Question about GPS

[roxie]

Hello. Purchased 2025 Newmar Baystar. Looking for best GPS system for a motorhome. Looking for free app type that allows height to be considered. Any suggestions greatly appreciated !! Had a 40' 5th wheel for 11 yrs prior to buying this motorhome. Have been camping for 50+ yrs...pop-ups, tag along, 30' 5th wheel then 40'. Thank you for any suggestions!

 

[Neal]

Garmin 895 or the larger 1095

Amazon.com

 

[Jim]

Make a gallant effort to stay clear of the Garman 890, which can't find it's way home from the grocery store, let alone guide a 50,000 lb RV from point A to point B.

I'm sorry, that's incorrect. It will get you there, but it will go out of it's way to find the worst route possible.

YMMY.

RV GPS

Looking for recommendation for RV specific GPS. Need stand alone GPS not an I phone app etc. Currently have old Rand McNally Rv unit but getting time to replace. Thanks!

rvforums.com

 

[osuallen]

Make a gallant effort to stay clear of the Garman 890, which can't find it's way home from the grocery store, let alone guide a 50,000 lb RV from point A to point B.

I'm sorry, that's incorrect. It will get you there, but it will go out of it's way to find the worst route possible.

YMMY.

RV GPS

Looking for recommendation for RV specific GPS. Need stand alone GPS not an I phone app etc. Currently have old Rand McNally Rv unit but getting time to replace. Thanks!

rvforums.com

I have an 890 and have not had routing issues with it??

 

[Jim]

I have an 890 and have not had routing issues with it??

And I'm happy for you. But I've NEVER used it even one time that it actually picked out the best route. Not even once.

In some cases, it put me into such a tailspin that if we followed it, we would have found ourselves in serous problems. But your milage may very. It just hasn't worked for me.

 

[Neal]

No issues for me either. It’s important to have the parameters for your RV setup correctly and not include toad in the length of your RV. It’s good to have it connected to your phone for live traffic but not auto reroute. Devices like this are only as good as how they are setup and used properly.

 

[Dan_Frisbie]

I have the 1090 and love it.

 

[Neemer]

OP appears to be asking about an app. The only app I have used that takes into account RV parameters is the one put out by RV Life. I haven’t used it in years, but it was decent when I was using it.

 

[DennisT]

As far as an app goes I switched from RV Life to inRoute.

inRoute is less expensive and has worked really well for us when planning trips.

 

[Neal]

Hello. Purchased 2025 Newmar Baystar. Looking for best GPS system for a motorhome. Looking for free app type that allows height to be considered. Any suggestions greatly appreciated !! Had a 40' 5th wheel for 11 yrs prior to buying this motorhome. Have been camping for 50+ yrs...pop-ups, tag along, 30' 5th wheel then 40'. Thank you for any suggestions!

@roxie can you clarify what you're asking? Are you looking for a GPS to navigate with or an app to plan travel with?

 

[roxie]

@roxie can you clarify what you're asking? Are you looking for a GPS to navigate with or an app to plan travel with?

We need a free app that will give directions for height specific. Don't want to be on a road with bridge for 12' when the rv is 12'10". If none available Garmin 895 or 1095 will be checked out, as suggested. Thank you.

 

[Neal]

Okay, you're looking for an app that runs on a mobile device like Waze to navigate with that takes into account RV parameters? So if anyone knows of one, that seems what they're after otherwise Garmin...

 

[SGilbert]

OP appears to be asking about an app. The only app I have used that takes into account RV parameters is the one put out by RV Life. I haven’t used it in years, but it was decent when I was using it.

For the most part, RV Life works well, but once it took me into a narrow residential area.
Unless I fear some upcoming problem, I far prefer using Waze which uses Google maps. RV Life uses Here which, IMHO, is inferior to Google and Apple maps.
(Map wise, Apple's is better than Google's, BUT I like the other info that Waze provides: police, road obstacles, cars stranded, etc.)

 

[DKRITTER]

Hi Roxie and others, if I can throw in my $.02, please. Personally I wouldn't use my phone as my primary guidance system, there are way too many variables to trust a very, very expensive camper on it. Use your phone as a supplement to a good RV GPS System. We too have chosen Garmin, we set all of the sizes, weights, propane in the system so it knows how to route w/o issues. I like Waze on my phone w/o a route for better up to the minute issues.
My suggestion is Garmin, they make a few different RV specific models in different sizes and price ranges.