GPS

[Crooktail]

I was listening to a radio show yesterday and they had an executive on from Garmin. They were talking about a new GPS that was designed for truck drivers. This unit allows you to enter length, weight and height into the GPS memory and then routes you accordingly, supposedly avoiding roads that are not compatible with your measurements. They have other features that may or may not be benefficial to RV'ers as well. Has anyone ever tried a GPS system like this?

[Trailer Trash 2]

I believe it is the Nuvi 765T and it has beed talked about and I have not heard any complaints yet, Im sure there will be a reply from a owner soon

[BB_TX]

I believe it is the 465T.
Although there are some others also.

[hookman]

I believe there was some talk of Garmin coming out with an RV model sometime this year.

[Illini Trekker]

We replaced our old one Christmas, but didn't think I needed that the trucker version as we use the Garmin in the car also. When you do buy get the life time maps free updates it lets you update 4 times a year. There are other members that have purchased a down load that gives you a warning about low Bridges and over passes.

[CBTraveler]

One thing to consider in any GPS is the ability to plan your own route and input it into the GPS. My 6 year old Garmin won't let me do that and will sometimes select a route ( such as the Chicago Skyway through downtown Chicago rather that the Hwy 294 bypass). I use Microsoft Streets and Trips to plan many of our trips but I can't input the trip data into our older Garmin. Even though I've used the software to plan a trip ,I still like to use the GPS because it often tells me which lane to get into before I see the road signs and I can also get a very good idea of when we will get to our destination.

[sreigle]

Crooktail, I have a non-MOC friend who used to have that 465T. The problem is it routed him onto those rough truck routes through cities. Those routes not only are rough, they're usually through ugly parts of the city and often add considerable distance to the route. He no longer uses the 465T.

My old Garmin StreetPilot 2720 had an option to tell it we're a bus. That would keep me off residential streets but did not consider height. I wish my Nuvi had that feature.

I just use the Motor Carriers Atlas to check height restrictions. Rarely do I find a potential problem. In all these years we've only once come upon a height problem and we were able to deal with that one. Every place else was well signed well in advance with an alternate route indicated. And even those have been very few.

I agree with being able to plan your own route on a computer and then upload it to the gps. That's an absolute must for me. Besides the obvious routing for a workable route, I like to take a different route, see something different, every time I go through an area. That requires I plan the route. And planning it on the gps itself is just too difficult for me.

Also, I very highly recommend the gps units with the lane indicators that show you which lane you should be in. When I'm towing that's invaluable to me. Actually, even solo when in an unfamiliar area that's important to me.

[Sinterior]

I just saw Garmin has another GPS out, the dezl 560LMT with truck, auto, RV and pedestrian modes.

[TLightning]

You cannot totally trust any GPS. Had I blindly followed mine there are several times when it would have led me down a road from which I could not get out...without backiiiiiiiiiing all the way back from where I started.

[jackel1959]

What I like about the newer Garmin units (I currently use the nuvi 1450) is that you can plan your route by using Garmin's MapSource software or online using Mapquest and then upload that route directly to your GPS. This way you know which route you will be taking because you planned and researched it. This is especially useful when towing the Montana, not so important when solo or in the car.

Jack

[kylec2]

I believe the unit Garmin is referring to is the dçzl™ 560LMT. I purchased one in late March and have been very satisfied with its performance. It has an RV mode which applies different routing rules than those used in "Truck" (18-wheeler or equivalent large size) or "Car" (like most GPS use) modes.

So far the routing has been fine and it does not necessarily send you on truck routes only. It has several features that help you find services for RVs and trucks that are nice. If your current GPS is working well for you I would not suggest upgrading, but if you are purchasing a new unit it is worth it. It does come with lifetime map and software upgrades so your investment remains up to date.

[sreigle]

Jack, you may already know this... You can, of course, use the upload feature of MapSource to upload the route and waypoints. If your 1450 is like my 1490T, then you are limited to 10 routes at one time.

Well, there's a way around that limit of 10 and it allows me to put in as many routes as I can fit in memory. That would be several hundred (or more) routes. I like to have a separate route for each day of travel rather than one long route, plus multiple sightseeing routes. Plus, right now I have three different routes in there for the day we leave here. On the day we leave I'll check the weather forecasts and then select the route we'll take as it will depend on weather. Having one route per day allows me to see exactly how far we have to go yet today, among other things.

When I connect the 1490T to the computer, two folders open up. One is the standard Garmin folder. The other is for the memory card I have inserted in the 1490T. It's an SD or microSD, forgot which. Mine is a little one, maybe 2mb. All I have to do is use the file/save as dialog and for the 'save as type' I select gpx, the gps exchange format. Then I just move that gpx file to that folder for the memory card. In the Garmin, I just go to tools/mydata/import routes and select the routes I want to import. While I can still have only 10 routes showing up in "routes" the routes I put on that card do not show up there until I import them. This way I can plan routes way in advance and import them as needed. If you already knew this, please disregard. This feature is not well documented is why I even brought it up.

** on edit ** checked the card. It's a 64mb (not gb) microsd card. I think there's enough extra memory without the card to hold quite a few routes. The card just allows for that much more. Right now I have 11 routes on that card and they only take up 1.44mb total. The routes include quite a few vias and the longest is 258 miles, as a point of reference.

[CORattler]

Steve,
Excellent documentation for the route importing process. Thanks!