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BEST GPS UNIT
Will be looking for a new GPS unit soon. Have seen posts on other sites for the Rand RVND 7710. Just wondering what others are using to navigate on and off the Hwys.
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32 Replies
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I use the Garman RV 760 unit. In addition to roads, it has RV parks listed. Enter in your weight, length, etc and it will route you around low overpasses and weight sensitive bridges. It has over 20,000 RV parking places in its database and can eleminate those that do not allow pets and other variables you input. It also has lifetime update on the maps and other data. Find restaurants, fuel, etc. according to your wishes that you input. It also allows you to sit at your computer and plan your trip and stops and excursions, then download the trip data, including stops, into the unit and you have a specialty map in addition to the normal road atlas.
http://www.crutchfield.com/p_150760LMT/Garmin-RV-760LMT-Navigator-only.html
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Does it speak the road names when it is giving directions, Fred?
Davy
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Jon, I can’t understand you having a navigation device since you are a rotory dial phone guy.
This is way too complicated for you, I figured you would have a serious collection of paper maps especially since you have a navigator and co-pilot.
i am sending Di a brand new Rand McNally 2015 truckers atlas.
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I have been very satisfied with the Garmin and the upcoming turn info is great. It does talk to you and I have really grown to like audio notice of speed limit increases and decreases. -
The latest version is the RVND 7730 which was introduced in the fall of 2014.
There is also a Good Sam branded version of the 7730 – I thin k they call it a 7735.
This latest version has received not so good reviews. This may be why it is being discounted.
We have the prior version, the 7720 and, so far, so good. We have not hit any bridge yet.
As happens to most of us, sometimes, the GPS routing is kind of funny. So you have to watch where you are going and sometimes, you have to drive “your way” until you return to the route.
For example, somwhere in USA, while driving on a numbered country road. the GPS wanted us to turn left and drive through a gated community, only to exit the development about 500 yards further down back on to the same numbered country road. Why? Beats me.
In general, however, I do like the Rand McNally, which is installed on a long stalk so that it is close enough for me to read the fine print.
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I’ve had the Garmin RV 760 for over a year now and for the most part it does what it’s supposed to do, but…..
occasionally, it will send you down a route that is way out of the way for no apparent reason. It also sometimes doesn’t know left from right. That’s most aggravating when choosing the proper lane for the upcoming turn.I did try Rand McNallys trucker GPS, but returned it. The lack of screen contrast made it impossible to see on a sunny day.
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I guess I am totally different. How did we find New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Dallas or Chicago in the dark. We looked at a map.
Where do you people go that you need a machine to tell you how to get there and is wrong alot of the time. I have a distinct advantage because I was trucking 40 years ago but turning on a machine with no sense of direction is not a good thing.
I’m not saying all do that but a Rand Mcnally and knowing North South East and West will get you further than putting in an address and listing to Siri talk.I had and old neighbor who was a school teacher and she said Geography had a 60% failure rate. When our children were young and now our grand kids, we had a map of the USA about the size of a place mat and would ask them to point out states and capitals, they learned.
I bet half of our group would flunk just naming every state on a map.I’m not saying it’s a bad thing, it just shouldn’t be your only source of direction to guide you.
Later
bv -
I think I understand what you are saying, Bernie. But the GPS is an extension of my love for maps. I have loved maps since I was a kid. I was the kid in the back seat (or back of the truck) on vacation with each state’s folded paper map. I was marking routes, figuring time and milage and memorizing mile markers even then.
I still poor over maps. I keep a large print Rand McNally Atlas next to my chair and Google maps on my laptop and phone all the time. I love going over and over the route. It is all part of my love for the road. Having the GPS on the dash makes it even better for me. I can see it all at a glance and also check my time and speed averages.
Davy
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Yes Davy, I know you are diligent in your travels and that’s how it should be used. I know many that rely on it way to often.
Later
bv -
My GPS cannot be relied upon like my rotary dial cell phone so its primary use is to count down the miles to my destination.
Prior to getting in the coach I have used Google maps and Google Earth to memorize the maps and look at the landmarks I will use to determine where I have to turn. So in essence I have already mentally driven my route without the GPS telling me how and where to turn. In fact I get into a lot of arguments with the gal stuck in that box about my route and she uses the word “recalculating” a lot.
I wonder how many memberships AAA lost when GPS units became part of our dash? I know I saved a lot of cabinet and drawer space eliminating every city and state map AAA has.
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Got to tell you our experience with our new “trucker” GPS from Garmin.
We used to use an old Garmin car GPS. Worked fine. Then we decided to upgrade to the Garmin 760 Dezl trucker GPS. It lets you put in length, height and weight restrictions to create custom routes.
What a disaster. The ergonomics of the unit are great (large screen, loudness etc) but the routing is all but unuseable.
At our first overnight stop it directed us off the highway early to route us several miles through barely passable back roads to the back entry of a resort although the resort was directly accessible off the highway. And no, the back entry was not the truck “entry”.
In Phoenix, it decided to crash as we got close to our destination having to reboot while going at speed in heavy traffic.
In California it routed us for miles on secondary roads through neighborhoods about 5 miles offset from a major thoroughfare.
Obviously, the truck routing feature is not working so we switched it into car mode (taking off the length/weight restrictions in truck mode). It made no difference. Routing is completely hit and miss. We ended up using my wife’s phone instead of the fancy “trucker” GPS.
Garmin usually has decent products (aviation, marine) but this trucker GPS is an epic failure. Buy at your own risk.
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When owning a bus there are certain truisms………..
We all have or will have experienced most of them. The first of course is that it will break. No matter what you have on your bus, no matter how old or new, it is going to break.
Following the first truism is no matter what broke, the minimum cost is $1000 for the repair.
The distance to the repair shop is always going to be directly proportional to the number of return trips to get something right. (Shops that are located where the bus is stored always get it right the first time)
It is going to leak air.
It is going to lean. (See the previous truism)
Nothing ever breaks when the bus is in your garage. It always breaks when you are furthest from your garage.
Fuel prices go up the day before a trip. They go down the day after you return from a trip.
Nobody gets the fuel mileage they claim, paid as little for the bus as they claim, sold a bus for as much as they claim, etc………
Everybody has or will start towing with the toad brakes on or the car in park.
Finally, instructions from a GPS (any GPS) are suggestions only, and reliance on the GPS often involves unhooking the toad and backing up.
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The same thing happened to me on the way to Jeff Rowe’s shop. My I-phone gps had me turn off 321 on to Billy Bob Goat Shed road. It was my first trip there, it had got dark and snowed.The beginning of the road was wide asphalt and striped. In less than 100 yards this road necks down to a skinny little road with a 4′ ditch on each side. Drive 3″ off the white line and roll coach on its side. (Did I mention it was my first time I had driven the coach.) I thought I would NEVER make it down this road without hitting a power line, low bridge, or high center on a railroad track. As luck would have it a side road came in at an angle and made a wide spot in the road. I turned around with a little jockeying and got back to 321. Looked at the map and made it to Rowe’s on the main roads. Another lesson learned… I will have a road atlas from now on….
Will I ever stop learning lessons? I guess not. -
Those of us that live in TN consider the roads as you describe as main routes. With my driver’s side wheels touch the yellow double lines, my passenger side wheels are on the white edge marker line on the road going past my house. On sharp turns you cannot keep the bus in your lane. If you have an oncoming dump truck or school bus you almost have to stop to let the mirrors pass.
The special Tennessee version of the Garmin GPS has a girls voice and an accent like Daisy May.
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