GPS Routing & Points of Interest

[OnCall]

Hello,
I am wondering if there are any RVers using a GPS to route their trips and also if anyone is using Points of interest files to help locate campgounds, rest areas, etc... along the way. I am new to travelling this way and looking for help.

Thank you

[Jack R]

On Call

I use an older Garmin Nuvi 350. Have Walmart, Campgrounds, and rest area poi s on it.

Jack

[NLOVNIT]

We use our Magellan Roadmate 1700 to route all our trips & use the POI's to find everything from gas stations, to restaurants to rest areas. It's got a whole database of AAA POI's in it.

And we just LOVE the 7" display. So much easier for the both of us to see when perched on the dash of the coach.

Lori-

[OnCall]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jack R On Call I use an older Garmin Nuvi 350. Have Walmart, Campgrounds, and rest area poi s on it. Jack

Jack, how do you find the accuracy?

Thank you,
Tony

[Jack R]

I just put in the address I want to go to and let it do its thing. Has only errored once since I've had it. Approx 7 years.

Jack

[ScottsJourney]

I just got a Gamin 1490t. So far it has been right. It's has a 5 in screen and a larger speaker. I can see it and hear it in the MH.

[DGShaffer]

I've been routing trip on the PC for quite a long time since before the RV all of our trips were on the bike. I preplan all my routes and with that all the places I want to stop at and see along the way. I route mt trip to all these points and then decide if I actually want to drive to them or not while I'm en route that way I don't miss them by accident. We travel with the bike so all out trips have routes set just for the RV and routes just for the bike.

[RVThere]

As a 'nav geek' I use many sources to plan my routes:

- At home, I use Microsoft Mappoint and Google Maps (on the internet, with Streetview) to give a basic plan to the route and make sure I have an idea in my head of where I'm going.

- I also get the AAA State books as they tend to list interesting stops by city that you may miss otherwise.

- I then use Garmin's MapSource to pick out my own Points of Interest (relative's houses, truck stops, etc) and load them onto my GPS.

- If there is any city driving, I go back to Google Maps and see if there are any tight turns or low clearances.

- In the motorhome I use both a Garmin 465T and the Alpine nav system that came with the coach. I also use a good old Truckers Atlas. I also have a laptop connected to a cell phone that gives me internet access wherever Verizon has a good signal.

I never follow the GPS directions blindly as they will sometimes tell you 'make a U Turn if possible' when going down the road a bit will give you much better options. Keep your eyes open for low clearances.

With a GPS and other nav systems, you take some of the 'suprises' out of the trip but you still have the 'adventure'.

[Rick Long]

I have the Garmin 855 with voice command... it works great! The 855 has audio out and I have it plugged into my aux in on my radio... I hear it over my motorhome stereo speakers. I have a 2GB micro-SD card loaded with oldies music on the 855... while listening to music if the GPS says something, it cuts out the music till it's done talking.
I have all of the Thousand Trails, NACO and Leisure Time campgrounds loaded in my POI files... You can get them and tons more POI files here:
POI Factory | new & interesting places for your GPS and it's FREE!

[chasfm11]

We've used Street Atlas, a PC based program to plan and follow our routes. For example, we did a 22 day, 4,400 mile trip a year ago. We had specific reasons for the breaks in the schedule at certain destinations so I broke the trip up into 8 different segments. Street Atlas allows you to activate a segment for that day or period's travel and then activate the next leg from the next travel period. The GPS tracks progress and even saves "bread crumbs". You can save the actual track to a file for later use

DOAI MAIN PAGE in their free section under "map overlays" provides files of different points of interest including Wal-Mart, Cracker Barrel, different types of repair facitlites, State Parks, scenic drives, etc. The beauty of Street Atlas is that you can load a few or many for one trip and then turn them on or off so that the map displays aren't cluttered. Let's say we are traveling and looking for a CG in TN. We turn on the Passport America, Tennessee State Parks and WiFI CG POIs. We can then see any that are along our current route.. Run out of coffee or bread? We simply turn on the Wal-Mart Supercenter POI and see if one is coming up along the way. It is very easy and helpful. If it slightly off the route, we can add it in as a "via" and we are automatically routed there without changing the rest of the planned route.

One of the best features of Street Atlas is that allows me to see the whole route in advance and easily make adjustments before we start driving. You pick the start and end points and Street Atlas plans how to get there. I can then zoom in and follow the route SA picked. If I don't like a particularly road or two, I insert vias and the route is adjusted accordingly. Like all of the other GPSs, Street Atlas also automatically adjusts to off route conditions.

We run Street Atlas on a 17" laptop, sitting on our dashboard. SA takes up 2/3 of the screen and VMSpc, an engine monitoring application takes the other 1/3. Street Atlas provides both voice turn commands and a banner at the bottom of the screen for the next one. It is also voice activated. I can ask SA to repeat the directions if I didn't hear it the first time. The voice commands also allow changing the zoom level, panning the screen, centering on the next turn, centering on the finish (of the current segment) and centering on the current position, all without touching anything.

[caninecop]

I have been using Garmin GPS for awhile, at the present time I am using the Zumo 550. I am looking seriously at the Cobra 7700 Trucker’s GPS, I like all the options that it gives you that you can inter to help navigate the roads. The kicker for me is the 7” display which I really like over the Garmin Zumo.

[bigd42]

Can the cobra be set to go between truck and auto?

[relgel]

Lori & Dave-- can you please comment on the navigation logic of the 1700? I just bought and returned a Garmin 855 as the routes it chose were BAD! I had to double check routes with a map and enter cities/poi to get the correct routes. I have used Garmins for 5 years and was not expecting this change to their system.
Jim aka Relgel

[Ken-55]

Anyone using Microsoft Streets and Trips??

With the new 2010 version out, I was able to pick up the 2009 version with the USB powered GPS sensor for less than $25 (inc. S&H).

It should be here in the next day or so . . . curious to hear from anyone currently using it . . . I really like the ability to pre-plan routes on the PC and having the large (laptop) screen.

My current GPS (swiped from my car) is a Navigon 5100. I kinda like it, but it's a pain to program it to take a route that it doesn't select and customer service is non-existent since Navigon abandoned US users completely in order to support their new iPhone based products.