GPS for RV

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phil-t said:
There are a LOT of custon vehicle profile and routing profile changes that could be messed up.  Have you tried a factory reset and entering your own profile preferences?
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Yes I have, I did it at the same time as the last firmware update I applied a few months ago.
 
I agree that Garmin 770 is a good GPS. One of my favorite thing about 770 is The 770 Can Connect to Garmin Smart Watches. If you happen to own a Garmin smar****ch, you can pair it with the Garmin 770 sat-nav so you can get traffic and road condition updates in real-time right on your wrist. Furthermore, you can use your smar****ch as a handy compass to guide back to your parked trailer in case you get lost.
 
klscjms,

And anybody else that might be reading. 

I didn't include these two note when I first wrote, but now feel that I should have. 
For much of my career, I wore an name tag that had my name and "Navigator" under that.  That is the reason for these two notes:

1- Never count on any single source of information for critical data. Yes, you may have just updated your GPS, but that does not mean it knows about current conditions.  Where you get those is up to you.  Waze can help and so can Google Maps, but don't overlook any state's DOT website for this.

2- Nothing is a substitute for thinking.  You have a brain, consider what is going on.  Thinking is a very cost effective exercise that many refuse to partake of.

What ever GPS, keep it updated.

Matt   
 
Samantha Nichols said:
I agree that Garmin 770 is a good GPS. One of my favorite thing about 770 is The 770 Can Connect to Garmin Smart Watches. If you happen to own a Garmin smar****ch, you can pair it with the Garmin 770 sat-nav so you can get traffic and road condition updates in real-time right on your wrist. Furthermore, you can use your smar****ch as a handy compass to guide back to your parked trailer in case you get lost. Read more here:

(Moderator edit: affiliate supported web site link removed)
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larrypowellnc said:
Garmin is the only way to go.  I have a RV660, an earlier version of the RV770, and love it.  I've used it on several cross country trip and it has never failed to get me where I want to go.
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I have the same one and couldn't be happier.  Wouldn't consider another brand.
 
I have the Garmin RV 760 as stated earlier. I would buy the latest Garmin RV 7 inch series available that I could pay for. I recently tried to up date my 760 and they said it was up to date. Think they aren't free updating anymore. I missed an important turn last year because the GPS was not up to date. I would try to get an RV 780 or 785.
 
I'm using Garmin RV 770 and I think it's a good choice. It's good alert system and more features better than.
 
judway said:
I have the Garmin RV 760 as stated earlier. I would buy the latest Garmin RV 7 inch series available that I could pay for. I recently tried to up date my 760 and they said it was up to date. Think they aren't free updating anymore. I missed an important turn last year because the GPS was not up to date. I would try to get an RV 780 or 785.
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What's the map version on your device?  If you bought the 760 with lifetime maps, you should be getting map updates, maybe not device updates though.  If you do have lifetime maps, the latest map is City Navigatior North America 2021.1.  You should call Garmin Support if you are not getting map updates and are supposed to.  It looks like that unit is still under support, according to the GArmin Support Site.
 
We use the Garmin 770 RV with lifetime map updates.  It been 99% accurate over time.  Every once in a while it will route us off a major roadway to a side road and then back onto the major road.  I always, always, use more than one source to set our route which is how I have avoided getting off a road only to get back on a half-mile away.  I program the route in the Garmin and then using google maps in satellite view I review the route.  If there's a discrepancy between the two I can zoom in and see if it's something I need to be concerned with or a quirk in the GPS.  The very few times the GPS has done this I could find no reason it would.  I keep it in mind as we travel and as we get close to the area I look for indications that I should follow the GPS or ignore it and continue.  In all of the cases so far I have ignored it and never had a problem.  As a matter of fact at 45 ft long, 11 feet high, and 47,000 lbs I've probably kept from getting into a problem using this message.  As others have mentioned, always verify your route with more than one source but more importantly be aware and think.
 
Garmin RV 780 is very nice. Bought back early 2020. Love the adjust the route to your preference by touching roads creating waypoints.

Wifi enabled, large screen. Keep a Road Atlas handy to plot routes. Always good, not to rely 100% on your phone.

John
 
I have the Garmin 770 RV, also.
Though, lately, I think I prefer using Google Maps.
The real-time updates have come in handy. We have been re-routed around accidents and road closures several times.

Using both simultaneously is the ultimate, since GMaps doesn't have the height/weight function, you could get re-routed to a bad route, but with the 770 able to auto adjust when you force a route change, it can adjust pretty quickly.

Going through the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton area last year, Google Maps warned us of a crash, and re-routed us, but the re-route took us into an old town area where streets were less than roomy, and clearances were questionable. The Garmin then showed us the way out of there, and back to RV friendly trails.
 
If you have a smart phone, you don't need a Garmin. All Garmin does is Bluetooth traffic information from your smartphone or uses a static map. Google Maps and others apps are real time meaning it monitors user speeds and plots the quickest route. The last convention I attended in Atlanta I was at I-75 and north beltway. It routed me off the freeway which was a parking lot onto side roads and service roads, took me about 15 minutes. Taking the main highway would have taken a lot more time. I was NOT in my RV that day but the rerouting function has saved me time around accidents in my RV.

NOTE: When driving through Atlanta on I-75 in an RV, I recommend the second to the right lane. The four or five lanes to your left are reserved for cars going 80+ MPH in the 55 MPH speed zone and the far right lane is for entering, existing and passing slower cars in the fast lanes. I go 65 and I've never gotten a speeding ticket nor have I have been rear ended for going too slow.

 
If you have a smart phone, you don't need a Garmin.
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That's probably true for traffic information, but not for any other purpose, at least for me. A fair chunk of the time when on the road there are NO phone signals available, making the "smartphone" useless, and the Garmin 770 (for example) has a larger screen and a nicer interface for routing uses and gas/food/lodging searches, though perhaps not quite as complete a database. And there are many nice, RV oriented features that Google Maps and such can't match.

Perhaps for your tastes and for the areas you go your preference might work fine, though.
 
I get it. We have been seriously lost which is a good and bad thing of having a small RV. We carry a paper map to get us back to civilization. I figure if I don't get lost occasionally I'm not doing it right. LOL

 
Tom55555 said:
If you have a smart phone, you don't need a Garmin. All Garmin does is Bluetooth traffic information from your smartphone or uses a static map. Google Maps and others apps are real time meaning it monitors user speeds and plots the quickest route. The last convention I attended in Atlanta I was at I-75 and north beltway. It routed me off the freeway which was a parking lot onto side roads and service roads, took me about 15 minutes. Taking the main highway would have taken a lot more time. I was NOT in my RV that day but the rerouting function has saved me time around accidents in my RV.
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Well, you don't "need" either of them. Don't even need a map. I traveled around the country for 20-30 years without the benefit of a GPS, or a smart phone, and only now and again, did I find a map particularly useful.

But they can be useful these days.
I wish the voice on Garmin could work on their pronunciation a bit, though. It can be distracting, sometimes.
 
Tom55555 said:
I get it. We have been seriously lost which is a good and bad thing of having a small RV. We carry a paper map to get us back to civilization. I figure if I don't get lost occasionally I'm not doing it right. LOL
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You're only lost if you're are not where you think you are.
If you have no idea where you are, you're not really lost. You're just exploring! ;)
 
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