Considering RV Life Pro GPS

[Sagardner290]

Who has experience with the RV Life GPS app? Is it worth using over a unit like a Garmin or Apple Maps and Google? Thanks for the input.

 

[16ACE27]

Last I tried it? No, not ready for prime time. I believe you can download and try it - it may have improved in the last two years. I just replaced my Garmin RV650 GPS with the Sygic App. That Garmin always had issues and last year I just gave up on it. The replacements are waaay too expensive to gamble on that they may have the same issues.

 

[SGilbert]

Not thrilled with it, as twice it took me the wrong direction.
I look over mr route to see if there are any hindrances, then switch to my preferred GPS app: Waze
IMHO, Apple maps is better than Waze, but does not have the warnings that Waze does.

 

[Sagardner290]

That’s what I was worried about. ACE, did you do the Sygic Truck and caravan to take your RV into account?

I like Waze but I feel like it will route you through somebody’s backyard if it was quicker!

 

[EA37TS]

Who has experience with the RV Life GPS app? Is it worth using over a unit like a Garmin or Apple Maps and Google? Thanks for the input.

I prefer my Garmin RV 770. RV life has a recent update but I haven’t looked to see what might have been improved

 

[ducksface]

Sygic truck for me.
Waze sometimes.
Google maps always.
Rvlife isn't for me in any way I've tried it.

We recently returned this meat-head device.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B08CS1JXH6?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_image

It came with a map that didn't have a single street name or sometimes even the layout was wrong within a mile of our house and had nonexistant, proposed in the 1960's, roads that never were laid and also had just fictitious crap all through it.

I have never found a reason to not have two maps open at the same time. Sygic truck and Google maps.
If we want radar weather and cop locations and minutia we open jbv1 that links to our valentine radar detector.

Garmin used to be religion.
It's been outclassed for years now.
The tomtom in our car isn't bad and has never steered us wrong.

 

[PS89]

I found the RV Life GPS, for on-the-road navigation, to be a bust on our two month road trip in January and February. Frankly, it sucked, IMHO. Biggest pet peeve is that the map display defaulted to about a 300 yd radius. You could usually see that next exit faster out the windshield before it showed on the display. If you zoomed out, two things would happen: 1) The display would revert to the default (too damned close) display after a short time and 2) The display failed to maintain the current position while scrolling the map (background) as you move down the road. Your position, as depicted on the screen, just drove off the displayed map.

I still used it for route planning but ended up relying on Google Maps for actual navigation. I sometimes had to tweak the Google Maps route to match the RV Life routing but that extra step was the cost to pay. Doubt I'll renew my subscription next month unless they fix things like this.

 

[16ACE27]

That’s what I was worried about. ACE, did you do the Sygic Truck and caravan to take your RV into account?

I like Waze but I feel like it will route you through somebody’s backyard if it was quicker!

Yes, I got the Caravan lifetime license. I run it on my 7" tablet and run google maps on my phone to an Android Auto wireless head unit. You have to pay extra to get Sygic to work on AA. Google Maps does it for free.

 

[ducksface]

I think I paid for the aa link.
Sygic allows me to type in a poi type and it let's us know of antique stores or museums.
It lets me enter distances from poi and has various reminder tones.
It lets me know there is a railroad crossing so I have time to slow down on the small town business loops we take.

IExit is another app that is usually running on a $4 yardsale android phone.

 

[Sagardner290]

I found the RV Life GPS, for on-the-road navigation, to be a bust on our two month road trip in January and February. Frankly, it sucked, IMHO. Biggest pet peeve is that the map display defaulted to about a 300 yd radius. You could usually see that next exit faster out the windshield before it showed on the display. If you zoomed out, two things would happen: 1) The display would revert to the default (too damned close) display after a short time and 2) The display failed to maintain the current position while scrolling the map (background) as you move down the road. Your position, as depicted on the screen, just drove off the displayed map.

I still used it for route planning but ended up relying on Google Maps for actual navigation. I sometimes had to tweak the Google Maps route to match the RV Life routing but that extra step was the cost to pay. Doubt I'll renew my subscription next month unless they fix things like this.

Thanks for the info, that’s what I was worried about.

 

[Sagardner290]

Thanks everyone for the info, it is greatly appreciated.

 

[SGilbert]

Google Maps does it for free.

Just to let you know, if you didn't, that Waze, with all it's notification benefits, is owned, and uses, Google maps.

 

[dkoldman]

Who has experience with the RV Life GPS app? Is it worth using over a unit like a Garmin or Apple Maps and Google? Thanks for the input.

No it is not even close to any of the units you mentioned. It was so bad, I don't have any incentive to try again. By preference, I don't want Navigation on my phone anymore, and I finally got my Waze on a 10" screen and it is just awesome. I can't believe that Waze is still free. By far my favorite.

I own a Garmin RV890. I would give it a grade of C- It is not useless, but several times I wished to toss it out of the window ( good thing I was driving and window was closed). My biggest beefs with it is that it keeps randomly loosing connection with it's own Live Traffic feature. Worst there is no button to press to connect but annoyingly you get a pop up asking you to reconnect

The Garmin RV890 is not as easy to enter or say a new address as Waze. It has also been 6 years and I have never seen a bridge warning based on my dimensions. Also tire up having to upgrade the software seemingly every time I use it it has to upgrade. With that said, it has a lot information if you are patient to use. When I travel on trips I have both Waze on 10" screen and the RV890 going. I primarily use the RV890 to know what cities are upcoming and to know where the next Rest Area is going to be.

Try any of the other stuff. If you do try the RV GPS App, I would love to see your feedback of the same. Maybe they have fixed issues and it can run on Android Auto now? One thing I didn't like about the RV GPS Apps was the need to use a computer to input your trip. It was a PITA to change where you wanted to go mid trip. That was years ago and may be fixed now

 

[dkoldman]

Garmin used to be religion.
It's been outclassed for years now.

True, they are a Cash Cow, living off the name. I got suckered thinking it was the holy grail for a RV owner, what a waste. But I still use the damn thing on long trips.

 

[dkoldman]

I like Waze but I feel like it will route you through somebody’s backyard if it was quicker!

There is setting within Waze that you tell it how you want your routes, quickest possible, shortest distance etc. Waze will also learn your route so if you keep going around that bad yard it will figure it out.

I once had Waze take me through downtown Dallas, it saved us 3 hours, it also improved my RV driving skills on city streets, not sure how may yellow taxi's I knocked over, but it was a lot fewer by the time I was able to get back to the freeway.

 

[Chateau_Nomad]

Garmin's flaws aside (and they are generally frustrating) you are paying directly for development... It's why the units and software are not "free". Alphabet (Google) is an advertising company. They're sole incentive is increasing advertising revenue. It's why you cannot fully customize routing in Maps and Waze. The algorithm is designed to route potential customers to businesses. It's why the only options are "faster" and "shorter distance". You can't simply drag the route to change it like with Garmin or the RV Life GPS. The "alternate routes" presented by Google are merely "faster" of "shorter"... which is often disastrous in an RV.

Once you understand the underlying principles you can use any (or all) of these tools to your advantage. I tend to use Google in less populated areas so it's not trying to route me past the closest brewery. If I have no choice near a city, I use Garmin so I can avoid ghettos and such.

I've never used Sygic but it looks VERY intriguing. I don't mind paying a nominal amount for a product if it has good value.

 

[16ACE27]

It's why you cannot fully customize routing in Maps and Waze.

Sure you can. You can change any route by dragging it.

 

[PS89]

It's why you cannot fully customize routing in Maps and Waze.

In Maps in my browser (don't know if you can do this in the app), I use intermediate waypoints to force the routing engine to use my desired route when it deviates from the automated routing. I then send that Map to my phone for the upcoming travel.

The "alternate routes" presented by Google are merely "faster" of "shorter"... which is often disastrous in an RV.

I am absolutely convinced that they have a department that should be named Department of Stupid Alternatives. "Would you like to take the direct route you're on or would you like to go 100 miles out of your way, pay tolls, and get there hours later? Here's your alternative route!"

 

[PS89]

Sure you can. You can change any route by dragging it.

Now, send it to your phone or tablet and see what happens. The app apparently recalculates the route based only on starting and end points and ignores your edit to the route. I put in a waypoint that forces the calculated route to match the desired route.

 

[16ACE27]

Now, send it to your phone or tablet and see what happens. The app apparently recalculates the route based only on starting and end points and ignores your edit to the route. I put in a waypoint that forces the calculated route to match the desired route.

And the calculated route now may be different than the calculated route two hours from now due to perceived traffic conditions.

That behavior is also in the RV Life routing to App transfer. The Trip Planner is great and you can set up the perfect trip but when it is sent to the GPS APP 9/10 times the APP will change your perfectly crafted route. One of the other PITA things about the APP is if you blow by a waypoint and it doesn't think you hit it, it will continue to try to reroute you back to that waypoint for hours with no easy way for you to tell it to skip that waypoint and move on to the next waypoint.