I have been sitting on my info for more than a week. I wanted to be sure I was with purpose on my thoughts and stepped away from the jovial fun that I quite often employ to learn on this site.
I wish to say upfront, that I am also being mindful with some bias in favor of RV Life because I truly like what they do, and what they try to do. They may need more ambassadors that may or may not fit their normal circles.
With that said, it was stated earlier that the new RV Life GPS was "substantially improved". I am going to say that I agree with that statement. It was 20 times better than I expected from my use a few years ago. So I know someone is putting some work into it, and I appreciate that.
I also just noticed that RV Life may be out of Southlake, Texas? If so, that is only 15 minutes from me, not a factor; but interesting relevant point of reference for me that I did not know.
My Introductory Opinion:
I don't know the business model, or stated vision or strategy, but as I used the product, it appeared to me that one should probably not look at RV Life GPS to compare with the likes of Google Maps or Waze? It should be noted my primary material fact finding was based primarily on comparing with Waze. This is important because it may be that it is a RV Trip Planning tool that has some GPS route management features. In my world Planning is 1% need, GPS route management is 29% need, and In-flight Trip Information, alerts, warnings etc. is 70% need.
My Real World Trip Findings
Last week, I took my daughter who had came up from Houston to go to Fayetteville, Arkansas. I only knew of the trip 3 days before leaving. She had a function to attend but was worried about driving by herself from Houston To Fayetteville alone. So we decided to take her in the RV, and we had no plans once we arrived. I mean ZERO plans, we just used the RV as a SUV, I drove so she had plenty of time to spend with her Mother.
I won't repeat what I stated above on how I got the RV GPS App working on my Android tablet device. But when I got ready to start the trip, I got frustrated with the Terms & Conditions. No I did not read them, and do not care too, but the problem is it went into a loop. It delayed the start of my trip 20 minutes by rebooting my phone and android device several times just trying to get to the map. It should be noted that I had Waze running on my Samsung phone and the Garmin RV890 both set with the same destination in less than a minute. The only thing good about the RV GPS start up was that it allowed me to use voice to enter my destination address. It wasn't better than the Waze, but the destination address was easier on RV GPS compared to the Garmin.
Positive Experiences
1. It shows the Speed Limit in a big Orange Box. It was easier to see at a glance. Note: it only displays the speed limit if you are navigating to a destination. If you just have the GPS APP open as a moving map it will not show the speed limit.
Negative Experiences
1. During trip, it did not know when you will sometimes have free access on what is otherwise a toll road. Although I live in a city with toll roads all around me, I never take toll roads unless I have ZERO choice. This should prove to those that accuse me of being in a hurry that just because I drive the speed limit on the highways that I am NOT in a hurry. I am as safety minded as they come. But Waze will tell me what portions of a toll road I can get on at no charge and it save times and money. I use that feature all the time. So before I even got out of Dallas I used different routes than the RV GPS had 3 times. The Garmin RV890 is equally inept at toll road management.
2. Several times my Android Device screen reached a point in the RV GPS App where it would not do anything else unless I manually entered a command on my phone. This was really annoying because I was driving the RV. When I use my Android Tablet with Waze, my phone may be in my holster or center console. It is NOT needed. That is the purpose of having the Android Auto tablet.
3. The displayed Speed Limit was wrong a lot. Especially going through all of the small towns in Oklahoma. This was really bad as it additionally does not show your actual speed limit.
4. No hidden police alerts. Waze had warned me of hidden police 12 times one way. I had to use Waze to quickly verify real speed limit. In some of those cities speed limits can go from 65mph to 30mph in less than a mile.
5. The Audio Alarm was too loud. If you turn it to Low, then it was too low.
6. Limited Map view on the screen. The road appears to be straight ahead, but in reality a curve or turn is upcoming. I could see the turns on Waze and the Garmin RV890.
7. When a turn was required, the notification of the turn notification was delayed making me aggressively prepare to make the turn.
8. While I had it set to notify me of interesting places like National Parks etc. it did not notify me that I was passing President Eisenhower Birthplace.
9. In Oklahoma, several times the road was really narrow, especially for a RV, but I got no warning. My Waze did not warn either, but it does not claim to be a RV GPS
10. It does not tell you how many miles ahead on the road before entering into the next state. Waze has me spoiled.
11. I could not save my Home or Work addresses as Favorites? They only show as Recent
Conclusion:
So while the RV GPS is improved, it is not ready for my needs at this time. On the return trip I decided to not use the RV GPS. I wanted my Waze back on the main Android Auto screen. There are just too many benefits with using a free Waze. While it is possible that the RV GPS Planning with GPS may eventually rival Garmin's GPS, competing with a Waze or a Google Map to use on Android Auto will take a lot of work.
BTW, when in Fayetteville we had the option of staying in a very nice RV Resort called Hog Valley resort. We have stayed there before; so I can vouch for them, but we were allowed to boondock on campus at an empty Razorback Stadium. On the return we stopped impromptu at the Choctaw Casino in Oklahoma, they too had a RV Park, but they allow RV'ers to boondock at one of their two overflow parking lots. We had no idea of where we would stay on either trip, either night was my point; so no Planning required. I can't tell you how may RV parks I have seen on a map or a website and when we got there we just kept on driving. This is in part why we bought an RV that is fully assessible with full side bed with slide in. It is true Mobile Home and we live where we may be.
now I will have to try to see if even works with my Android Auto? I am sure the App is still on my phone, but I have not bothered to look to see if it even shows up. T Mobile make have tossed it for me because it is always tossing junks apps (junk to me if I don't use) on my phone.
