This is why I love my Garmin RV 890

[Neal]

Make sure your phone is connected to it so it can get live traffic info. TWICE today it detected road closures and re-routed me automatically. None of us driving big rigs wants to come up on a road closure sign with little room to turn around, yeah, I did that once, not fun. 28 point turns = no fun!

First one was the road from the campground this morning to the interstate - re-routed!

Next was a highway closure, wow, but I'm guessing if I did some planning with google maps it probably would have picked this up. But who plans??

Very pleased - thank you Garmin!

Amazon product ASIN B09ZK4LN92

 

[AbdRahim]

Traffic jams are the only time people socialize on the road.

 

[Tnedator]

Read on Facebook last night in a Tiffin group, someone complaining about it being the second time Google Maps had brought them down a road to a low bridge, and how hard it was to turn around when they have a tow vehicle. As you can imagine, most responses were "get a Garmin"...

 

[Neal]

Google maps does not use vehicle parameters, not something I'd use in my RV for routing. Only thing I use is a navigation system which both my Garmin RV 890 and Pioneer AVIC NEX dash radio do for me.

 

[Joe Hogan]

There are a number of resources for low bridges

here is another one

Low Clearance Map - Let's Make Sure You Don't Hit Anything

Traveling in a high-profile truck or RV? Enter your start/end to map all low-clearance bridges and tunnels within a 50 mile radius along your route. This site does not have the ability to re-route you, only to show you what you might bump into.

www.lowclearancemap.com

 

[Neal]

This is the typical backup as I understand it, have one from years ago, never used/needed it.

Amazon product ASIN 0528026429

 

[Tnedator]

Google maps does not use vehicle parameters, not something I'd use in my RV for routing. Only thing I use is a navigation system which both my Garmin RV 890 and Pioneer AVIC NEX dash radio do for me.

Ditto, and 9 out of 10 responses that guy got was "Google doesn't route for RVs" and then most recommended Garmin, some that he update and use his in dash.

I should have shown my Garmin more respect today. Headed out at 6am this morning to bring it to a diesel shop to get shocks swapped out (aborted, but that's another story). My wife was following me in her car, so we didn't bother trying to hook up the Jeep in the rain, but she wanted to tag along in case something came up and we had to leave it.

About 1:40 into the drive, 20 minutes from the shop, Garmin tells me the road ahead is closed, and wanted to take me on a detour that would get me their at 8:22, when minutes earlier, my ETA was 7:57. I called my wife and asked her if Google was showing major traffic road closure. Nope, it had some yellow, that was it.

I pass the detour it wanted to send me on, thinking that Google was more up to date on "live" and maybe it was old info since I hadn't updated maps in a while (later I realized from another popup, it was it's live traffic service).

Bottom line, we spent 30 minutes waiting to get by an accident. Looked like a high speed head on or more like a T-bone, where one car wasn't even recognizable as a car anymore. They eventually started letting traffic go in the north bound lanes, alternating north and south traffic, like at a construction site.

Guess I should have given my Garmin more love and respect than I did this morning.

Oh yea, wound up getting to the shop around 8:30, so the detour would have been a little quicker.

 

[AbdRahim]

This is the typical backup as I understand it, have one from years ago, never used/needed it.

Amazon product ASIN 0528026429

Always carry one of these. Have been fo 40 or more years.

 

[sheridany]

I use my atlas all the time. Trust but verify.

 

[DennisT]

We have the Garmin for routing, RV Life for planning that we send to the Garmin. Also have the phone tied to the Garmin for life traffic and rerouting if needed.

Wife keeps Waze, google maps, Apple Maps, and our paper map book from FMCA up all at the same time for validation.

Can’t have too many resources to verify

 

[MemoriesByTheMile]

This is the typical backup as I understand it, have one from years ago, never used/needed it.

Amazon product ASIN 0528026429

After 3 years of putting miles on one of these and never using it - we had our first excursion into the north west a couple months ago.
After we were getting some very odd guidance from RVTW showing the routes to a location and from that location were dramatically different, that atlas was pulled out and used. Oregon and Washington do not put signs on every overhead bridge to provide the clearance height. Nor do they have weight limits posted on a regular basis.

 

[Dan_Frisbie]

Why does your phone need to be paired to the Garmin? Won't the Garmin display give you the road hazard?

 

[Neal]

My understanding is that is how it gets live traffic information.

 

[DennisT]

Yes, as Neal stated, the live traffic comes from the Garmin Drive app on your phone and it goes to the GPS.

 

[DennisT]

Also, I need to write up a separate thread but….

Found a way around all the hassles of getting the RV Trip Wizard gpx files to the Garmin.

If you have the drive app on your phone, just text the gpx file from RV Trip Wizard to yourself, then in the sharing options from the file in text, send to drive app is an option. Then just send it to the Garmin from the drive app.