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Owners of RVGarmin gps

bobkatmsu
Explorer
Explorer
I have read some good reports about the RV Garmin 770 here and other places, so I purchased one yesterday. Put in all my particular, height, weight, lengthy, etc. So far on the first 24 hours of use it has screwed me up 5 times. The most egregious was traveling on I-20 W. I had put in my destination, it had me get off at exit 19. It then had me take two quick lefts putting me back to I-20 East and drive to exit 11 where my destination was. There was no reason why it would have me bypass exit 11 the first time and take me 16 miles out of my way. Again this is only one of several screw up in the first 24 hours.
2010 Newmar Dutch Star DP
2014 Jeep Wrangler Sahara
36 REPLIES 36

PenMan
Explorer
Explorer
luvlabs wrote:
Do you think maybe you set your height wrong in the setup screen? Or forgot to set it?

I've driven that same route with my 13' high motorhome (really 12'6") and never had a bleep.


I have the correct measurements in the setup. We are under 12 ft. high. The crazy part about it telling me to exit from I-40 was I had been through Oklahoma City but going the opposite direction a month before with no warnings from the Garmin. My first thought was they had started work on a bridge but when the 18 wheelers weren't exiting I decided to just follow one of them. Never did see any bridge construction. I still use it when on the interstates mainly to tell distance to a destination. I never trust it any more but use a trucker's atlas and it has never been wrong. The Garmin was wrong many, many times.
Chris and Jane
2013 Open Range Journeyer JT337RLS
2006 Dodge Ram 3500, 4x4, Crew Cab, DRW, 5.9 turbo diesel
1996 Harley Davidson Electraglide

jplante4
Explorer
Explorer
Ever since TomTom took me down a 13 percent downgrade in the Catskills, I have a healthy disrespect for GPS. I still have the TomTom, the DW uses it. When she says "TomTom wants you to turn" I just keep going. It's mostly so she can check the speed without being obvious.

I use Waze and and Copilot RV phone apps on my tablet for traffic and guidance. I check the route on Google maps and/or Google Earth before hand and keep a mental route in my head so when the app says to do something, I can use the TLAR method (That Looks About Right).

If the route involves terrain, I use the mountain guides. And as if all this isn't enough, the DW always has the paper atlas out.

There have been a few times when I just needed to pull over to make sense of what's going on. The most notable was when headed to Sylvan Lake CG in New York. The directions said to get off I-84 at exit 15 and then follow this road then that. None of the road signs made sense and the circle of our position error was increasing in radius. I pulled over and punched the address into the GPS. We were 75 miles from the cammpground. We took exit 15 in Connecticut, not NY.
Jerry & Jeanne
1996 Safari Sahara 3530 - 'White Tiger'
CAT 3126/Allison 6 speed/Magnum Chassis
2014 Equinox AWD / Blue Ox

mike_brez
Explorer
Explorer
Ralph Cramden wrote:
I love the comments that it's still a great device but only a tool to be used with an atlas or other device. An electric circular saw with a dull blade and fried armature is also only a tool, to be turned with a stick while taking 2 hours to naw through a 2x4.


ROTFLMAO
1998 36 foot Country Coach Magna #5499 Single slide
Gillig chassis with a series 40
02 Ford F250 7.3 with a few mods
2015 Wrangler JKU

Ralph_Cramden
Explorer II
Explorer II
PenMan wrote:
johnhicks wrote:
Gee, my RV-760 does just fine. Of course I've learned how to set it up and how to plot a route using Basecamp. It takes a little effort.

If you're not willing to put in the effort any gps or app will most assuredly lead you astray down a cow path through a farmer's back 40.

So please, learn how it works.


I know how it works. Poorly. I had a good route planned, straight down I-40 from Tennessee to New Mexico. Entering Oklahoma City my Garmin instructed me to exit as there was a low bridge ahead (yeah right, on I-40). The semis in front of me weren't exiting so I followed them. All the way to New Mexico there was not a low bridge even though my Garmin kept insisting (many, many times) that I needed to exit. Piece of junk. I now use a trucker's atlas.


Poorly Indeed. I bought the 760 RVTLM when it first came out, actually pre ordered before it was released and paid a premium. What a piece of junk. Enter your parameters then jump off the interstate to get "RV accessibility unknown" about 50% of the time on secondary roads. I am 100% sure I need not worry about RV accessibility on the Interstate. Then despite updating maps every time they come out the RV specific database is also worthless. It located campgrounds miles away from where they are actually located and might direct you to gas stations that have been closed for 5 years. Possibly to a washed out bridge from 2011 that will never be rebuilt. I have even went as far as emailing Garmin a few times when discrepancies are found which were acknowledged, yet the same errors exist on the latest database updates 3 years later. I love the comments that it's still a great device but only a tool to be used with an atlas or other device. An electric circular saw with a dull blade and fried armature is also only a tool, to be turned with a stick while taking 2 hours to naw through a 2x4.
Too many geezers, self appointed moderators, experts, and disappearing posts for me. Enjoy. How many times can the same thing be rehashed over and over?

Executive45
Explorer III
Explorer III
bobkatmsu wrote:
Executive wrote:
IMO, the 770 is very reliable, but like anything else, it's simply another tool in our toolbox. Like anything else, it takes some time to master. I plan my route ahead of time and if not sure I plug in Google maps and check it. Google maps gives me a birds eye view of where and on what kinds of roads I'll be traveling. I also don't rely on street addresses. I pull up the GPS coordinates off Google Maps and use those. This method puts me in exactly the correct spot I want to be in when I get where I'm going. Finally, while Base Camp is helpful, it does take a lot of brain power to master. (I gave up ๐Ÿ™‚ YMMV).....Dennis

Dennis, couple questions. 1) when you were setting up parameters did you include your toad as part of your over all length? 2)Do you use coach mode or car mode for directions?


1. No, I only use the length of the coach.
2. I use coach mode. Car will send you on 'short cuts'.
3. Set your parameters carefully. Include all roads you do NOT want to travel on. We avoid freeways, toll roads etc. Only real issue has been weight. At 50,000 # we're overweight on some bridges...Dennis
We can do more than we think we can, but most do less than we think we do
Dennis and Debi Fourteen Years Full Timing
Monaco Executive M-45PBQ Quad Slide
525HP Cummins ISM 6 Spd Allison
2014 Chevrolet Equinox LTZ W/ ReadyBrute
CLICK HERE TO VIEW OUR TRAVEL BLOG

johnhicks
Explorer
Explorer
Proximity warnings are just that, by proximity. If I-40 passed in close proximity to that low bridge you'd get a warning. Probably a bit better than a low buzzcut.

I've seen those occasionally and once confirming there wasn't a low bridge along my route (but there was one in close proximity) I told it I was a car and proceeded normally.

I believe in setup somewhere you can reduce the range or turn it off entirely. It's doing what it's programmed (and you via setup) tell it to do.

On the other hand, I tried to plot a route across southern Louisiana and it flat-out refused. Didn't tell me why, which was frustrating. An inspection with Google Earth revealed a 12'3" bridge, which was several inches too short. I would've had to back up miles on a two-lane road across swamp to turn around. Google Maps was perfectly happy with it.

On that note, Google Maps happily routed me down farm-to-martket roads in east Texas, some one-lane and some unpaved one-lane. Of course I wasn't in the RV; I would never use a car nav app for an RV.
-jbh-

luvlabs
Explorer
Explorer
Do you think maybe you set your height wrong in the setup screen? Or forgot to set it?

I've driven that same route with my 13' high motorhome (really 12'6") and never had a bleep.
2017 Winnebago Navion 24V
2014 Tiffin Phaeton 36GH (sold)
2012 Tiffin Allegro 32CA (traded)
2012 Honda Fit

PenMan
Explorer
Explorer
johnhicks wrote:
Gee, my RV-760 does just fine. Of course I've learned how to set it up and how to plot a route using Basecamp. It takes a little effort.

If you're not willing to put in the effort any gps or app will most assuredly lead you astray down a cow path through a farmer's back 40.

So please, learn how it works.


I know how it works. Poorly. I had a good route planned, straight down I-40 from Tennessee to New Mexico. Entering Oklahoma City my Garmin instructed me to exit as there was a low bridge ahead (yeah right, on I-40). The semis in front of me weren't exiting so I followed them. All the way to New Mexico there was not a low bridge even though my Garmin kept insisting (many, many times) that I needed to exit. Piece of junk. I now use a trucker's atlas.
Chris and Jane
2013 Open Range Journeyer JT337RLS
2006 Dodge Ram 3500, 4x4, Crew Cab, DRW, 5.9 turbo diesel
1996 Harley Davidson Electraglide

ncrowley
Explorer
Explorer
I have the 760 and I like it BUT I always know where I am going and how I will get there before I go. You can never rely on a GPS. Most of the time, it is correct but it is not 100%. We use Google maps and we have a truckers atlas, We check routes on both if we are not sure.
Nancy
Newmar Northern Star

D_E_Bishop
Explorer
Explorer
As I sat reading this thread, I had a thought, isn't it amazing that in a few short years we have gone from folding maps and atlases to an electronic devise a lot thicker but no bigger than the wallet I carried in my suit coats years ago.

In the sixties and seventies while we were tent camping with the girls, we relied on folded maps to go from point "A" to point "B". But often had to stop somewhere and get a local area folding map or get oral instructions from a "Gas Station Attendant" to find a specific location.

I bought our first GPS in 2011 before we left on a trip that ended up being 10 weeks and 12,500 miles long. We learned the settings of that first GPS were more complicated than imagined. I'm a little hesitant to jump in and explore what each setting really does but I finally found the setting that while excellent for highway driving, took us off at the first exit for a town and sent us down local streets to get to a campground on the other side of town just a quarter mile from the exit we could have taken and have missed all those stop signs and signals. We learned that the settings for "No Left Turn" or "No U Turn" could send us miles out of our way.

Some miscreant stole that and all of my portable travel electronics.

So today we have two GPS devises. One is in my DW's vehicle and one is in my office and can be used in any vehicle we are traveling in. When we're in the MoHo we use both, sort of a cross check at times and just a verification of our route at other times. Besides I like to check my speed and other data given by the GPS, especially when the DW falls asleep and has the GPS on mute and I miss an important turn.

I haven't found the need for trucker maps or atlases nor for an RV or Truckers GPS and I'm sure that someday I'll run afoul of a low bridge or narrow bridge I don't want to traverse with the Winnie, but they are amazing instruments to see and I wonder about who gathered and coded all of that information in a little 3" television receiver.

It is even more amazing that we have driven across this contry and see sights like Registry of the Desert where we saw pictures of folks from the tens, twenties and thirties who didn't have a map showing how to get anywhere, in many cases the only information was in a book they read and the AAA signs placed before there were DOTs.

It sort of keeps my RV live style where I'm driving a house around and following the directions some little black box voices, in perspective. Not much to complain about "EH".
"I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel's sake. The great affair is to go". R. L. Stevenson

David Bishop
2002 Winnebago Adventurer 32V
2009 GMC Canyon
Roadmaster 5000
BrakeBuddy Classic II

cross21114
Explorer
Explorer
I also experienced some wierd problems on my 770. However, I have an older 478 which I run along side. When they show different routes, we do a little more checking. If there does not seem to be any low bridges or other logical reasons for a different route, we go by the 478.

I do like the earlier statement that Garmin seems to be getting stupider. One thing I really don't like on the 770 is that, unless a waypoint was put in using coordinates, you cannot see the coordinates. For example, if you wanted to give the coordinates for a waypoint which does not have an address ( boondocking site) to a friend, you can't them from the GPS.
Chris
2018 Nexus Ghost 36DS
360 Cummins, 3000 Allison
2016 Ford Expedition

timjet
Explorer
Explorer
phil-t wrote:
If you build aroute in TripWizard and import it in BasCamp (BaseCamp will do the changing, given the vehicle profile you have there). I have never seen my Garmin 770 change the route I built in BaseCamp. Careful when you do the work in BasCamp that you are consistent in the profile you choose, and use.
....


When a route is downloaded from Base Camp into my Garmin GPS I've noticed when I select that route in the GPS, the GPS starts "calculating" a route to your destination. This means to me that a new route is created, but like you said above as long as the profiles are exactly the same and Base Camp and the GPS are using exactly the same maps then the routes should be the same. But since the route downloaded is calculated by the GPS it is not really the route you downloaded even though as mentioned above it may be the same.
Tampa Bay
'07 American Tradition Cummins ISL
'14 Honda CRV

rgatijnet1
Explorer III
Explorer III
Since they are so cheap, I use two different GPS units in our coach. One is a Garmin and the other is a TomTom. We picked those two because they each get their GPS data from a different source. We also have the Rand McNally paper road maps as a back up.
Basically both GPS units are set for fastest time so that we can compare routes apples to apples. In most cases, the route given on each unit is the same. We have only had a few instances where they differed and then it a very slight difference. We once had the TomTom unit say the RV park we were going to was located on the right, when, in fact it was located on the left side of the road, as noted by the Garmin GPS.
One thing we have found is that if you rely on any GPS unit exclusively, you will occasionally find yourself on a road that you would like to avoid. You will also find that construction issues can alter the course that you would prefer to use. GPS units are great and only take a few minutes to learn to use properly.
Using your phone or other method for navigation takes just as much time to use properly. I personally like having a nice big 7" screen in front of me and not having to mess around with anything while I am driving. My wife is using the other GPS unit to verify that I am on course and to look for RV parks down the road for us to spend the evening. This has worked for us for a long time and we have never been sent down a road where we had to disconnect the toad and turn around.

phil-t
Explorer
Explorer
If you build aroute in TripWizard and import it in BasCamp (BaseCamp will do the changing, given the vehicle profile you have there). I have never seen my Garmin 770 change the route I built in BaseCamp. Careful when you do the work in BasCamp that you are consistent in the profile you choose, and use. That's just my personal experience. I did experience those route differences when I was using other planning applications, exporting and importing to BC then onto the device. Definitely have to review the route in BC before putting on the device.
Also be sure the map versions on the device and in BC (if you have the maps installed there) are the same.
There are definitely a lot of "gotchas" in BC. BC has be come a challenge to me. :C

I would love to beable to get by with an on-line app for navigation (do it all the time in my car) but for the RV and the places we go (lack of cellular coverage) they are just not reliable enough. I use both when in the RV. AND have paper maps as well.
2014 Allegro 36LA