We are planning on extensive cross cointry RVing next year and I am looking at getting a portable GPS system.Anyone know the best one for information and ease of use? Price is not an issue, but I do like saving $$$$$. I have an 05 3500 Chev Duramax crew cab 4x4 and 30ft (measures 34-1/2 ft) 5th wheel. I don't want to take any side trips down any dead end streets, so I need to know where I'm going.The truck don't turn on a dime with the 5th wheel or not.Any suggestions on brand & model would be appreciated.Thanks
Need info on GPS System
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Gasser
Well-known member
I just bought the iway 350c and I love it. I live in a small town and it is up to date. Even has the small local restraunts in there. Gas stations, hospitals. Way more info than I need. you can customize it to display only what you want. I played with the Garman brand and TomTom and I liked this one the best for portability and ease of mounting in both my Excursion truck and my motorhome. Its very stable and I can just sit it on my dash and it does not move about. I did not bother mounting it in the motor home because of this. Its portable using the internal battery and I believe it lasts around 10 hours.
I bought mine a Bass pro shops
Good luck in your search.
I bought mine a Bass pro shops
Good luck in your search.
Tom
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We previously used a Garmin StreetPilot and recently upgraded to an iWay 500C with a larger screen. Both brands and others out there will do fine for your use.
Ron
Moderator Emeritus
We have the Garmin 2610 but if we were to purchase another GPS it probably would not be another Garmin since I am very disappointed in their mapping software. We have had 6 versions of the 7 and see the same errors in each version. I would recommend looking into the Iway 500 or something else.
Ken & Sheila
Site Team
Don't both Garmin and Lowrance (IWAY) use Navtech maps?
It would seem to me that if Garmin has errors, then so would the Iway.
It would seem to me that if Garmin has errors, then so would the Iway.
Tom
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Ken,
I don't know about Garmin, but Lowrance (iWay) uses Navteq maps.
FWIW I think that all cartography (maps & charts) has some errors in addition to becoming outdated as roads, etc change. I believe Ron is basing his opinion partly on the fact that Garmin has had some of the same errors in various revs of their maps and have not corrected them even when Ron sent them corrections.
I don't know about Garmin, but Lowrance (iWay) uses Navteq maps.
FWIW I think that all cartography (maps & charts) has some errors in addition to becoming outdated as roads, etc change. I believe Ron is basing his opinion partly on the fact that Garmin has had some of the same errors in various revs of their maps and have not corrected them even when Ron sent them corrections.
Barb
Well-known member
We have a Chevy 3500 SRW pulling a 35 ft 5'er. We have a 12" laptop and use CoPilot 9. Which is designed for RV'ers. We've been using Copilot for 5 years. No nav system is perfect. Most of us don't depend 100% on them. I like to review my directions every once in awhile, just to make sure i know where it's taking us. And a road atlas as backup.
Barb
Curently at the stick house (bummer)
Barb
Curently at the stick house (bummer)
Ron
Moderator Emeritus
Ken & Sheila said:
If they do I would have to look in a different direction. ?I am impressed with Garmin's City Nav just not favorably impressed. ?Apparently even Garmin is similarly impressed since they will not give you a money back Guarantee if not satisfied when you buy their City Nav.
When we got our first Garmin streetpilot III they were using what they called Metroguide that while not 100% it was far better than their City Nav. ?I have found many cases where my four or five year old Metroguide is more accurate than the City Nav ver 6. ?The problem is the old ?Metroguide of course does not have the latest new roads. ?It appears to me that Garmin recognized the inadequacies of the City Nav and to force their customers to buy it they made the new versions of Metroguide non-routable. ?An example is here in Michigan driving up a road through the forest to a destination ?the City Nav keep trying to turn us off into the forest this is not a new road and from the size of the trees one can tell there has never been a road there. ?However, the using the very old ?Metroguide maps one is routed to the same destination and never mis-routed into the trees.
If you want to see what is wrong with City Nav do a search for Flying J Truck Stops. Garmin will tell you the nearest is six hundred miles away when you are sitting in the parking lot of a Flying J that was built two years ago.
Our daughters live in Plainfielld, IL, a growing area on the west side of Chicago and I can sit in a two years old shopping center and do a search for every store in within a block and come up with nothing on Gamin while S&T shows them all. They are just not investing the money keeping it updated. ??? ??? ???
That said the I do like using the Streetpilot.
Our daughters live in Plainfielld, IL, a growing area on the west side of Chicago and I can sit in a two years old shopping center and do a search for every store in within a block and come up with nothing on Gamin while S&T shows them all. They are just not investing the money keeping it updated. ??? ??? ???
That said the I do like using the Streetpilot.
Sounds like a lot of neg. comments on the Garmin. I'm beginning to like the sounds of the iway 500c. It lists alot of good (sounding) features.I can get it off e-bay for what looks like a reasonable price, between $500-$600.Also maby i'll look at the Magellan series.
Terry A. Brewer
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Sonny
Don't make your decision on the few replies from this forum...I have a Garmin 2610 & find it to be excellent...My wife likes it & uses it extensively & that is saying a lot as she hates most technology.? Look for some GPS forums on the net & search for reviews, I think you will find Garmin is very highly recommended.
Don't make your decision on the few replies from this forum...I have a Garmin 2610 & find it to be excellent...My wife likes it & uses it extensively & that is saying a lot as she hates most technology.? Look for some GPS forums on the net & search for reviews, I think you will find Garmin is very highly recommended.
We have the Garmin 2620 (like the 2610 but with a 2GB hard drive with the database on it) and love it. My wife, too, uses it in the car when in a new city. None of the consumer level mapping devices and software are perfect, all have errors in the databases. It is very expensive for the manufacturers to acquire the data and only the very expensive professional grade equipment and software will have even close to complete up to date data. Even with the errors, the data is accurate in nearly every place we have used the different devices and mapping programs.
Ron
Moderator Emeritus
I still strongly recommend looking beyond the Garmin. I have one, my second, and it is very unlikely I will buy another Garnin product unless they return to making Metroguide available with routing capability.
ArdraF
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Hi all,
As many of you know we've had a number of Garmins (currently we have two) and have loved 'em all. None of the GPS systems are perfect and they won't be until the data gathering methods are much more sophisticated than they are today. And, how, you may ask, do you know about that?
Just the other day we saw on TV a documentary on how the GPS systems get their data. First of all, would you believe there are only two companies that do ALL the data collection for Garmin and every other GPS manufacturer? Second, how these two companies get their data is far more primitive than you would expect. The people quite literally drive around in a truck with a computer and input data as they find new information. They drive to a new subdivision and label all the streets by inputting them on a laptop. They drive down a commercial street and try to input all the businesses as they find them. Can you imagine driving down a busy city street and trying to input every restaurant, every gas station, every auto mechanic, every insurance agent, and yes even every one of our beloved Flying Js? Think about the effort to do this. It's a monumental task that takes years and there are bound to be human inputting errors. Considering how they go about this task, I think they do a fabulous job! Knowing all this means I can easily live with the relatively few errors they contain.
So what would my advice be about buying a new GPS? Forget everyone else's opinions and go with what you LIKE at a price you can afford. Do you like the display, the categories of attractions, the ease of finding what you want, the features it has (for example, satellite access data, elevation, dirt roads, topographical mapping capability, etc. etc. We don't care for the way the software works that accesses the mapping with the GPS system that came with our MDX, therefore, we carry the Garmin when we need guidance. I like the display of the MDX GPS just fine but the way they organize attractions isn't nearly as good or complete as the Garmin. To my way of thinking, it's just too awkward and time-consuming. In essence, the GPS manufacturers probably have pretty much the same data so what's important for the purchaser is how the data is presented and how easy it is to use.
In any case, when you get your new GPS, have fun learning how to use it, but more importantly go out and have fun using it. ;D ;D
ArdraF
As many of you know we've had a number of Garmins (currently we have two) and have loved 'em all. None of the GPS systems are perfect and they won't be until the data gathering methods are much more sophisticated than they are today. And, how, you may ask, do you know about that?
Just the other day we saw on TV a documentary on how the GPS systems get their data. First of all, would you believe there are only two companies that do ALL the data collection for Garmin and every other GPS manufacturer? Second, how these two companies get their data is far more primitive than you would expect. The people quite literally drive around in a truck with a computer and input data as they find new information. They drive to a new subdivision and label all the streets by inputting them on a laptop. They drive down a commercial street and try to input all the businesses as they find them. Can you imagine driving down a busy city street and trying to input every restaurant, every gas station, every auto mechanic, every insurance agent, and yes even every one of our beloved Flying Js? Think about the effort to do this. It's a monumental task that takes years and there are bound to be human inputting errors. Considering how they go about this task, I think they do a fabulous job! Knowing all this means I can easily live with the relatively few errors they contain.
So what would my advice be about buying a new GPS? Forget everyone else's opinions and go with what you LIKE at a price you can afford. Do you like the display, the categories of attractions, the ease of finding what you want, the features it has (for example, satellite access data, elevation, dirt roads, topographical mapping capability, etc. etc. We don't care for the way the software works that accesses the mapping with the GPS system that came with our MDX, therefore, we carry the Garmin when we need guidance. I like the display of the MDX GPS just fine but the way they organize attractions isn't nearly as good or complete as the Garmin. To my way of thinking, it's just too awkward and time-consuming. In essence, the GPS manufacturers probably have pretty much the same data so what's important for the purchaser is how the data is presented and how easy it is to use.
In any case, when you get your new GPS, have fun learning how to use it, but more importantly go out and have fun using it. ;D ;D
ArdraF
Tom
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ArdraF said:
Right on Ardra. When I decided to upgrade from our Garmin StreetPilot I took Chris to Fry's Electronics, where they had dozens of different brands and models on display, and let her play with them all several times. She kept coming back to the Lowrance iWay as the easiest and most intuitive to use, so that's what we bought. Doesn't mean that would be the best option for someone else.
Thanks for all the inpute, folks. I think I will look at boath the Garmin (26 & 2700 series) and the iway 500c, when I get ready to buy. I like some of the features on boath. I also like the idea of letting the wife/navagitor playing with them first. She will be the one useing them most of the time and she also does not like eletronics.So thanks again and HAPPY RVING!!
SONNY
SONNY
Gary RV_Wizard
Site Team
I think I'll put my 2620 up for sale and try the iWay 500. I like the larger screen on the 500.
The iWay 350 is a bargain and has about the same size screen as the Street Pilots.
The iWay 350 is a bargain and has about the same size screen as the Street Pilots.
