Low Clearances----GPS POI download

[patch-y]

Does anybody have any experience downloading POI for low clearance from "lowclearances.com" for use in the Garmin RV760........(or any Garmin for that matter)

If so can you comment on it? Compatibility with Garmin? accuracy and completeness of data-----or any other comments regarding the download.....

thanks

Rich

[VP Chianese]

Originally Posted by patch-y

Does anybody have any experience downloading POI for low clearance from "lowclearances.com" for use in the Garmin RV760........(or any Garmin for that matter)

If so can you comment on it? Compatibility with Garmin? accuracy and completeness of data-----or any other comments regarding the download.....

thanks

Rich

Are you saying that the RV760 if kept updated through Garmin is not correct?

[patch-y]

Originally Posted by VP Chianese

Are you saying that the RV760 if kept updated through Garmin is not correct?

Lowclearances.com advertises 4000 data points vs. (according to Lowclearance.com) 1500 data points in the RV and truck gps units. I have no idea if their statement is valid.........and make no statement regarding the accuracy of the Garmin unit.......I have updated and used the Garmin rv760 since it came out, covering almost 10,000miles in the west and found no issues with it regarding clearance.

This year we will travel in the east. The bridges in the east tend to be older and lower----- so ----I am getting as much info as possible to be prepared.

rich

[Deek]

Originally Posted by patch-y

Lowclearances.com advertises 4000 data points vs. (according to Lowclearance.com) 1500 data points in the RV and truck gps units. I have no idea if their statement is valid.........and make no statement regarding the accuracy of the Garmin unit.......I have updated and used the Garmin rv760 since it came out, covering almost 10,000miles in the west and found no issues with it regarding clearance.

This year we will travel in the east. The bridges in the east tend to be older and lower----- so ----I am getting as much info as possible to be prepared.

rich

Patch-y --

We have the same Garmin GPS and with regular updates for the lifetime maps, we have never had a problem -- have found it to be very accurate and dialed in to routes that only trucks and large RV's should use. It is, however, very important to update your maps each time an online update is made available.

If you still have any hesitation, contact Garmin about this -- I have found them to be readily available and very helpful. If you do happen to get any updated info from them, please be sure to post what you find out back here for all of us who use this product. Thanks.

Deek

Deek

[KAYAKSUW]

I too have had the Garmin Rv model since it came out. I live in North Fl. on the Suwannee River and we have traveled extensively throughout the South East. We like to "Get OFF" the Interstate jungles and cruise the beautiful back roads of the South.

We have never had a problem. "Ruby Ann" as we named the unit [after our 5 yr old grandgirl,] has sucessfully rerouted us on several occasions around known issues.

When approaching Stone Mountain state Park near Atlanta [gorgeous campground look at it if your journeys allow] there is a LOW OLD railroad bridge that must be AVOIDED and she always avoids this one and others.

Have never heard of the other sotware but I would never upload anything to my gps other than Garmin. I have used Garmin in boats cars and RVs.

Please remember that the Garmin data is only as good as the DATA provided by local,state and federal street, road and interstate officials.
So I always keep my newest paper maps and atlas on board.

All that I fairly well trust Garmin and fully realize and accept their sometime data anomalies.

Happy traveling, we just an hour ago got home from a fun trip to New Orleans and the Cajun Country around Henderson LA.

[VinceB]

Originally Posted by patch-y

Does anybody have any experience downloading POI for low clearance from "lowclearances.com" for use in the Garmin RV760........(or any Garmin for that matter)

If so can you comment on it? Compatibility with Garmin? accuracy and completeness of data-----or any other comments regarding the download.....

thanks

Rich

I have had an RV760 for a year and downloaded from lowclearances.com. I can't speak to the accuracy of completeness of the data. The only way to do that would be to drive to each low clearance and verify it. For completeness, you would have to do your own research which goes against the idea of just buying a database in the first place.

That said, I have driven by a couple of their low clearances in my car and they were accurate. What you need to keep in mind is that what you will get from lowclearances.com is just a database and not a navigation/planning system. You will need to connect the 760 to your computer to upload the database to the 760. All you are doing is uploading way points - they do not factor into route planning at all unless you do it manually.

All you get is an alert that you are getting to within however far away you set the alert for. I've received alerts for something that was 2 miles south of me when I was heading East and was never going to get to it.

The RV760 works very well as it comes out of the box after you enter the specs for your rig. Not once in 10,000 miles did it route me to where lowclearances.com would have saved my bacon. I don't feel that the $15 was worth the money which brings me to the reason I am answering a year-old post.

I bought the 1-year subscription but it automatically renewed. No where on lowclearances.com can I find a way to unsubscribe. There is no phone number listed for the US. I sent an email and they were unresponsive. I am happy that I used PayPal because I was able to tell PayPal not to pay lowclearances.com any more.

[Archer2]

While I have been very happy with the RV760 overall, I did one time have it try to route me up a small road leaving Watkins Glen, NY. Fortunately I saw the "Clearance 11 Feet" sign and was able to hang a quick left into a gas station. No drama but had I not seen that sign it could have been really ugly. My hard clearance is 12' 6".

[HavingABlast]

We too live in the west, but used our RV760 for navigation. It is updated regularly. It did a great job for us as we traveled through The North East. We were routed around a series of blocks for some unknown reason once. After the last turn, we looked the other direction and saw a train track bridge that would have stopped us in our tracks (pun intended).

As was mentioned earlier, use a second source if possible. Before we head out I check every mile of our route for that day on Allstays. You can filter it to show the height of low clearances (mostly train overpasses in the North East. This has been very accurate for us. Others have used a Truckers Map ... But I haven't been able to find it yet.

If all else fails, take an interstate and make sure that you see the occasional tractor trailer on the road. If they can make it, so can you.

BTW...look into EZ-Pass. It will save you time, money, and a headache when faced with the toll roads in the NE. I did...am am so thankful that those on this forum helped educate me with regard to toll transponders.

Happy travels.

[JFXG]

Originally Posted by HavingABlast

.... Others have used a Truckers Map ... But I haven't been able to find it yet............

Blast..... The American Independent Truckers Assn maintains a website with a wide scope of information for its members, and a great deal is publicly available.
Go to www.aitaonline.com. Select "Information", then select the state for which you want info, and then below select the type of info. One choice is Low Clearances. They list by name or route number all known clearances of 13'6" or less.
Another thing I've learned is to visually scan small roads I'd like to use on Google Maps sat view. If I see any large trucks I know I'm good.



John & Diane, fulltiming since '12
'02 DS, FL, Cat, '04 Element
NHSO RVM103

[HavingABlast]

Originally Posted by JFXG

Blast..... The American Independent Truckers Assn maintains a website with a wide scope of information for its members, and a great deal is publicly available.
Go to www.aitaonline.com. Select "Information", then select the state for which you want info, and then below select the type of info. One choice is Low Clearances. They list by name or route number all known clearances of 13'6" or less.
Another thing I've learned is to visually scan small roads I'd like to use on Google Maps sat view. If I see any large trucks I know I'm good.



John & Diane, fulltiming since '12
'02 DS, FL, Cat, '04 Element
NHSO RVM103

Thanks for the link. I will put this in my favorites. Web based is better than a book that will have to be replaced to be current.

I too look at google maps in zoom view to find evidence of large trucks before finalizing the route to be taken. It is always a relief to find a big truck on a desired smaller road.

[patch-y]

Originally Posted by VinceB

I have had an RV760 for a year and downloaded from lowclearances.com. I can't speak to the accuracy of completeness of the data. The only way to do that would be to drive to each low clearance and verify it. For completeness, you would have to do your own research which goes against the idea of just buying a database in the first place.

That said, I have driven by a couple of their low clearances in my car and they were accurate. What you need to keep in mind is that what you will get from lowclearances.com is just a database and not a navigation/planning system. You will need to connect the 760 to your computer to upload the database to the 760. All you are doing is uploading way points - they do not factor into route planning at all unless you do it manually.

All you get is an alert that you are getting to within however far away you set the alert for. I've received alerts for something that was 2 miles south of me when I was heading East and was never going to get to it.

The RV760 works very well as it comes out of the box after you enter the specs for your rig. Not once in 10,000 miles did it route me to where lowclearances.com would have saved my bacon. I don't feel that the $15 was worth the money which brings me to the reason I am answering a year-old post.

I bought the 1-year subscription but it automatically renewed. No where on lowclearances.com can I find a way to unsubscribe. There is no phone number listed for the US. I sent an email and they were unresponsive. I am happy that I used PayPal because I was able to tell PayPal not to pay lowclearances.com any more.

I did buy the download last year and entered the data in my rv760. My findings are essentially the same as yours.......including the worth of the $15 price, including the auto renewal attempt(the card I used to purchase it last year expired so the auto renewal did not go through)......

I did look at some (honestly maybe 5 locations)of the low clearance locations some on map and maybe 2 in the field. The few I looked at were accurate. They were on secondary roads that I would probably never take with a 41 foot motorhome towing an F150.

rich

[coolhand108]

howdy neighbor, i also live in white springs on cr 25a how ya doing lol

[Rd1]

Originally Posted by Archer2

a small road leaving Watkins Glen, NY. ".

Archer2, by any chance you may recall the road? I am heading to Watkins later this summer, appreciate the heads up..

As for GPS use specially with a large vehicle, its always best to double check with other sources before hand.

[Archer2]

Yes, I was heading south to Hershey PA so GPS was sending me down Hwy 14 aka S. Franklin St. It tried to get me to make a right (West) turn onto Old Corning Road. There is a convenience mart called Lake Gas on the southwest corner of the intersection. When I saw the low clearance sign I whipped over into the station, got some gas and just kept going south on 14. I just went back and looked at a sat map of the area and it looks like the low clearance may have been further down the road than the intersection that the GPS would have probably routed me off on. So it might not have been a mistake in the GPS after all but I wasn't going to take the chance.