Sat Navs
For the last 3 years I have been using a Tomtom Go Camper and found it excellent. However, Tomtom have now stopped supporting it with map updates. I am going to buy a new sat nav but am unsure whether to buy a Garmin 770 LMT-D or the latest Tomtom Go Camper. The Garmin is £80 cheaper but I have read all 73 reviews on Amazon and a number complain that the device takes them down unsuitable routes despite being instructed to provide one appropriate to their motorhome or car/caravan combination. During three years use, my current Tomtom has never done this, either in Britain or on the Continent. Can anyone who has experience of Garmin camper sat navs please commenbt on their reliability in this respect. Thanks, in anticipation.
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We have the Avtex/Garmin camper sat nav, as advertised by the club, in our MH (standard fitting). It has never taken us down unsuitable roads but that may be because we set it up to use fastest, rather than shortest, routes as well as setting the dimensions slightly oversize.
It's been good but I’d not pay the extra money to get a camper version when good old common sense is much cheaper.
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My TomTom Start 60 with Camper Maps loaded has been excellent. It's about seven years old which was before free map updates were in place and I think I have updated once in that time. Do you really need to buy a new one just to get the latest maps? Roads don't change a lot although things like speed limits do. Having had a couple of Garmin sat navs in the past (not specialist camper ones) I would be reluctant to buy another as what you describe happened to me. If you really have to buy a new sat nav I think I would pay the extra £80! Have you looked at the Aguri sat navs? I like the idea of having the built in dashcam but have no experience of how they work in camper mode.
David
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That is all very well if you only tour in this country where you pretty much know what the difference in roads are and know what to expect but "over there" it isn't always that obvious and maps, which can be poorly presented, are not a great deal of help in some countries.
You also don't always get given detail of the best routes to sites either.
peedee
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Thanks for responses so far. I check routes with maps but that still did not prevent us getting caught out in Versailles (with an earlier non-camper Tomtom) when confronted with a tunnel with maximum height of 2m or in Marbella when we found ourselves in a pedestrian plaza. Never had such experiences since combining maps with a camper sat nav. Further experiences of Garmin Camper sat navs would be welcomed
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I cannot vouch for Garmin, I have never had one but I run Co-pilot Truck on an Android 7 inch tablet and it hasn't taken me on unnavigable routes in 3 years of use. Co-Pilot also do a caravan version. I have only had limited experience with this but it also looks to be good at avoiding problem areas.
peedee
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We also had an ancient Tomtom which generally navigated us well (in conjunction with a map!) but support for it was withdrawn a while back. Tomtom have since emailed me and offered 20 to 30% off a replacement if I were to purchase directly from them. I suspect this may be account specific but if you haven’t had such an offer it may well be worth a call (or online chat – which I found very useful) with Tomtom to see if they are prepared to offer such a discount.
Although the actual offer I received was for a Go Premium, on contacting them directly they advised that I was alternatively able to obtain a 25% discount off the price of the Go Camper. This reduced the price to £285 - and they threw in a carry case as well - which actually made the Camper around the same price as the Garmin.
Haven't had any experience with Garmin and like you I found mixed reports for both makes. On balance however I thought the reviews marginally favoured the Tomtom and so have elected to go with them. Purchasing direct was easy and delivery only took a couple of days.
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Sorry but why not just use google maps, plus the fact it has live traffic updates. Can't see the use in any other software specially as g maps is free.
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