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Thread: Rv gps

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    Rv gps

    Were finding that we lose our cell service in the mountains. Because of this we’re considering a GPS. All the articles on here are older. Does anyone have any current information or recommendations? Thanks!
    Al and Lee
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    Seasoned Camper towdriver's Avatar
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    Garmin dezl 770 or garmin rv 770. Both come with lifetime maps and traffic. You can also put your rigs length, width, height, weight and same for trailers if you have any. It has never steered me wrong in the 15 years I have been using them. I use them for work and personal vehicle.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Bookjunkie View Post
    Were finding that we lose our cell service in the mountains. Because of this we’re considering a GPS. All the articles on here are older. Does anyone have any current information or recommendations? Thanks!
    Some smartphone mapping software will allow you to download a map area to the phone (Google maps for instance). This way you can still use the phone for navigation without cell service.
    Last edited by srobins; 08-11-2020 at 06:25 PM.
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    Seasoned Camper fmartinmn's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by towdriver View Post
    Garmin dezl 770 or garmin rv 770. Both come with lifetime maps and traffic. You can also put your rigs length, width, height, weight and same for trailers if you have any. It has never steered me wrong in the 15 years I have been using them. I use them for work and personal vehicle. I agree with towdriver. We just completed a 2500 mi RT with the RV 770 and it did well, including giving us a warning that the bridge into the campground did not have a weight rating. The only problem we encountered was not having the 770 paired to my phone and not receiving real time traffic alerts. (2 hr delay). Otherwise it works well. Best of luck.

    Sent from my SM-G960W using Tapatalk
    I agree with towdriver. We just completed a 2500 mi RT with the RV 770 and it did well, including giving us a warning that the bridge into the campground did not have a weight rating. The only problem we encountered was not having the 770 paired to my phone and not receiving real time traffic alerts. (2 hr delay). Otherwise it works well. Best of luck.
    Frank & Jolynn Martin
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    Site Team WhittleBurner's Avatar
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    Don't those devices get messed up in the mountains. I know when you look at directions from campgrounds in the mountains they say to follow their directions and not go by your gps because they wouldn't be right.
    Marcy & Gary
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    Seasoned Camper SteveTN's Avatar
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    Google Maps does not take into account your height, length or width and will route you through places you shouldn't or can't go through. I use a Garmin RV-660LMT GPS and also have a trucker atlas. That has kept me out of trouble several times.
    Steve and Peggy
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    Seasoned Camper towdriver's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by WhittleBurner View Post
    Don't those devices get messed up in the mountains. I know when you look at directions from campgrounds in the mountains they say to follow their directions and not go by your gps because they wouldn't be right.
    Some times GPS will have it listed under different town then campground is listed under for mail purposes. Once I put in address I always hit info button which shows location on the map to confirm it's right place then hit go. Never been sent wrong yet by GPS but have had google maps route me over bridge that wasn't rated for my weight

    Sent from my SM-G960W using Tapatalk
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    Seasoned Camper fmartinmn's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by WhittleBurner View Post
    Don't those devices get messed up in the mountains. I know when you look at directions from campgrounds in the mountains they say to follow their directions and not go by your gps because they wouldn't be right.
    Did not have that problem in the Smokies this last trip. We are headed for the Rockies in a couple of weeks, I'll keep it in mind. Prior to relying on the 770 I did a test against Google maps on some local trips running both at the same time. One notable difference, on one test trip, Google would have had me doing a U turn on a 4 lane to get to my destination. The 770 had me do an early left and 3 rights to get to the same place without the U turn.
    Frank & Jolynn Martin
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    Mabel & Bailey, Golden Retriever Fur Kids
    2019 RAM 3500 CTD, CC, LB, B&W Turnover Ball, AirLift 5000 Bags
    2019 Solitude 3350RL S-Class, 4440# CCC, Reese 20K GooseBox, 8K EOH Disc brakes, RV Airflow, SoftStartRV, 2-206AH SOK batteries, Victron Multiplus II, Victron 30A DC2DC,790W of Solar, Flex Armor Roof, Blu Tech Water Filtration, BlazeCut Fire Suppression

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    Big Traveler boyscout's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by WhittleBurner View Post
    Don't those devices get messed up in the mountains. I know when you look at directions from campgrounds in the mountains they say to follow their directions and not go by your gps because they wouldn't be right.
    That's got nothing to do with elevation since the GPS continues to receive signals and update its display just fine. We've been to campgrounds on low ground that offered the same warning.

    So it's not a GPS technical limitation. It probably has something to do with municipal boundaries and/or shipping vs. mailing address issues in an area, these possibly being even more confused in scattered towns in mountainous areas.
    Mark - 2018 Solitude 310GK - 2017 F-350 diesel SRW short box - Pullrite Superglide hitch

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    Big Traveler boyscout's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bookjunkie View Post
    Were finding that we lose our cell service in the mountains. Because of this we’re considering a GPS. All the articles on here are older. Does anyone have any current information or recommendations? Thanks!
    We've bought a succession of top-model Garmin GPSs and had all of them do loopy things to us. Even after several repetitions of downloading and updating of maps and software the devices are very frequently wrong about speed limits, and somewhat frequently advise us to take peculiar routes that would add kilometers and minutes to our trip.

    I've been buying Garmins for about 20 years and had nothing but praise for them, but the later models we've bought have given us enough (mostly-minor) grief that we will rarely take the advice of one without checking it against something else. "Something else" is usually the truck's GPS and sometimes also another one of the Garmin GPSs that we own. Believe it or not, sometimes two Garmins don't agree on the route!

    Currently we have the RV770, RV660, and dezlCam trucker GPS in the truck, one or two of which we have on the dash while moving. All have given us the loopy and inaccurate information described above.

    The 770 is most often up because it has the best-looking display of the three with clear smooth almost-edge-to-edge graphics. The dezlCam has a forward-looking camera to record traffic in front of the vehicle; an advantage if something happens in front of you. All of them have lifetime maps and the dezlCam has lifetime traffic. The RV770 does not have onboard traffic capability.

    All three devices have features to guide you to avoid low bridges and over-weight roads. Reports generally are good - I've seen the odd report of failures but we've never been guided somewhere we can't go, FWIW.

    If you had suggested that you wanted to buy an RV GPS for the RV-related features they tout I'd have strongly advised against it. We've found the RV660 and RV770 both quite useless for planning ahead and even for finding places to stay nearby our current location. They don't provide nearly enough information to make choices about where to go. Mobile apps are very much more useful when you have cell service, and paper campground guides are better when you don't.

    Despite my complaints about the Garmin devices I don't have any reason to think that the competitors are any better; in fact I suspect they may be worse.

    Since I bought the 770 there is now a new Garmin 890 with an eight-inch display, and a 785 that has camera and traffic features, but neither has "lifetime maps" mentioned on the Garmin web site so there may be costs to keeping them going down the road. The 770LMTS I have is still available on the site and might be a good bet, but no camera and no traffic capability.

    Good luck with your choice.
    Mark - 2018 Solitude 310GK - 2017 F-350 diesel SRW short box - Pullrite Superglide hitch

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