Question What office stuff do you keep in your RV?

[Neal]

Okay, this is the Camping and Outdoors Gear forum but one part of camping for all of us, i.e at home or a "mobile" home aka our RV we all have our home office needs. Even if retired there are still demands for documents such as signing something and sending it off or printing something. So likely we all have a computer in our RV, how many have printers? Scanners? Or other office related gear?

I'm still working and I run a software biz so I have a bit more elaborate computer setup than most. I also have printing needs as one service I offer relates to printed goods so I have a color laser (HP 452 mdw) printer that sits under my desk. However, one item I think is a must for all is a document scanner. I came across this portable one and ended up buying three: one for the motorhome, one for home office, one for office. The only downfall with this particular one at the moment is compatibility with the latest macOS (Catalina as of this writing) as their scanner software is 32 bit and Catalina doesn't do 32 bit any more.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EKW6JZ4/?tag=rvf01-20

Some people keep their campground brochures for later reference, I know @ARD has a binder (or several) of her travels so when going back to a campground she's documented the good and bad, what sites to stay in, etc. Imagine if that was digitized, although some people prefer hard copy but when space is a premium scanning all of this in for eReference could be worthwhile.

Share your computer/office setup. What do you take along with you and how do you manage printing, scanning, and those home/office demands that we can never get rid of?

 

[BuckyII]

I carry the HP 250 for print/scan/copy functions...it is small and has been very reliable:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01HGD8R5S/?tag=rvf01-20

 

[Buly]

On the road we run two businesses. Each one of us has a MacBook. One Brother multifunction BW laser, printer scanner with wireless network.. The printer is in my dresser (I have less clothes ?) in the bedroom. Very basic, but works for us.
I refused to upgrade to Catalina OS, since some of my most used software unusable. They are trying to force us on signing up and pay monthly payments, use it or not.

 

[RandyB]

Retired. No more business workings. Laptop, tablet and phones. Just in case, a printer/scanner/copier. Buffet option is perfect. Left side has a tray drawer for the laptop. The cabinet below has the printer on a roll-out tray. The right side cabinet in buffet has lateral file for coach records, towed records, income tax prep (winter trips) and to keep all trip receipts.

 

[Akdare]

We’re retired, too...so just iPhones & an iPad. I have this scanner at home. Love it. Super small, and scans both sides at the same time. Works with the latest MacOS.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008HBFADQ/?tag=rvf01-20

I also take my label maker with various tapes...really comes in handy. This is the one I have, but there are many others...

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005X9VZ70/?tag=rvf01-20

 

[Jabber Jaw]

As we are both retired, we do not have the same needs as those of you still working.

Have a new HP Envy 17" laptop ( I like the bigger screen), and use an HP Envy 5055 wireless printer/scanner. The printer was cheap, but so far has done a great job.
The laptop is used for a lots of things, but paying bills, banking, mapping out trips, and reading/following/commenting on the various RV sites.

Hope everyone is staying safe during this crazy time in our lives, and maybe things will start to return to some semblance of order in the near future, and we can get back to the fun of RV Travel!

 

[deaton]

I travel with my Dell Technical Work Station notebook (gift from my employer at retirement last January), an HP 400 Laserjet (not color, my color one is too big for the coach), and a ScanSnap digital scanner.

This all goes into the computer workstation desk next to the dinette. The DW doesn’t use the computer but she is pretty good on her iPhone and the iPad.

I used to keep two large monitors in the coach, but now that I’m finally retired, I get by with the notebook screen while on the road. The coach does have it’s own dedicated keyboard and mouse so I don’t have to swap that stuff back and forth.

I digitize everything I can and trash the hard copies. I’m grateful that even in retirement, my former office still provides me with tech support an a hot spot.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[NWIP]

Have 3 laptops, 2 old laptops from work and a personal one. Printer we have HP 3752, which is small (they claim smallest available) for print/scan/copies.

 

[ARD]

I have a MacBook Pro, IPAD Pro, Canon Printer and ScanSnap.

 

[Chad Cline]

What do you all use to access the internet when you travel? I am looking at traveling with the family for about 2 months while still working and need reliable AND affordable internet options. Will likley be visiting national parks and KOA type campgrounds.

 

[TJ&LadyDi]

What do you all use to access the internet when you travel? I am looking at traveling with the family for about 2 months while still working and need reliable AND affordable internet options. Will likley be visiting national parks and KOA type campgrounds.

We each use an iPad primarily, but also carry MacBook Pro laptops for the times we need full computer capability. And, in a pinch, our iPhones will work, though not as conveniently.

Obviously, we're all Apple here and that may not meet your "affordable" criteria. If the family can share a single...or two...iPads, it would be more "affordable."

TJ

 

[whereRVapp]

MacBook Pro, iPhone, and iPad. For printing I have an OfficeJet 200. I use Office 365 for rev business which includes One Drive. This allows my phone or iPad to perform scan or copy functions.

 

[Chad Cline]

We each use an iPad primarily, but also carry MacBook Pro laptops for the times we need full computer capability. And, in a pinch, our iPhones will work, though not as conveniently.

Obviously, we're all Apple here and that may not meet your "affordable" criteria. If the family can share a single...or two...iPads, it would be more "affordable."

TJ

Thanks TJ. So you just pay for a cellular plan or do you also use a satellite or some sort of wi-fi/mi-fi device?

 

[TJ&LadyDi]

Thanks TJ. So you just pay for a cellular plan or do you also use a satellite or some sort of wi-fi/mi-fi device?

We just use a cellular plan (Verizon) with an expanded data plan (8 GB w/carryover) and any available park wifi. Since we spend a lot of time at our site in the Polson Motorcoach Resort where the wifi is OK and Verizon cell coverage is good, that works for us.

TJ

 

[MapNerd]

My wife and I share a MacBook Pro. We both also each have an iPad Pro. I have a computer from work as well. Kids have iPads for school and wife and I have iPhones.

For printing, we carry an HP Tango which rarely gets used. I’m actually thinking heIf getting rid of it. For scanning we use the HP Print Smart App which allows us to scan to PDF, JPG &PNG with our phone camera and it does a surprisingly good job of cropping the background out. We’ve not had to print something in a long time. We can sign things digitally on our iPads and MacBooks.

@Chad Cline for Internet, we have an unlimited plan on AT&T through OTR Mobile. We plug that SIM into a MoFi 4500 cell modem+WiFi router for internet and it works really well.

 

[Jodiwer]

I also work remotely from my RV. I have an HP laptop with a wireless keyboard and mouse and a 24 inch smart TV that I connect with an HDMI cable for an additional monitor. I use a phone app called Adobe Scan which works remarkably well for scanning. I have Adobe Pro so I can create, fill and/or sign documents which I then send via email. In the rare event they need to be printed and mailed, I send them to my assistant (my DIL) who works out of her home office. We are boondockers so I use a Boost mobile wi-fi device called a Coolpad. I get 50g data for $50 a month. It connects to T-Mobile towers. In the event we can't find one, I use my phone mobile hotspot because Verizon is everywhere but I only have 10g a month on it and extra gigs are very pricey. So we choose our sites by whether there is T-Mobile tower in range.

 

[Kevin D Pem]

We are retired, she has a Chromebook by Acer and a Samsung tablet mostly for games. I have Samsung Chromebook Pro. We have an old HP laptop with Linux on it for our important communication. An HP all in one. Not much here that a school kid doesn't have.