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Why You Want a Garmin RV GPS in 2024
In the event you’re pondering, “Why would I spend that a lot cash on one thing I can get on my cellphone totally free?”, you’re not alone. We too had been hesitant to make this type of funding when there are such a lot of (free) cellular apps in the marketplace that appear to carry out the identical perform. GPS items appeared like dinosaurs, one thing that belonged within the early 2000s together with MapQuest.
And but. After just some months of navigating with the Garmin RV GPS in our first motorhome, we couldn’t think about life with out it.
Causes to Have a Garmin RV GPS
Custom-made Routing
Even the smallest motorhomes are bigger than your common SUV. An RV GPS considers the dimensions of your massive car when calculating the optimum route. In the event you’ve ever approached a low bridge and thought too late, ‘I ponder precisely how tall my rig is,’ then you definitely perceive how essential the scale of your RV are for routing.
The Garmin RV GPS has a profile part the place you may enter the width, peak and size of your RV. The RV GPS we used had two profile choices so we set on up for our Class A motorhome, and one for our Jeep Wrangler tow car.
After we drove the motorhome, we would choose the RV profile. This allowed the GPS to customise the route. The mapping included related restrictions, corresponding to low overhangs and bridges, in addition to weight-restricted roads and steep grades on roads and highways. This helped make sure that we didn’t find yourself on a street with low clearance or a weight restriction.
Offline Functionality
Not like Google Maps and different mapping software program on our telephones, the GPS doesn’t want connectivity to work. The system will work so long as it might probably hook up with a satellite tv for pc. We by no means ran right into a state of affairs the place the Garmin RV GPS couldn’t join. That is extremely helpful whenever you’re on Forest Service or BLM land on the lookout for a boondocking spot, the place service may be spotty or nonexistent.
Offline functionality additionally means the GPS doesn’t eat up invaluable gigabytes of information. In the event you’re touring lots, you could run into situations the place you exceed your cellular information cap and are charged further.
Giant Show and Intuitive Alerts
The big 7, 8 and 10 inch show sizes of the Garmin RV GPS makes it simpler to learn than a cellular phone display. Yellow bars and audio notifications alert us if the street circumstances are altering (sharp curve, steep grade, college zone, pace restrict change, and so forth.). The turn-by-turn instructions are clear and simple to observe. The RV GPS will even present clear directions on when to alter lanes so that you simply’re in the proper place for a freeway division or interchange.
Steer Away from Tolls
The RV GPS lets you preview attainable routes earlier than a visit. If you wish to keep away from tolls like we did, you may make that call upfront. The routes will present estimate time of arrival and whole mileage. These estimates are particular to an RV and to not a automobile, which is helpful in the case of estimating arrival time. Conventional mapping software program assumes which you could at all times go a minimum of the pace restrict, and this isn’t at all times the case for RVs.
See What’s Coming
An RV GPS will even present stops that RVers care about: eating places, gasoline stations, banks, relaxation stops and RV companies. If you’re on the lookout for one thing particular corresponding to a Costco gasoline station, you should use the search function.
Newest Garmin RV GPS Fashions
As of penning this publish, the Garmin RV 795, the Garmin RV 895, and the Garmin RV 1095 fashions are the most recent and best RV GPS items. The principle distinction between the three is the 795 has a 7″ display, the 895 has an 8″ display and the 1095 has a ten″ display. The one different distinction between the three is that the 795 comes with a suction cup mount and 895 and 1095 include a quick-detach magnetic suction cup mount.
Garmin RV GPS Options
- Excessive-resolution edge-to-edge contact show in 7, 8 and 10 inch screens
- Customized routing for the dimensions and weight of your RV
- Street warnings
- Listing of RV parks and companies, TripAdvisor® traveler scores plus built-in content material from Final Public Campgrounds, KOA®, iOverlander™, PlanRV™ TripAdvisor®, Foursquare® and extra
- Voice management, hands-free calling (cellphone integration) and built-in WiFi for straightforward updating with out a pc
- Preloaded avenue maps for North America with protection of the U.S., Mexico, Canada, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands and Bahamas
Garmin RV GPS Contains:
- Automobile suction cup mount (795) / Fast-Detach suction cup mount (895/1095)
- Site visitors receiver/car energy cable
- USB cable
- Documentation
Worth of Garmin RV 795 on Amazon
Garmin Overlander
Final, however not least, there’s the Garmin Overlander, essentially the most sturdy of the lineup.
In a phrase, the Overlander is cool. The overwhelming majority of RVers received’t want an RV GPS unit this sturdy; because the title implies, it’s constructed for four-wheelers who enterprise into some powerful territory.
Garmin Overlander Options:
- On- and off-road navigation
- Topographic maps for North and South America
- Spoken instructions with avenue maps for North and South America
- Share your journey plans by Garmin Discover
- Powered magnet mount and RAM ball mount
- 64 GB of built-in storage
- Suitable with HuntView maps (offered individually)
- Army customary 810 for thermal and shock resistance
- IP5X mud score
- Pre-loaded information from iOverlander, together with public land boundaries
- Built-in pitch and roll angles to help on difficult terrain
Garmin RV GPS Evaluation
The RV GPS unit we owned was the Garmin RV 760LMT. It’s not in manufacturing and has been changed with the newer Garmin GPS fashions listed above. Watch the video to study extra about why we thought the Garmin was the Greatest RV GPS.
Shortcomings of RV GPS
An RV GPS assessment could be incomplete with out an acknowledgment of its shortcomings. GPS gadgets aren’t excellent and listed below are a few of the issues we had with ours.
Outdated Data or RV Entry Unknown
The most important battle with RV GPS is that it must be manually up to date. Not like Google Maps or different app software program that updates continually within the cloud, your RV GPS software program has been downloaded to your system. It’s solely ever as correct because the final replace.
We’ve seen the pace restrict off by 5 to 10 miles an hour, or RV entry for a principal street is listed as unknown. We discovered to not rely completely on the GPS and to maintain conscious of signage. When RV entry is unknown, the GPS will path to a street the place entry is thought. This has led us to a couple out-of-the-way and sketchy routes. This wasn’t the norm however it did occur. That mentioned, we’ve had apps like Google Maps route us down small nation or grime roads the place a big RV would by no means slot in an effort to offer the “quickest” route. Most not too long ago, we had Google Maps route us alongside a street the place we needed to cross a slim, one-lane bridge. The burden restrict for this bridge is 3 tons which suggests even the smallest RVs could be chubby for the bridge (and even some full-size pick-ups). With a purpose to get to the opposite facet, we needed to detour again and discover one other route manually since Google wouldn’t present an alternate.
As Garmin acknowledged on their web site “All the time defer to all posted street indicators and street circumstances when making driving choices.”
Abstract
General, the Garmin RV GPS is a good device and probably the greatest RV GPS on the market. If you’re available in the market for a Garmin RV GPS, contemplating making a buy by our Amazon affiliate hyperlink. There isn’t any further price for the client and in return we obtain a small proportion of the sale. Thanks in your help! We actually recognize it.