Need for GPS

[Donna D.]

I just expect to get lost at least one time on a big(ger) trip and I'm never disappointed. When I was a kid, my Mother was the one that used to get irritated when we'd get lost. My Dad just said, Nadine sit back and relax. Look around, we may never pass this way again. Love that philosophy.


Shoot, I got 'lost' coming home from the ETI rally in 2015 and I was always on main roads. Missed the sign to turn towards Wenatchee and ended up on Native American land where I couldn't turn around for about 20 miles (it was a raised frontage road). "I'll never pass that way again."

[Chris R]

Has anyone updated the Ford Sync3 navigation data? Is it worth it for Canada?
When we got our 2017 F150, the data was at least 5 years old and POI were worse.

[Ron in BC]

Originally Posted by Donna D.

"I'll never pass that way again."

I've learned to never say never.

Ron

[Mike Lewis]

I use the CoPilot app on a Samsung tablet which I keep in a floor mount in the truck when driving. That works pretty well. The CoPilot map does go out of date so I download a new one every year (2 GB, but free).


My Garmin did try to take me across a lake once. I got tired of it pretty quickly and when its internal battery ran down I abandoned it.

[AKCamper]

I use a Garmin and although it sometimes leads me astray, it is way better than asking my wife which way to go when she has the map. The best thing about a gps is driving in the dark. My old eyes have a hard time with street sights at night.

[dfandrews]

Originally Posted by Bobbie54

No one needs an RV or an automobile for that matter. The pioneers did fine with covered wagons and going west following the sun.

Or following the other 400,000:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/trave...ail-180960589/

[cpaharley2008]

Very interesting, I have seen some of those ruts in our travels.....

[Jake930]

Originally Posted by dfandrews

Or following the other 400,000:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/trave...ail-180960589/

. I have seen the ones in Guernsey WY. On a motorcycle trip in “77”. I remember being very impressed that the trail was so visible 120 yrs or so later.

Originally Posted by AKCamper

I use a Garmin and although it sometimes leads me astray, it is way better than asking my wife which way to go when she has the map. The best thing about a gps is driving in the dark. My old eyes have a hard time with street sights at night.

. I’m with you. My wife can’t read a map for nothing. I relay on my garmin a lot. It has led me astray a couple of times, but 98% of the time it’s got me where I needed to go. And if it does mess up I just turn it off and go a couple miles down the road, turn it on and it recalculates. Used to be I would just look over the map for that days travel and memorize it. Those days seem to be gone?

[kwthere]

I use a Garmin RV 760LMT (purchased 2013). Like the free map updates; traffic alerts. You input your RV dimensions; it allows you to use in either "Auto" or "RV" mode. I have found, when used in the "RV" mode, it will often route me over a longer route than the "Auto" mode even the "Auto" route seems quite safe and passable. When traveling on some residential streets or passable rural road (while in RV Mode), it will give me a message that it has not been determined that the road is passable by RV. I have more or less stopped using the RV mode.

[JStelly]

Originally Posted by kwthere

I use a Garmin RV 760LMT (purchased 2013). Like the free map updates; traffic alerts. You input your RV dimensions; it allows you to use in either "Auto" or "RV" mode. I have found, when used in the "RV" mode, it will often route me over a longer route than the "Auto" mode even the "Auto" route seems quite safe and passable. When traveling on some residential streets or passable rural road (while in RV Mode), it will give me a message that it has not been determined that the road is passable by RV. I have more or less stopped using the RV mode.

I use the same and I like it a lot! We drove from Chilliwack back to Texas in the AUTO mode before I found the RV mode. [emoji4]. I tried the RV mode but like you I went back the the AUTO mode 95% of the time.

[JStelly]

Originally Posted by JStelly

I use the same and I like it a lot! We drove from Chilliwack back to Texas in the AUTO mode before I found the RV mode. [emoji4]. I tried the RV mode but like you I went back the the AUTO mode 95% of the time.

And I really like the traffic function and the Up Ahead function. This shows you gas and food up ahead and on your route. It’s very helpful when looking for a gas station along your route.

[gbaglo]

Originally Posted by JStelly

And I really like the traffic function and the Up Ahead function. This shows you gas and food up ahead and on your route. It’s very helpful when looking for a gas station along your route.

Sounds like a lot of information. Do you pull over to use it, or does the passenger operate it?
In BC you would get a hefty find for searching your GPS while driving ( that includes while stopped at a stoplight.

[wetzk]

Originally Posted by gbaglo

Sounds like a lot of information. Do you pull over to use it, or does the passenger operate it?
In BC you would get a hefty find for searching your GPS while driving ( that includes while stopped at a stoplight.

A lot of the new ones can be operated by yelling at them.
OK, they really are designed to operate by voice commands. But in real life they do not seem to understand southern or New York accents. I imagine a good Canadian one could also confuse them.

[JStelly]

Originally Posted by gbaglo

Sounds like a lot of information. Do you pull over to use it, or does the passenger operate it?
In BC you would get a hefty find for searching your GPS while driving ( that includes while stopped at a stoplight.

My wife/passenger operates it. It’s very simple and requires only two pushes (menu then up ahead). The screen then automatically defaults to show on the right 1/4 of the screen the upcoming gas, dining and ATM by miles along the route. Another push can give you specifics of gas for example but we hardly use it. Knowing there is a gas station on the right in 10 miles is good enough. As you get closer the counter ticks down until you arrive at it. Very simple to use.

[Jim Bennett]

Originally Posted by wetzk

A lot of the new ones can be operated by yelling at them.
OK, they really are designed to operate by voice commands. But in real life they do not seem to understand southern or New York accents. I imagine a good Canadian one could also confuse them.

We don't have a problem with voice commands because we don't have an accent up here.

[cpaharley2008]

Originally Posted by Jim Bennett

We don't have a problem with voice commands because we don't have an accent up here.

So "hey" and "eh" are never mistaken, eh?

Born and raised in Balamer, Merrylan, we speak the Kings English-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baltimore_accent

[cpaharley2008]

We even have our own dictionerry- http://www.baltimorehon.com/#D

[John in Santa Cruz]

Originally Posted by JStelly

And I really like the traffic function and the Up Ahead function. This shows you gas and food up ahead and on your route. It’s very helpful when looking for a gas station along your route.

"OK, GOOGLE!" (loudly to get over the spotify music I probably have cranked up)... <beep> "Find Diesel en route!" <thinking thinking> <bunch of station icons show up along the route ahead, with google's estimated current pricing...> tap one... tap add to route... keep on driving on...

wished for feature: that it would show the distance to each of these stations on the map, so I could pick one 100 miles or whatever ahead when I know what my safe range is...

[algonquin50]

I don't use TomTom for anything. Garmin is the standard for GPS as they are used in aircraft, Yachts, boats, RV;s, and cars. I personally have used them in aircraft, cars, boats, cars, and RV. I also use the phone app RV Parky when travelling in car or RV. Garmin has always been spot on which is kinda nice in your RV or car and critical when flying.
It is critical that you update when they send you a note. Garmin will not route you over water, so no need to worry about ferries. It will route you to the ferry. It will also reroute
me around accidents if I choose. I have used cars equipped with TomTom and surprised at the difference. I believe that Subaru uses TomTom for their indash GPS.

[bitsnbytes13]

I have a Garmin 61 and an older Nuvi 760. I always use Basecamp (on Garmin website) to plan my routes (on a computer) as I generally never use the "fastest" or "shortest" routes the units will calculate.

First I let Basecamp do the routing as the GPS unit would, then I add waypoints to the new route to force the GPS to go where I want using the roads I want.

Once done I upload the routes onto the GPS. Note that it takes a little while for the GPS to load the route(s). Basecamp will allow you to download the routes you've done onto your computer. It can also display the vertical profile of the driven routes.

Basecamp has slew of other features that one might find useful.