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Big5er

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We also have the RM 7720. It's hosed me more than I'd like. While it does a fair job of getting me near my destination, it has taken us right past our destination, only to make several turns in a downtown area to come back to where we'd just passed.

 

Also, it seems to be missing a LOT of campgrounds, motels, restaurants, etc. Even when new, it had perhaps half the info we could bring up on Google Maps.

 

A good paper map and Google Maps is far better for actually getting to our destination. That said, the GPS is great for putting us in the correct lane going through strange towns.

KW T-680, POPEMOBILE
Newmar X-Aire, VATICAN
Lots of old motorcycles, Moto Guzzi Griso and Spyder F3 currently in the front row
Young enough to play in the dirt as a retired farmer.
contact me at rickeieio1@comcast.net

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Rick, I ALWAYS map my route first with Google maps. Nothing out there is better for that purpose. PLUS I can look at my intended campground very easily. Assuming I know where I intend to stop, which often I do not. If I don't preplan the stop then Danielle will look up a target campground in the paper books then check it out while we are travelling in Google maps......then call for availability. Nothing out there that I see is as good....you just cannot count on connectivity all the time.

Jack & Danielle Mayer #60376 Lifetime Member
Living on the road since 2000

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Rick, I ALWAYS map my route first with Google maps. Nothing out there is better for that purpose. PLUS I can look at my intended campground very easily. Assuming I know where I intend to stop, which often I do not. If I don't preplan the stop then Danielle will look up a target campground in the paper books then check it out while we are travelling in Google maps......then call for availability. Nothing out there that I see is as good....you just cannot count on connectivity all the time.

 

Yup, pretty much how we do it too. Assuming we have cell service, around early afternoon, Susan gets out the paper map, looks to see where we might be in a few hours, then uses the iPad to find campgrounds near there. Zoom in and take a look on Google Maps, and if it looks good, call and make sure they a vacancy.

 

We're not exactly seasoned travelers, only having our rig since 2010, and hardly using it some years. But, we've had pretty good luck thus far. Only issues have been when we were really in the boonies and had to make an unplanned move. Just south of East Portal, ND, we were planning to spend the night in a small town. As a courtesy, I went to the local police and told them we were parking on the street, and would leave at first light. Cop got snotty and told us to move on down the road (40 miles) to a truck stop. That's what led to my purchasing a set of Nuke-E's lights.

 

How's that for thread-jacking? ;)

KW T-680, POPEMOBILE
Newmar X-Aire, VATICAN
Lots of old motorcycles, Moto Guzzi Griso and Spyder F3 currently in the front row
Young enough to play in the dirt as a retired farmer.
contact me at rickeieio1@comcast.net

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I have the Dezl 560 that I moved to the Smart Car a Zumo 660 for the motorcycles and the Dezl 770 for the truck which has some RV park info too. They have been very good and I like the voice search on the 770. I use the truck stop and rest area info all the time. I have always used Garmin so can't compare to the RM. They also have the new Dezl Cam

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We are not seasoned wanderers, but we like to wander to places we haven't been to before. We use an app called overnightrvparking.com for looking at overnight stops. We also look out the windows. We have a Garmin Dezl something or other GPS, check our route with Google maps, have a Google capable device handy when travelling for congestion warnings etc, and pull out an old fashioned map for the "look here is a different road that takes us there..." factor etc. Kind of combo navigation. I like how GPS contains road info - rest stops, correct lanes through interchanges, etc. etc. What I like about Google navigation is when you understand your GPS is taking you on the "taxi in a strange town route" you can turn where you should, and Google assumes you made a human decision to use that road so immediately plots your route from where you are. It doesn't go into frantic "make a U turn - recalculating- oh no! " mode. What we like about printed maps is you always have connectivity and they turn on when you open them.

 

Does anyone know what rate Google navigation uses data at?

"Are we there yet?" asked no motorcycle rider, ever. 

 

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Does anyone know what rate Google navigation uses data at?

 

That's going to depend on quite a few things--whether satellite and traffic data are turned on, how much you're "browsing," how many times you re-route or change your destination. Maps also caches extensively, and will work without a data connection if you've got the necessary information stored locally--there are some guides floating around that help if you're trying to make sure you have what you need, but I rarely bother.

 

As a point of reference, I used about 60MB on Sunday navigating between at least 10 destinations, covering over 400 miles, with satellite and traffic turned on, over the course of about 14 hours. I was also browsing and calculating routes a good bit of the time at each destination, both driving and walking--it's probably safe to assume that's an upper bound for normal travelling days. I was following a friend in an Ironman race, trying to see her as many times as possible along the course, plus driving back and forth between Knoxville and Chattanooga--not exactly "normal". It was a long day; even Milo was worn out by mile 139:

 

20150927_190324-e1443618259897.jpg

45' 2004 Showhauler -- VNL300, ISX, FreedomLine -- RVnerds.com -- where I've started to write about what I'm up to

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David,

 

You know Milo prefers a camping chair to curl up in. Shame on you. :)

2006 Volvo 780 "Hoss" Volvo D12, 465hp, 1650 ft/lbs tq., ultrashift

Bed Build by "JW Morgan's Custom Welding"

2017 DRV 39DBRS3

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"Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first!"

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In an earlier post I commented about having trouble getting map updates. Once again I have spent the better part of this afternoon trying without success. I reloaded the "docking" software as I have been instructed to do by tech support. The unit sat on my laptop for several hours. I'm on my home wifi. First message was that it would take 18 hours. It began its work & quickly dropped to 3 hrs. and as the day went on and a few additional freeze ups, it jumped up to 6 hrs and froze again. I gave up and sent a email to tech support. Won't expect to hear from them until Monday. Usually the directions it gives me are satisfactory however, I have been told to go in the opposite direction more than once after getting off to fuel up. Really frustrated with it right now. RVND 7725 purchased just before 2014 Spring Boot Camp.

Todd E.

“…nothing so liberalizes a man and expands the kindly instincts that nature put in him as travel and contact with many kinds of people.” – Mark Twain

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  • 2 weeks later...

I should have mentioned that one of the tools that I use when planning trips is https://roadtrippers.com -- it's a great way to figure out how to organize multiple-stop trips (including pinning down dates for certain destinations), and can show attractions, restaurants, RV parks, etc. along your route.

45' 2004 Showhauler -- VNL300, ISX, FreedomLine -- RVnerds.com -- where I've started to write about what I'm up to

Headlight and Fog Light Upgrades http://deepspacelighting.com

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David, neat site...thanks for the info

 

Todd, Thats weird. I managed to download the latest update for this one in about 45 minutes.

I used to for the trip I am on and while I already knew the route, it seemed to perform well. It didn't like the stop at Buckees but started right back up with proper instructions as we left there.

MY PEOPLE SKILLS ARE JUST FINE.
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2005 Volvo 780 VED12 465hp / Freedomline transmission
singled mid position / Bed by Larry Herrin
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2014 smart Fortwo

 

 
 
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Big5er

I contacted tech support again & they put me on remote so that they could control my computer. They started the download & said it didn't pay for them to stay connected for the remainder of the download time as things looked to be going OK. Once again the download didn't appear to finish & I'm not convinced that my maps are updated. They sent me an email stating that they had closed out the support "ticket", I replied that I wasn't convinced that they had fixed anything. They have failed to respond.

Just my personal experience.

Todd

“…nothing so liberalizes a man and expands the kindly instincts that nature put in him as travel and contact with many kinds of people.” – Mark Twain

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. It didn't like the stop at Buckees but started right back up with proper instructions as we left there.

GPS was probably afraid it was gonna be replaced.... or sold for the 110Qt Yeti cooler they have inside!

Alie & Jim + 8 paws

2017 DRV Memphis 

BART- 1998 Volvo 610

Lil'ole 6cyl Cummins

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We were going to the Flight 93 memorial. The RM GPS routed me one way. I knew the NPS had a different rout so I went that way. It started to recalculate and froze. I pushed the reset on the back and the same thing. I had to wait until we left the memorial and got back to the highway to put in the destination. I have had to use the reset button so many times I keep a pencil on the dash now.

Ron C.

2013 Dynamax Trilogy 3850 D3

2000 Kenworth T2000 Optimus Prime

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