What weighs 15 ounces; is the size of a deck of cards and could possibly save an RVers marriage? Let me give you a scenario. You’re driving your 35-foot RV on a congested four lane highway, during rush hour, somewhere you have never been before and your better half is your navigator. You miss your exit and now you need to go 25 miles out of your way to get back on the correct route, arguing about whose fault it was the whole time. Sound familiar?
Now, let’s see what we can do to fix this problem. You’re driving your RV on a congested four lane highway, during rush hour, somewhere you have never been before and your new Global Positioning System (GPS) is your navigator. The unique, turn-by-turn, voice prompt feature instructs you to turn right in eight tenths of a mile. You don’t miss your exit; you don’t need to go 25 miles out of your way and your marriage remains intact.
In the past, whenever we would take a trip in the RV, I would print the driving directions from a trip planning website. Then, as we traveled, my wife would inform me of when and where we would make any changes in our route. Needless to say we missed turns, took wrong exits and on more than one occasion there were those last second, white knuckle lane changes; if you’ve been RVing for a while you know what I’m talking about.
I finally decided to take advantage of modern day technology and purchase a GPS system. All I can say is I should kick myself for waiting so long to do it. The more I learned about these GPS systems the more fascinated I was with the capabilities they had to offer. Most come preprogrammed with detailed maps, automatic trip routing, voice-prompted turn-by-turn directions along your route, and easy to follow touch screen displays, which is exactly what you want when you’re traveling in an RV. If you get a text-to-speech feature the GPS actually calls out the turns you need to make, so you can keep your eyes where they need to be, on the road. If you miss a turn the GPS system automatically recalculates the quickest way to get back on the correct route.
Other features we liked about the GPS are the Points of Interest (POI) like, restaurants, shopping centers and tourist attractions. In addition to all of these features the GPS model we purchased includes a built in MP3 player and a JPEG picture viewer too.
I don’t know about you but driving an RV in places you have never been before can be nerve-racking at times, especially if you are navigating the old school way, using a map. I am a little slow to change sometimes, when it comes to keeping up with the latest technology, but getting a GPS system to help navigate the RV is the best thing I’ve done since switching from dial-up to high speed internet service. This truly is a great way to make traveling in your RV less stressful and who knows, it just might result in a happier marriage too.
P.S. I still print the route from a trip planning website and keep my maps next to the drivers seat, just in case!
Happy Camping,
Mark Polk
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William Sartwell
My wife are Full Timers travelling new routes everywhere using our Garmin. Our recent upgrade to Nuvi 760 was no mistake. We agree there are a few downfalls with GPS’s, but do find them accurate to 97 % or better. Newly built roads are (sometimes) a problem, and yes one can be routed towards a low underpass, but what computer Mapping Program or any paper map perform differently?
I always have paper maps readily available, but Garmin w/voice turn by turn allows me to be in the proper lane for the turn, especially in busy surban area’s with four or six lane streets. I will never care to travel w/o a GPS ever again.
BiL
Charlotte Petry
Maybe because we are “mature” (senior) citizens, when we have to go 25 miles out of the way to correct a missed exit, we just say that “we are taking the scenic route”!! Since both of us drive (Yes, this “little woman” can drive a full-sized van pulling a 30-ft. travel trailer”) this saves LOTS of arguing. We have a laptop with Microsoft Streets and Trips program. My husband actually still prefers to have an old-fashioned paper map nearby, but I like the laptop as I can always blame any mistake on it!!
Frank
I’ve had three different GPS and now have a Garmin 760 which is great. It’s got 5 star ratings. 86th street Video in NY has them for $235.00. Best price anywhere.
Bill
Our GPS has gotten us in and out of many new areas. Does great on marriage saving. We have also found out that a set of walkie talkies save as many hard feelings as the GPS while getting into or out of tight parking situations.
Gail & Rick
We’ve used a GPS for the last 5-6 years, all of them Garman. Since I haven’t tried others I can’t speak for them, but I have found the Garman’s to be fairly reliable. It has always gotten us to our destination though sometimes it does route us around our kneecap to get to our thumb. This has sometimes proved to be nice as we have found places we otherwise would have missed, BUT this has also proved at times to be a real pain in the @#$$ as we end up having to find a place to turn around in. (not always easy to do in a 40ftr with toad) All in all I like it and I think that perhaps the discrepancies it comes up with are due to new roads being cut or old roads being moved etc. Still can’t figure out why sometimes it will tell me to exit here and them get right back on at the same entrance. It definitely helps to at least have some idea of where your at and where your going via printed or internet maps. I wouldn’t rely on it COMPLETELY to get me where I want to go, but it sure does help. One thing we like to do while camped is mark our campsite and then just drive around where ever we’re at and see the sights, not worrying about getting lost. We think that is pretty cool.
Mark
Mark
Good article. I use my laptop with Microsoft Streets and Trips program which works very well. I prefer this because of the size of the screen – 15.5″ and the talk feature. It’s not as user friendly as a regular GPS and requires input of information prior to driving. However if I take a different turn for whatever reason it very quickly calculates a new route. It’s never 100% accurate but none are. I’ll continue to use this program vs. GPS but I am looking at a new laptop with a 10″ screen for more extensive travel. I use a laptop for email and other things so it just makes sense to use it for GPS also.
The program offers information on restaurants, motels, camping grounds and other interesting information. The bonus; it’s quite cheap on Ebay and you can find out what you really need before you spend a big chunk of cash on a GPS.
Mark Walsh
Bob Stewart
We agree with Lisa. Last year we encountered a 10′ overpass blocking our route on a narrow, twisted road. Our computer map did not detect this obstacle. We were lucky to be able to u-turn. Is there a GRS in sight to help with height problems?
Bob
John Jackman
I have a couple of GPS . I have one for my fishing boat that can be used in many other circumstances and I bought one for my car use. The car unit was intended for my wife as she travels sometimes up to 75 miles away to do some work and it can be at different locations. The boat unit can be used to navigate on land and on water. I found it particularly useful when I went to a friends cottage and we went out for the day fishing in 2 boats with almost identical set-ups . When it was time to return at dusk , I used my gps to guide me back to his cottage and I beat him back by almost 10 minutes and it was the first time for me on his lake.
It can be used for hiking also but they eat batteries fast.
It is a worthwhile investment for anyone on the move anytime. One tip only do your programming before you start if at all possible.
Jim
We love our Nuvi. One of the best features I believe is a GPS will let you know which lane to be in for exits or turns if you are in strange territory. Also we never take “wrong turns” but we do a few “scenic routes” now and then. Happy Trails!
Lisa Roth
In a car, I’ve used my son’s GPS unit and I would say the only complaint I have about it is that it sees roads that aren’t there (it ‘sees’ our son’s road as a through road, rather than a cul-de-sac) and tells you to turn left or right up ahead when in actuality, you are simply following the curve of the road. Other than that, it was great for locating a bead store my daughter in law and I wanted to visit in a city neither of us had been to before. And I did like the voice turn by turn mode. When I’m driving, I don’t take want to take my eyes off the road to look at a coming turn. My conclusion from that experience is that the GPS unit worked great in cities and highly populated areas and less than great in very rural areas.
We’ve given some thought to purchasing a GPS system but haven’t done so yet because we aren’t aware of one out there specifically made for large vehicles. We don’t always want to travel on the interstate. Sometimes we prefer back roads that are navigable by a large unit (in our case a 33′ trailer pulled by a large van.) We use the truckers’ Road Atlas, which lets us know by color which roads are safe for us to use. If it’s navagable by an 18 wheeler, we can do it too! We know we’re not going to come upon a low overhead situation or a road with switchbacks, which on non-interstate roads are our primary concern. The current GPS units can tell you where to go, but not whether it’s actually safe for you to drive there!
Perhaps they’ve improved in the past year, but until they come out with one that lets you input either route choices like “no overheads less than XX’ ” or vehicle length and height, they’re pretty much useless for our (RVing) purposes. I am curious as to whether those of you who do use a GPS system compare the route to a trucker’s map prior to setting out on your trip. Some of those Class A’s and 5th wheels out there are much taller than our trailer! Or are you just using it when you are traveling on the interstate?
great article, by the way, Mark!
Lisa
Larry Lindquist
I totally agree with you Mark. I have had a GPS for almost 10 years. My first was software with a GPS receiver and antenna, that ran on a laptop. It worked great but was very clunky to use. My Garmin Nuvi is the “deck of cards size” that you refered to. I move it easily from vehicle to vehicle, including rental cars. One comment tho, The windshield mounts that comes with most units is not well suited to most Class A Motorhomes. With the tall nearly vertical windshields, often set well forward of the driving position, the screen is difficult to read and it is impossible to enter data into the unit. I invested in a remote antenna that allows you to place the GPS in any convenient location while allowing the antenna to see the entire sky. This eliminates loss of signal and dramatically increases accuracy. I find that the “bean bag” mounts work well in most every vehicle that I have tried although I will still use the windshield mount when approprate
To answer Marion’s. question, I would consider a cellphone GPS downright dangerous while driving. The screen in most is way too small, and in addition in a vehicle the antenna can’t see enough satellites. In many cases it takes two hands to operate. At today’s prices, a dedicated GPS costs less than many phones. I always manage the GPS myself, even when I have a navigator.
Marion Peters
Enjoyed the GPS article. How many of you RVers have used the navigation systems on your telephone when traveling in your RV? Many times I have no navigator and am in my coach solo so need something that I can manage.
Ellen F
To me RVing is all about relaxing. I’m not in such a hurry that driving 25 miles out of the way is a big thing, and occasionally, something new and exciting is discovered along the “mistaken” route. I still like to travel by using maps/atlas and don’t even want an internet map (unless I’m in a rush). Give me a GPS only for geocaching.