RV GPS Buying Advice
Dave SolbergDescription
When it comes to buying an RV GPS for your rig, there are a number of factors to consider other than cost. For instance, do you know whether your trailer will have appropriate clearance on a designated route? Some GPS options can give you that information, others may not. Just one thing to keep in mind.
To help you find the best RV GPS for your specific needs and desired price point, RVing expert Dave Solberg teaches you about his favorite technology on the market. He explains why he thinks certain companies offer better devices, and runs through the list of factors you should remember when shopping for your mapping system, including battery life, campground directories and multi-destination routing. Do yourself a favor before you jump on the cheapest option out there, and consider Dave’s tips for proper GPS selection!
GPS navigational devices have become pretty standard not only in the RV industry, but in automobiles and trucks. We have them on our cell phones, we have them integrated into dashes. But I get this question a lot. What is the best GPS device for an RV? Now there's several that are out in the market. The ones that are pretty popular by most of the forums and that I've used personally. Magellan makes this larger seven inch. You can get it in, four and a five inch but I like the seven because in the larger RVs the dash is gonna be farther away. So it's a little harder to see. The things that I look for. And then there's some other ones out there. Magellan's one. We have Rand McNally , Garmin. All three of those are pretty good. The things that I look for in a GPS is first of all, I wanna find out, does it have RV settings? Can I put my height? Can I put my width? Can I put the weight in there? And this is gonna help route me around areas that I may have low clearance or issues with an RV. I also look to see if I can hook to any of the campground sources that are out there. The Good Sam Trailer Life, a directory. That's gonna give me places where I'm going to go. Now I can also have a battery life. Some of them are only about 30 minutes so I'm gonna have to have them plugged in. Some of them will go for two hours. Usually when I'm RV, I'm gonna plug this in, to some type of a power source on my dash or even hardwired on these larger ones. I wanna make sure that it has map upgrades that are free. Some of the price points you get each year you have to upgrade the different road constructions and the new roads have come in, that costs you money. So take a look at what those options are. And finally, I'm gonna look for multi-destination routing, and even points of interest. So price isn't always the factor in looking at the GPS, size and functionality for your RV.
Is there an iPhone GPS app that has the required features (like specifying your vehicle height)? My iPhone with Google Maps works great for me except for the not avoiding the low overpass kind of things.
The smart phones have many apps for navagation.
Megellan has the WORST customer service of any GPS company. I purchased a 7" RV GPS and approx 14 months later the company stopped supporting the model; both software & maps. Customer service was no assistance. Was on the phone hours trying to talk with resolve my issue. No support in the USA that spoke English. Recommend you NEVER purchase a Megellan product. Steve in Indiana
Only one or two of your sample Videos ran. The others won't load and will not run however your sponsor ads popup just fine. Think i'll find a better website
Being able to purchase an app to use your tablet or phone would be great
One disappointment I have with dedicated GPS equipment is their poor touch screen operation. Compare them to an iPad, iPhone. Dedicated GPS's are far more difficult in touchscreen operation. You should have addressed this issue.
Good
I'm interested in which GPS will work best for me
Going to purchase an RV GPS device and certainly considering all advice!