Garmin RV 770

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bradvoorhees

Active member
Joined
Jun 26, 2017
Posts
34
Location
Lakewood Wa
I decided to buy an RV GPS so bought the Garmin 770. It  looked like it got mixed reviews on Amazon but went ahead and got it anyway.
I like the feature of giving warnings of hills and curves , thought a look ahead would help prepare. Also wanted to make sure I stayed away from low clearance situations.

Anyone else use this unit? Whats your take on the use of the RV gps units?
 
I upgraded my 670 to the 770 when they first came out. The early shipments didn't have the current/correct software loaded and that caused a bunch of negative feedback. Garmin posted the current/correct software and the units have been working great. I just completed a 6000 mile trip and had no GPS issues.
I highly recommend it.
I also recommend getting BaseCamp and learning it. It is considerably easier to build routes on a computer than to do it on the GPS itself.
 
You will also need to download Garmin Express to download any future maps for your GPS.


Bill
 
Brad, I just bought one from B&H a week ago. Took it out for a test drive in the car and it worked very well. The voice commands could stand improvement. Haven't tried it with the coach yet, but will be taking a three week trip to the Smokies mid August so I'll post a comment about it when I return.
 
Dennis, I haven't tried it yet, but it's my understanding that you can export a Good Sam trip planner to the 770. I haven't tried Basecamp yet, but have already planned my trip out with GS. Do you have any idea if this will work?
 
I bought the RV660 and love it.  I believe it is just a smaller screen size from the 770.  The trip planning feature is unbelievable and the on the road features (rest stops, gas, restaurants, etc.) are great.  I especially like the Cracker Barrel link.  Enjoy.  Happy RVing everyone.
 
My 660 will be here today. After my episode a couple weeks ago using google maps on my phone. My atlas is in the MH now.
 

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larrypowellnc said:
I bought the RV660 and love it.  I believe it is just a smaller screen size from the 770.  The trip planning feature is unbelievable and the on the road features (rest stops, gas, restaurants, etc.) are great.  I especially like the Cracker Barrel link.  Enjoy.  Happy RVing everyone.

Larry - the 660 is the smaller version of the 760, both of which are two year old technology. The 770 is the newest generation of Garmin RV PGS systems.
 
John Stephens said:
Dennis, I haven't tried it yet, but it's my understanding that you can export a Good Sam trip planner to the 770. I haven't tried Basecamp yet, but have already planned my trip out with GS. Do you have any idea if this will work?

Not according to the GS trip planner. It states:

"Export Trip to RV GPS
Download the Dock Software and plug in your Good Sam or Rand McNally GPS.
Click the Good Sam Club Trip Import button and enter your passphrase shown below.*
Once you've synced the trips to your device, turn on your GPS and your trips will be automatically installed.
Then, simply go to Choose Destination and click Multi Stop Trips on your device"



I have been working with Garmin GPS's for the last 15 years and I haven't come across any non-Garmin brand mapping program that will directly download into one of their GPS units. There may some, but I am not aware of them.
Because the maps are identical between BaseCamp and Garmin the 770 there is much better accuracy between the two.
 
billwild said:
You will also need to download Garmin Express to download any future maps for your GPS.


Bill

Bill, I just downloaded Garmin express, it stated new updates were available for my just bought Garmin 770 and it would take 2hrs and 2 minutes to load. For now I did not choose the option, maybe later today.
Did you find the same when you purchased your 770 ?
 
Dennis - now that I think about it, I was probably thinking of the RM 7730. I shopped both it and the 770 and decided on the 770.

Brad - Yes, when I received mine, I already had Garmin Express loaded on my computer from having previous Garmin's and from the time I connected the new unit to the computer to the time it was finished downloading and then installing the updates, it took about six hours. It had firmware updates, software updates and map updates. The maps take the longest. And then a few days later before the first I used it, I plugged it in again just the check, and it told me there was another software update. I am going to assume that until they get all the bugs worked out of it, which has caused many of the early negative reviews, we will be receiving updates on a regular basis. I am planning on plugging it in and checking for updates before I use it on every trip. Of course, that's only once or twice a year.
 
Dennis - I downloaded Basecamp but haven't taken the time to learn how to use it yet. Once I create my trip, what do you do to get it to download to the Garmin?
 
John Stephens said:
Dennis - now that I think about it, I was probably thinking of the RM 7730. I shopped both it and the 770 and decided on the 770.

Brad - Yes, when I received mine, I already had Garmin Express loaded on my computer from having previous Garmin's and from the time I connected the new unit to the computer to the time it was finished downloading and then installing the updates, it took about six hours. It had firmware updates, software updates and map updates. The maps take the longest. And then a few days later before the first I used it, I plugged it in again just the check, and it told me there was another software update. I am going to assume that until they get all the bugs worked out of it, which has caused many of the early negative reviews, we will be receiving updates on a regular basis. I am planning on plugging it in and checking for updates before I use it on every trip. Of course, that's only once or twice a year.

Well I decided to install the updates and after  1.5 hours it said it still had an hour 49 min to go. I check back in an hour and it had not moved . Good or bad , I unplugged and am now starting over. This time I am going to leave in all night if I have too. Hope I don't mess this up.......
 
Brad - the worst thing you could do is unplug before it is finished. Hopefully, all you have to do is start over. How many updates were listed in Garmin Express? I had something like seven including the firmware update. I have learned from both my Garmin's and my Mac's that the best thing to do when installing updates is to do it last thing before going to bed and then just let it work its magic all night.
 
John Stephens said:
Brad - the worst thing you could do is unplug before it is finished. Hopefully, all you have to do is start over. How many updates were listed in Garmin Express? I had something like seven including the firmware update. I have learned from both my Garmin's and my Mac's that the best thing to do when installing updates is to do it last thing before going to bed and then just let it work its magic all night.

John, yeah I read the part about not unplugging. But...?, something went right the second time around and it stated that I was now up to date. I will follow your advice on bed time to update, this time around it said I needed 1. Any ways, thanks for the links. I can't find base camp app for the iPad , I do have it on my windows puter. Guess I could do a search on google and see if I can download basecamp to the pad.
 
Brad - I downloaded Basecamp to my MacBook, which I will take with us on our next trip, so if it won't download the trip info to the 770, it's no big deal. I have no idea if it is available for iPad, however, thinking it is an application designed for full computers. But I really haven't dug into it yet, so I don't know that much about it. I'm sure someone on the forum will be able to give you more complete information on it.

Glad to hear the updates went smoothly after the unplug. I always wonder just how much damage you can do by unplugging early.
 
I'll be able to report back later today on how it works , my grand daughter wants to go driving around noon today so I figured I would take the 770 with us.
 
Brad, that big of an update would be the latest maps for your unit. Feel fortunate that your GPS has a big enough memory to take the new maps into it's memory, many Garmins a few years older could not as their memory chip is too small. You can check which maps you have by looking it up on your GPS under "maps". It should be 2018.20 as that is the newest maps. It is always a good idea to keep your software and maps updated.


Bill
 
bradvoorhees said:
I'll be able to report back later today on how it works , my grand daughter wants to go driving around noon today so I figured I would take the 770 with us.

That's funny. We are ready to leave to drive to Camping World to pick up some water filters before driving 20 miles to get our coach out of the shop. We decided to take the 770 along for the heck of it. We'll be bringing the coach back home and parking it in the driveway until we take off for the Smokies in August. Good luck with your unit.

Bill - one of the reasons we got the 770 was because the Nuvi was old enough that I was going to have to buy a smart card in order to update the maps. They plan obsolescence into these things when they build them.
 
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