Garmin RV 890

Pap and Mimi

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Joined
Jul 21, 2017
Messages
329
Location
Ky
My new RV 890 came this week and we programmed all the info it asked for, dear wife helped with measuring the lengths. I entered an address across town and proceeded to see how it routed me, to my disappointment, it took me on a narrow, curvy, unstriped county road (pig path as they are called in my area).
The reason for the purchase of the RV 890 was to avoid this very situation, since my F250 factory GPS seems to love tiny little roads, regardless of the setting (shortest/fastest/eco)

The RV 90 allows me to exclude: tunnels/ferries/toll roads/ highways but not "unstriped roads". Are there any recommendations on "settings" that I might be able to choose in the RV890 to help with this situation?
We are planning an "out west" trip next June and don't want to be routed on every unstriped road along the way, like we have been around Gatlinburg on past trips.
Thanks for any input.
 
My new RV 890 came this week and we programmed all the info it asked for, dear wife helped with measuring the lengths. I entered an address across town and proceeded to see how it routed me, to my disappointment, it took me on a narrow, curvy, unstriped county road (pig path as they are called in my area).
The reason for the purchase of the RV 890 was to avoid this very situation, since my F250 factory GPS seems to love tiny little roads, regardless of the setting (shortest/fastest/eco)

The RV 90 allows me to exclude: tunnels/ferries/toll roads/ highways but not "unstriped roads". Are there any recommendations on "settings" that I might be able to choose in the RV890 to help with this situation?
We are planning an "out west" trip next June and don't want to be routed on every unstriped road along the way, like we have been around Gatlinburg on past trips.
Thanks for any input.

Make sure to unselect shortest as that often takes those small roads to cut the distance. Also how is your vehicle set up from height and weight? Once we had that straight and the trailer/RV selected it changed the routes.


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Kevin & Deb. 2021 Reflection 320 MKS
2018 Ford F-350 Diesel SRW Platinum
 
FWIW, I never allow the GPS to determine a route without checking it out ahead of time, unless it's local.

You can download Basecamp and use it to create routes so you go where you want to go rather than where the GPS decides to send you. I have used it for
many years and it works well overall. Although the GPS can still go wonky now and again. :)
 
My new RV 890 came this week and we programmed all the info it asked for, dear wife helped with measuring the lengths. I entered an address across town and proceeded to see how it routed me, to my disappointment, it took me on a narrow, curvy, unstriped county road (pig path as they are called in my area).
The reason for the purchase of the RV 890 was to avoid this very situation, since my F250 factory GPS seems to love tiny little roads, regardless of the setting (shortest/fastest/eco)

The RV 90 allows me to exclude: tunnels/ferries/toll roads/ highways but not "unstriped roads". Are there any recommendations on "settings" that I might be able to choose in the RV890 to help with this situation?
We are planning an "out west" trip next June and don't want to be routed on every unstriped road along the way, like we have been around Gatlinburg on past trips.
Thanks for any input.

I don't have a RV 890 or any other 'dedicated' GPS device. My DW is 'dedicated' to being our navigator and GPS device. And she does an awesome job using the resources available to her. You have to remember that the data in the unit is only as good as the human that put it there.

As with ANY GPS device you should always "Trust But Verify". Following a tech device blindly is a recipe for disaster.

I was considering getting an 890 but we don't travel enough to warrant the expense. We are weekend warriors with a few 2-3 week trips sprinkled in. Besides, it would have put one more person in the unemployment line, my DW.
 
Make sure to unselect shortest as that often takes those small roads to cut the distance. Also how is your vehicle set up from height and weight? Once we had that straight and the trailer/RV selected it changed the routes.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Kevin & Deb. 2021 Reflection 320 MKS
2018 Ford F-350 Diesel SRW Platinum

Current settings are 12' tall, 8' wide, and 56' total length. Route is set to "fastest".

I like the GPS for the ETA shown on the screen, so I have a good answer to the question "when will we be there?" as well as the "traffic" feature to avoid sitting in gridlock. We were on I65 near Bowling Green one night when the GPS popped up and rerouted us, I chose to ignore it until my DW noticed no traffic in the oncoming lanes. We exited and went through town. Found out later that a bad wreck at I 65 / Green River (now I 165 I think) had all lanes blocked.
Thanks
 
We use a combination of Google maps and a motor carrier road atlas. The road atlas has never steered us wrong.
 
Current settings are 12' tall, 8' wide, and 56' total length. Route is set to "fastest".

I like the GPS for the ETA shown on the screen, so I have a good answer to the question "when will we be there?" as well as the "traffic" feature to avoid sitting in gridlock. We were on I65 near Bowling Green one night when the GPS popped up and rerouted us, I chose to ignore it until my DW noticed no traffic in the oncoming lanes. We exited and went through town. Found out later that a bad wreck at I 65 / Green River (now I 165 I think) had all lanes blocked.
Thanks

I'm really happy I got my Garmin RV860. And, like you, I really like the trip information. I like the elevation info too; at least it gives some indication of the route's hills and valleys. I also like that it posts informational messages such as upcoming delays, speed changes, etc. All-in-all it has treated us well.

I always double check the route so I know what to expect and to be sure it is some agreement with what I expect.

It hasn't sent me down any bad roads - yet. You can always "shape the route" too - that has come in handy sometimes.

I held out for a long time about not getting another GPS (I've had a few in the past), but after missing 2 turns I knew to make and having to make one too many u-turns to get back where I wanted to be I figured it was time to try out the newer RV GPS's. Besides, considering what we pay for an RV another few hundred dollars for some peace of mind and route assurance doesn't seem like too much to spend on an accessory.

I set my hight at 13' 6" and 102" wide (I needed too). Maybe up your stats a bit and see what happens??
 
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Resurrecting an old thread - sorry. Spent 4 solid days (plus time to learn BaseCamp) trying to get a route into the Garmin RV 890. Hopeless. Even routes generated in BaseCamp imported into the 890 result in a separate routes between each via. And they are all out of order in the 890 when I look at saved routes or addresses because apparently the Garmin assigns them order by distance from start point. If I had the time, I'd map the order in which they appear and see what route it would suggest - maybe I will.

I hit the magic 29 max WayPoints early so I manually split the trip into three separate trips in BaseCamp. Again, when loading into the 890, I wound up with 50 separate trips in an absurd order.

The 890 also appends a meaningless order number even though the order numbers are already in place from pick your trip planner. So Waypoint 1 is followed by Waypoint 35 and it goes down hill from there. and the actual Waypoints might say "23. 7. Dayton KOA" for example. Each Via-to-Via location is perceived as a separate trip so I now have 40 some-odd saved trips in no meaningful order. I'm struggling to find a use for this other than just a way to insure most up-to-date caution points. Took me two evenings to plot a 4500 mile 41 stop trip on RVTW. I do wish that was integrated with a GPS device (any thoughts?).
 
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Resurrecting an old thread - sorry. Spent 4 solid days (plus time to learn BaseCamp) trying to get a route into the Garmin RV 890. Hopeless. Even routes generated in BaseCamp imported into the 890 result in a separate routes between each via. And they are all out of order in the 890 when I look at saved routes or addresses because apparently the Garmin assigns them order by distance from start point. If I had the time, I'd map the order in which they appear and see what route it would suggest - maybe I will.

I hit the magic 29 max WayPoints early so I manually split the trip into three separate trips in BaseCamp. Again, when loading into the 890, I wound up with 50 separate trips in an absurd order.

The 890 also appends a meaningless order number even though the order numbers are already in place from pick your trip planner. So Waypoint 1 is followed by Waypoint 35 and it goes down hill from there. and the actual Waypoints might say "23. 7. Dayton KOA" for example. Each Via-to-Via location is perceived as a separate trip so I now have 40 some-odd saved trips in no meaningful order. I'm struggling to find a use for this other than just a way to insure most up-to-date caution points. Took me two evenings to plot a 4500 mile 41 stop trip on RVTW. I do wish that was integrated with a GPS device (any thoughts?).

I had a 51 stop trip last year. I used RVTW to plan all the stops and keep my notes for each stop. The evening before the next day's trip I would enter my destination on the RV890, let it plot the trip, double check that was the way I wanted to go (modified it if necessary) and followed the GPS' directions the next day.

The whole idea of trying to preload a trip into a GPS seems to be too much work for me. And if I modify my trip then it was wasted time.
 
I had a 51 stop trip last year. I used RVTW to plan all the stops and keep my notes for each stop. The evening before the next day's trip I would enter my destination on the RV890, let it plot the trip, double check that was the way I wanted to go (modified it if necessary) and followed the GPS' directions the next day.

The whole idea of trying to preload a trip into a GPS seems to be too much work for me. And if I modify my trip then it was wasted time.

I read your past post on how you use it - and that's about what I figure to do - about the only way I can see it useful.
 
I've used Mapsource, which is now Basecamp, and it works flawlessly, with only an occasional hick-up. I've done a 6-week trip mapped out with no issues, all stops in place. I'm not sure I understand why you're using "waypoints". I use a Start point, then Stops, along the way. Upload the whole route into my Nuvi and BOOM, done. It is possible that you've got different settings in Basecamp vs the GPS, that will tend to mess things up a bit.

Hit me with a PM and I'll try to help out. RV Trip Wizard is all online, I like to keep most of my stuff local.
 
Hit me with a PM and I'll try to help out. RV Trip Wizard is all online, I like to keep most of my stuff local.
Howard,
I agree with keeping things local but with only 32 gal tank, felt the need to include fuel stops as VIA points. Think I've cracked the nut of creating my trip in RVTW, exporting the gpx to BaseCamp, and downloading successfully to the Garmin without exceeding the 29 waypoint limit but including all 41 stops for one trip. We'll see how this works out for trip 1.
Thanks,
John
 
Glad you got it worked out. I need to look at RVTW a bit more. I just created, and sent to my Nuvi, a trip down to the Hill Country in Texas. "Start" at Home, "Stop" at Bandera, and two RV park overnights. Took about 10 minutes, but I don't do the fuel stops, so that does make a difference. I'll try to get around and do the same trip in RVTW and see how it goes. But you know how it goes when you're old and set in your ways. :)
 

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