way fast and unlimited for volume.
Until you get to a place where you don't have a Internet connection, then satellite-based GPS works better. We use
both! ^.^d
We use a Garmin Dezl 760, the trucker version of the RV 760. It is exactly the same unit, just the POI databases are different. The Dezl has more ATA trucking POIs (like truck service locations), the RV has a larger campground database. Both can be set for your length, width, and height, vehicle type if you want to use it in the car. I can't recall if weight is in there as well or not.
I still verify the route via Google Maps/satellite view if it's one we haven't taken before and includes smaller roads. I always review the route into a campground this way.
You may need to add an SD card to the Garmin unit for the large map files these days. We do have lifetime maps and traffic on ours, but use the Waze app on our phones for traffic/construction/road hazards/etc. We find the Waze more accurate and informative, real time.
We use a Dual satellite signal receiver that "talks" to an iPad 2 with resident maps of North America using CoPilot HD. YOu can customize to your profile of rig, or car or whatever. You can set your preferences for roads such as Interstate then US then State but NO County roads. We have found this works great, allows great planning of the route as well as alterations, waypoints or quick stops. Having the maps resident ensures I don't have to worry about the strength of a cell signal. My coPilot (DW) likes the indicators of which lane is best when we are crossing big cities. We also back everything up with another 7 in Garmin and some pre trip planning using google.
X4 on the Garmin RV 760LMT.
We have a Ram Mount fastened to the dash and we have anIPad pro about 1 foot from the driver and we use Google Maps and find this is better than all others We have used.. Yes when you travel to areas that do not have Celluar then I am back Delorme on my lap top. Jim
A better GPS routing is the result of much more than meets the eye. It may select more right turns then left for safety, choose route based on historic time of day traffic, automatically respond to local traffic problems, etc.
Another nice feature is touch screens that respond to sizing finger squeeze & swipes like smart phones and have higher resolution.
Our latest Garmin 2699 is the best GPS we have owned. It give directions like turn at stop sign, traffic light, Shell station, etc. Price includes lifetime maps and traffic updates which they announce when available.
And having a current points of interest makes finding our way in a new town much easier.
Our vote is a new Garmin. We purchase ours at Costco, which stands behind their products for a long time. Today we saw the Garmin 2599LMT $170.
We have separate mounts in our Jeep and motorhome and move the GPS between them. Motorhome driver has the Garmin and the co-pilot uses Delorme on a dash laptop for redundant navigation. Our 2012 Jeep Grand was built with factory OEM Navigation, but it is so difficult to operate, we use our Garmin on a beanbag mount in the Jeep.
Don't forget to always have one of these ($7 at walmart??) The 2016 Road Atlas (http://www.randmcnally.com/product/road-atlas)
(https://www.foreforums.com/imagecache.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.randmcnally.com%2Fimages%2Fimg-protean%2Fhero%2FRA16_640x430.jpg&hash=693b75cc3f1e02f6d6870cc8bbb73c78" rel="cached" data-hash="693b75cc3f1e02f6d6870cc8bbb73c78" data-warn="External image, click here to view original" data-url="http://www.randmcnally.com/images/img-protean/hero/RA16_640x430.jpg)
The Garmin App on my iPhone and IPad, no cell connection needed, always with me, whichever size I want at the time. Same GUI as the NUVI, $50.
The FMCA atlas as a backup.
Barry mentions an important feature for those of us new to coaches. We were headed to a campground we had used in the past and the Garmin showed an exit before our familiar one. We knew the area and so we took it to see what was up since the unit was also new to us. It routed us to a left turn instead of a right turn into the gate. The angle of the turn required could not have been made without backing had we taken the familiar exit nor could a big rig have done so. It would have been quite the fiasco on that busy street not being proficient with our turning radius, dropping the towed etc. I really enjoy Garmin and use the earlier version in the towed.
See this thread as well for what a "big rig aware" algorithm will do Garmin RV 760 LMT (http://www.foreforums.com/index.php?topic=24433.0)
I bought a Garmin camper RV-660 GPS on eBay for $200 and have been using it for three months. It came with detailed maps of USA and Canada, but less detail for Mexico. I purchased it to replace an RM 510 which was never identified by the RM docking program on Windows computers (yes several) or on a Macbook. This meant that I could not get map updates. I sent it to Rand McNally who returned it un-repared. While RM indicated that it had been repaired, I still could not update the maps but what made it worse was that it would just FREEZE (every day) when travelling, sometimes very inconvenient. It never froze over two years before the repair.