Winnebago GPgo

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LabRat

LabRat

Member
Joined
Jul 12, 2009
Posts
8
Location
New London, PA
We're looking at trading in our Damon for a Tour that comes with their GPgo system. Can anyone give me some information about this system? I'm familiar with Garman's, but not this. Can you upload waypoints and POIs from a computer? Can you do any route planning on a computer and upload the routes?

Thanks,
John
 
Hi John!  Welcome to rvforum - please look around and ask if you have any questions about the forum operation.

Don't have a clue about GPgo and can't discover via Google where they sourced it from.  If you can wait for a few days, I can try to find out from my buddy at Winnebago - the Grand National Rally is in full swing right now and all of the factory people are running at 110%.

I'm going to move this post to the PC/electronics forum since this should be a generic gps-nav question.

Glad to have you aboard!
 
The GPgo is an Alpine unit, so named because your can remove it from a dockign station and carry it with you to your toad or on foot. Other than that, I too have been unable to find out much about it.

I wonder it it would interface with the GPS screen on the dash of my '03 Ultimate? It is an Alpine too, but DVD based. The only upgrade I have been able to buy cost me $300, and they told me that (2005) was the last upgrade they would be doing for it. Hopefully all the newer units are software based rather than DVD, so much easier & less expensive to upgrade.
 
afchap said:
The GPgo is an Alpine unit, so named because your can remove it from a dockign station and carry it with you to your toad or on foot. Other than that, I too have been unable to find out much about it.

I wonder it it would interface with the GPS screen on the dash of my '03 Ultimate? It is an Alpine too, but DVD based. The only upgrade I have been able to buy cost me $300, and they told me that (2005) was the last upgrade they would be doing for it. Hopefully all the newer units are software based rather than DVD, so much easier & less expensive to upgrade.
Click to expand...
Too bad Alpine has no information about it. They do have a new Blackbird which has features of the GPgo and then some. Nothing about uploading anything though.
 
The brains of the unit looks identical to online pictures of the Alpine Blackbird, w/o the Blackbird name on it. GPS Magazine reviewed the Blackbird in 2006 and rated it 1.5 on a scale of 1-5, and called it "Just A Sliver Above Atrocious." That's about the same rating I would have given my Alpine unit, which was a $3,850.00 option when the coach was new. After the $300 upgraded DVDs, it was a little better. But I still prefer the refurbished Garmin we have in the toad,  I paid $600 for it.

Hopefully the Blackbird has been greatly improved since 2006. It would be great if an owner of the Winnebago system would chime in!!
 
I am at the GNR and getting many things fixed on my "new" 2008 Vectra. The gps never worked correctly, heated up, locked up, etc. Winnebago replaced it with a Alpine Blackbird (PMD-B100T) and I would like to be able to have some helpful advice but I have not (or barely) used it since I am still sitting at the GNR. Also I did not get a book with it and next week at Service I am going to get instructions from the Tech on how to use it. He said to just use it to get to know it. Not real impressed. It does have a usb port. It does work better than the one that came in the motorhome. If I were to order a motorhome I would not order one with the gps installed. I would buy a Garmin. I wanted the Alpine fixed someway just because it came with the motorhome and it should work. Now if I could just get the King-Dome to work. Another story.
 
Jerry - this is one reason why we ordered our coach and didn't buy from dealer inventory.  Every Vectra/Horizon we looked at had the Trip Tek option for 800 or 900 bucks and I thought that was way too much money for its features and benefits.  Few had the expensive Alpine GPS nav system.  Alpine is a electronics manufacturer of high-end products, but like Paul pointed out, they aren't a factor in GPS nav systems.

However...

My buddy at Winnebago sent me the user manual pdf file for GPgo and it is a Garmin GVN53.  Either he sent me the wrong file, or GPgo is a Garmin product (a good thing  :) )
 
John

Please check that out with your buddy at Winnebago, because the picture on the Winnebago site at http://www.winnebagoind.com/products/key-features/gpgo.php clearly has the Alpine label on the upper right of the unit.
 
Jerry,
Here's a link to the Blackbird manuals
http://www.alpine-usa.com/US-en/support/support_search.php?modelname=PMD-B200

Hopefully you can get it working. What's up with the King-dome? We're looking at the Tour version of your coach and could use all the advice/info we can get.

John,
As afchap said and looking at the manual you sent, I'm pretty sure it is an Alpine unit. The pictures say Alpine and the remote in the pictures look like the remote for the Alpine Units.

All,
It seems there is a new Blackbird that was introduced this past year. The 2006 review was on the PMD-b100 and the current Blackbird II is a PMD-b200. From what I can tell, it gets an average of 3.5 stars out of 5. The biggest ding I can find is the cost of the unit relative to the features that come with it.

Thanks,
John
 
LabRat said:
John,
As afchap said and looking at the manual you sent, I'm pretty sure it is an Alpine unit. The pictures say Alpine and the remote in the pictures look like the remote for the Alpine Units.
Click to expand...

I'll try to verify.. stand by.
 
Here's a recent review of the Blackbird II

http://reviews.cnet.com/car-gps-navigation/alpine-pmd-b200-blackbird/4505-3430_7-32656572.html

 
afchap said:
John

Please check that out with your buddy at Winnebago, because the picture on the Winnebago site at http://www.winnebagoind.com/products/key-features/gpgo.php clearly has the Alpine label on the upper right of the unit.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it is Alpine. I have the box it came in. It may be fine, I just have not traveled and used it yet. Next week we will be leaving the grounds at GNR.
 
Looks like I still don't have the latest gps.
The King-Dome has never worked, just searches for a satellite but never finds any. Never has worked. No help here from King-Dome. Since I am close to the factory I'm thinking of driving up there to get it fixed. 2008 Tour? TD? We still like the Vectra and should have the bugs out of it soon. I got the Vectra for a good price so am tolerant so far of the problems.


LabRat said:
Jerry,
Here's a link to the Blackbird manuals
http://www.alpine-usa.com/US-en/support/support_search.php?modelname=PMD-B200

Hopefully you can get it working. What's up with the King-dome? We're looking at the Tour version of your coach and could use all the advice/info we can get.

John,
As afchap said and looking at the manual you sent, I'm pretty sure it is an Alpine unit. The pictures say Alpine and the remote in the pictures look like the remote for the Alpine Units.

All,
It seems there is a new Blackbird that was introduced this past year. The 2006 review was on the PMD-b100 and the current Blackbird II is a PMD-b200. From what I can tell, it gets an average of 3.5 stars out of 5. The biggest ding I can find is the cost of the unit relative to the features that come with it.

Thanks,
John
Click to expand...
 
Jerry J said:
Looks like I still don't have the latest gps.
The King-Dome has never worked, just searches for a satellite but never finds any. Never has worked. No help here from King-Dome. Since I am close to the factory I'm thinking of driving up there to get it fixed. 2008 Tour? TD? We still like the Vectra and should have the bugs out of it soon. I got the Vectra for a good price so am tolerant so far of the problems.
Click to expand...
Yes, looking at trading in our 2007 Damon Outlaw for a 2008 Tour 40TD. We didn't find any Vectra's around here and we liked the Tour layout with the curbside dining table with the large windows. I'll keep an eye out on the King-Dome if we pull the trigger.
 
Jerry J said:
Yeah, it is Alpine. I have the box it came in.
Click to expand...

My contact at Winnebago said this morning the GPgo is a "Sony Garmin" - perhaps Sony makes the hardware and Garmin provides the software.  I don't know what else to say at this point.

Jerry J said:
The King-Dome has never worked, just searches for a satellite but never finds any. Never has worked. No help here from King-Dome. Since I am close to the factory I'm thinking of driving up there to get it fixed
Click to expand...

We had problems early-on with our King and we went to the factory (prearranged) and they swapped out our dome.  They have a fairly large parking lot, so maneuvering was easy.  We stayed at an RV park (forgot where) and drove the Jeep on a Sunday as I recall to check out the location before we took the coach.  Drove the coach Monday morning to their facility and they had us ready to go in about an hour.  Driving around Minneapolis during rush hour is.. interesting  ::).
 
John Canfield said:
My contact at Winnebago said this morning the GPgo is a "Sony Garmin" - perhaps Sony makes the hardware and Garmin provides the software.  I don't know what else to say at this point.
Click to expand...
Hmmm, I'll find out for sure next week when we got to check out the coach. Thanks for all the help.
 
John Canfield said:
We had problems early-on with our King and we went to the factory (prearranged) and they swapped out our dome.  They have a fairly large parking lot, so maneuvering was easy.  We stayed at an RV park (forgot where) and drove the Jeep on a Sunday as I recall to check out the location before we took the coach.  Drove the coach Monday morning to their facility and they had us ready to go in about an hour.  Driving around Minneapolis during rush hour is.. interesting  ::).
Click to expand...

Thanks for the information, maybe ours will be swapped too. That would be the easiest to do I suppose. With any luck it and the Alpine will work great after the change outs.
 
John Canfield said:
My contact at Winnebago said this morning the GPgo is a "Sony Garmin" - perhaps Sony makes the hardware and Garmin provides the software.  I don't know what else to say at this point.
Click to expand...

Okay - I now have a clarification  ;D

2009 GPS is Alpine (as everybody was insisting), 2010 will be the Sony-Garmin.
 
Now that John has clarified the GPgo issue (Alpine now, Sony Garmin for new models 2010+), I'll make a comment about the Kingdomes that didn't/don't work. Our coach came with an automatic Winegard single LNB dish. Just as someone said with their Kingdome, it kind of worked but would never lock onto a satellite.  After a couple of years using a portable dual LNB dish I came across a Motosat vendor at a rally with a good price on an automatic dual LNB rooftop dish installed. I was on the roof when he took the Winegard dish off the roof and noticed he did not have to disconnect one of the wires -- it simply fell apart when he lifted the dish from the roof, had not been securely connected when the factory installed it. I have to wonder if getting the wiring securely connected at the factory may be a recurring problem!!! 
 
Are we getting off topic or what?  :eek:
I got a call from King-Dome that they would probably replace the circuit board and that they sent a board to our dealer. The dealer sent it to me at General Delivery Forest City, Ia 7/17 and I still haven't received it. Today I called the dealer and got a call back that their records show the package was delivered to someone with the signature Harms. Okay so I start looking through WIT because I seem to have heard of that name. Found the name and sent an email and hopefully she will say she is the one that picked it up. If I get it I will have to take the dome cover off and replace the board. Hopefully that is the end of this detective story. No one told me retirement would be so stressful. ::)

afchap said:
Now that John has clarified the GPgo issue (Alpine now, Sony Garmin for new models 2010+), I'll make a comment about the Kingdomes that didn't/don't work. Our coach came with an automatic Winegard single LNB dish. Just as someone said with their Kingdome, it kind of worked but would never lock onto a satellite.  After a couple of years using a portable dual LNB dish I came across a Motosat vendor at a rally with a good price on an automatic dual LNB rooftop dish installed. I was on the roof when he took the Winegard dish off the roof and noticed he did not have to disconnect one of the wires -- it simply fell apart when he lifted the dish from the roof, had not been securely connected when the factory installed it. I have to wonder if getting the wiring securely connected at the factory may be a recurring problem!!! 
Click to expand...

 
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