Garmin vs Rand McNally RV GPS

[Twotoes]

I’m not sure if this is the correct sub forum but I did not see one for this subject. I am currently looking at the purchase of a GPS. I travel solo so it is difficult to use a smart phone or tablet so Co Pilot is not a good option. I am looking at both Garmin and Rand McNally  The Garmin RV 770 LMT and the Rand McNally OverDryve 7 are very similar in features and price. Please help me choose.  

 

[Ranger Smith]

I have had both and find the Rand unit better.It has all the Campgrounds loaded on it and will find them easy.

[Mark and Dale Bruss]

CoPilot on a tablet is as easy to use as a Garmin.  Less cost, more function.

[Chad Heiser]

I'm not sure why being solo is a factor in not using Copilot on a tablet.  I use Copilot on my iPad.  I have a mount for it on the dash and it is exactly the same as using a dedicated GPS (which I have used in the past), but it has a bigger and easier to see screen.  The fact that I already had the iPad made it a much cheaper option than buying a stand alone GPS as well.

[SWharton]

I have had a Garmin for 20+ years and have always been happy with their product. I have not tried the Rand McNally. The only one I have been unhappy with was one we bought at Costco, I don't know if Costco has their own version of Garmin or not but it did not meet the standards we were use to. After a year it died and I returned it. I have never had any problems with  the Garmin until the Costco one. I bought the RV660 from Garmin and have been happy for 3 years.

I don't find the campgrounds anything to write home about. The Garmin has a small subset of available campgrounds so we never use it. We are pleasantly surprised if a campground we are planning to go to is in the Garmin, most aren't.

Garmin has lifetime updates(however long that is) and I make sure I update once a year. We solely use the Garmin on a day to day basis. Put in our goal first thing in the morning and then follow it untill we are ready to pull over, whether we have gone as far as we planned or not.

 

[trailertraveler]

I have not found any one directory, app, website or device that has All the campgrounds. I have a Garmin, it is easy to add POIs from the Discovery Owners' forum, POI Factory, Ultimate Public campground Project and other sources. I have adde about 30,000 campgrounds but still find ones as we travel that are not in any database. 

[rynosback]

1 hour ago, Ranger Smith said:

I have had both and find the Rand unit better.It has all the Campgrounds loaded on it and will find them easy.

I went with a Garmin DEZL 770 and LOVE  it.  It has not gotten me stuck once in 3 years.  And mine is loaded with campgrounds.

[sandsys]

I have a Garmin Dezl 560 and I still update the maps a couple times a year even though we don't use it nearly as often as we did when we were on the road. The thing with Lifetime Maps is you have to update them at least once or year or you lose that capability. You can pay for map updates after that but the free downloads have to be done regularly if you want to keep them free.

I find trip routing on it very easy and I love that we can tell it what size rig we are driving and it takes that into consideration.

Plus, we were going to a monthly gathering one time and the Garmin suddenly said, "Take next exit then turn left." That's not our usual route. But we decided to do what it said. We were the only ones who arrived at the gathering on time. Everyone else was stuck behind the traffic our Garmin routed us around. That's the T part of LMT--traffic. It's not available everywhere but when available it can save your sanity.

Linda Sand

[jerryneal]

I used a Garmin for years, but gave it up 2 years ago. My biggest problems was a clunky interface and continued struggles to add waypoints.  We use an 8 inch Andriod tablet and Google Maps.  We also use a hard copy of a Rand McNally trucker map for road and height restrictions. Google Maps also gives traffic congestion.  There's never an update and we've had good accuracy compared to the Garmin. We'll have a couple apps available on the tablet such as Rest Stops, Allstays for fuel stops just in case.  My pretrip planning is no different and I always verify a route just in case. It may sound a little geeky, but it's just simple to use and route changes or map searches while traveling take seconds.

[SWharton]

I don't with Base Camp, too hard to use. We don't program in more than a day and normally a straightish route. If I need to add way points I just do it on  the Garmin, I have found it very easy to do vs. Base Camp.

[dkreuzen]

Actually BaseCamp is extremely easy to use once you understand how it works. I dumped all my other mapping programs years ago. I maintain my own nationwide RV Park library in BaseCamp (about 5500 now and adding more all the time) and rarely use the built in one on my RV770. Maps and other data is updated 3-4 times a year.

[momdoc]

We are happy with the Garmin for the last 3 years

 

[JimK]

I have had a Garmin for several years and I never been happy with it.  My cellphone with Google maps works consistently better.  The Garmin can easily become out of date and only holds a minimal amount of data.  The cellphone is totally up to date including information on current weather or traffic problems.  I use maps for navigation in cities and congested areas.  It works at least as well as the Garmin.  When on the highway, I pretty much follow a printed atlas or a predetermined travel plan.  I typically only need help towards the end of the day when trying to find a place to stay for the night.  Maps does a great job in finding campgrounds, rest stops, Walmart supercenters, truck stops or other available choices. 

[scouserl41]

The Rand McNally has been great for the last 4 years and has saved us from self induced road hazards when it warned us of low bridges and a particularly bad railroad crossing when we didn't have it set to navigate.

BnB

 

[GlennWest]

We never had a Rand McNally last 4 years. I only get about 2 out of them

 

 

[lappir]

57 minutes ago, GlennWest said:

We never had a Rand McNally last 4 years. I only get about 2 out of them

 

 

The reason I will not buy a new one. Really liked it but the annual cost made it a luxury I could not afford. 

 

Rod 

[sandsys]

2 hours ago, GlennWest said:

We never had a Rand McNally last 4 years. I only get about 2 out of them

We've had our Garmin since 2008. It still works just fine.

Linda Sand

[FL-JOE]

We purchased a Rand RV GPS several years ago when we initially went full time in our first fiver.  With our current rig we run the built in GPS so the Rand has been semi retired and sits over on the passenger side running as a back-up while underway. The thing just won't die plus we have free lifetime updates.

I think all brands and methods of GPS usage have their quirks, pros, and cons.  I don't totally trust any of them so prior to a days travel I look at the route on my laptop, check my fuel stops and CG's on goggle earth, plus consult my Motor Carriers' Atlas (Truckers Atlas).  Preplanning this way only takes me about 10 to 20 minutes.

[ewacowboy]

Here is a review of the Garmin:

 

 

[SWharton]

Anyone who puts their eggs in one basket regarding GPS, mapping programs etc. is asking for trouble. I always pre-plan the  night before via the computer, double check on paper(I believe in paper backup of as much as possible) prior to programming the GPS. Once in the GPS I verify its routing by bringing up the complete map of my route for the day. If there is a question I can go to the individual instruction to verify.

[rynosback]

23 hours ago, rm.w/aview said:

Would the Garmin Drive series be acceptable vs the RV 770 at a considerable savings?

Will it route you? It will.  But it will not let you input your height, weight, width and hazards.  That is the BIG reason to go with the Garmin Dezl. It gives the same warnings as well as steep grade warnings.  I bet these people did not have a Garmin Dezl in there truck.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xzkWTcDZFH0

[GlennWest]

CoPilot truckers gps only $50.00. Works great and most have a tablet much larger than a gps stand alone unit.

[folivier]

While I do like the Copilot app and have used it for years it doesn't work with all tablets.  My Asus 8" doesn't play nice, I get garbled, unreadable screens.  This only happened with the last couple Copilot updates.  Their tech support is aware of this problem but hasn't been able to solve it.  I think the screen resolution, which isn't adjustable, is too high.

It is a nice gps app but if you have an Asus tablet contact them first to make sure it works on yours.  Or just try the trial version first.

[4x4Camper]

On 4/20/2018 at 6:07 PM, trailertraveler said:

I have not found any one directory, app, website or device that has All the campgrounds. I have a Garmin, it is easy to add POIs from the Discovery Owners' forum, POI Factory, Ultimate Public campground Project and other sources. I have adde about 30,000 campgrounds but still find ones as we travel that are not in any database. 

If you find any public campgrounds not in the Ultimate Public Campground Project, please notify us via the app or web site and we'll get it added to the next monthly update.  Thanks!

[ChuckD]

I have have had Betty (our Garmin GPS) for about nine years. She is getting tired but still works good. I tell where we want to be as we start out in the morning and she takes us there.  More than once for what we think is for no reason she will take us a different way than we planned.  We have learned to to trust her. For example, the last trip she took us around a landslide, and a 3 hour long traffic jam.  She did not avoid the redwood tree but that would have been impossible.  If you have the setting right you will stay off dirt roads, etc.  I change and update the maps as they come out.  The road they change may be the one I am going to go on today.

I got a RN but I could not read the screen due to lighting so I sent it back.