Sat Nav
First year with our Motorhome and loving it. The only stress we have is in journeys and trying to avoid sharp corners and narrow roads. We have thought about buying a Sat Nav specifically for motorhome / caravans but are seeing mixed reviews.
We tried downloading CoPilot but it directed us down roads not suitable for over 7.5 tonne. As my husband said, technically passable for our Motorhome but do we need the stress of it,
I looked at reviews Of Aguri Sat Nav and Tom Toms and both say they have the same flaws - i.e. take you down very narrow lanes.
Can anyone provide some recommendations.
Comments
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My advice is to buy a good map and plan your route using the more major roads suitable for your MH - you don’t say what size it is. A map will show you gradients and single track roads as well as how twisty they are.
Use a sat nav as a guide for following your chosen route but not as the be all and end all. They have advantages but also some disadvantages, particularly if not set to follow major roads.
As for brand of sat nav, everyone has their favourites and my own is Garmin but just choose what suits you.
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Not just narrow roads. that need care a lone lady driver arrived on site in brand new Elddis motor caravan with the top of the TV aerial missing
,,She had put in measurements for vehicle in her sat nav which did not take into account of the aerial on the roof and at Ely on a road that had two low bridges one OK, second took top off aerial
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I can put in dimensions on my sat nav, but would never trust it without running through the route and checking any uncertainties on Google. It’s only as good as the data input. If someone has made a mistake any sat nav can route you down an unsuitable road. Having said that, many less than 7.5 tonne roads are fine. The weight restrictions just being for a weak bridge, or to keep HGV’s out of a village.
Not a width issue but recently we found a northbound junction missing from ours. If I hadn’t of checked, we would have ended up missing it and doing an extra 10 miles, coming back down the southbound carriageway from the next junction.0 -
I have a built in TomTom sat nav in my Bailey motorhome based on a Peugeot cab. I agree that having put it in a van you might expect it would be a bit more careful where it takes you!!! I suspect many "white van" drivers are not too bothered where it takes them as they don't own the vans and want to get from A to B as quickly as possible!!! What I have learnt from three years on using the built in sat nav is that you need to check the route. If there is part of the route you are not happy with there is the option to avoid that part of the route in the settings.
I often ponder whether I should buy a new campervan specific sat nav. The best I have owned was a TomTom with camper camper maps on which very rarely took us anywhere we didn't want to go. I don't know much about the Aguri although I am attracted to the built in dash cam.
David
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Thank you all for your insight really helpful - better planning seems to be the overall take away
yes used truck copilot with dimensions keyed in.
size of our Motorhome is 7,35M long width 2.31 and height with satellite! 2.5 -so not huge but big enough to warrant avoiding narrow lanes as share the sentiments we want to keep her in tact, scratch free and driver calm.
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Yes, there are enough resources around to intelligently use SatNav and completely negate spending a load of cash on so-called specialist versions which generally use the same underlying one of two data sets as every other SatNav on the market.
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On one trip we compared our Tom Tom caravan/motorhome sat nav to the one fitted in the car, the one in the car did try to send us down a narrow lane but the Tom Tom then tried to send us down a route the CAMC advised members not use due to the narrow lanes while one the car sent us the correct way
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My very old normal TomTom Go 700 with maps over twelve years old, if 'fastest route' was selected, very seldom sent me down unsuitable roads. My new all singing and dancing TomTomCamper is, shall we say, idiosyncratic.
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I've found my C&MC Avtex Garmin and built in Audi satnav to both have an odd glitch. The route suggested is only as good as the mapping data that is in the system, and this is not perfect.
I'm all for route planning with the excellent viamichelin website then checking with a map before finally setting the caravan or car satnav. I also look up any special site access details.
I know satnavs are not perfect but I do know they make less mistakes than me and can usually find a way out of trouble quicker then me.
Colin
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On this discussion we bought a Snooper club edition sat nav 10 years ago with 'life time updates' listed as a feature and updated maps frequently.
Then to receive a message saying Snooper were no longer offering this service after December 2020 gave a new definition to 'lifetime' support.
Best to check if possible the suppliers definitions.
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I use an app on my phone called 'Waze', as good as any satnav. It will warn of potholes in the road and any vehicles parked up ahead on the hard shoulder for example.
It still does what most other satnav's I used have done, when on an A road heading for a junction onto another A road, it will divert me onto a byroad cutting across and down narrow lanes to save a few seconds of time. I know I asked for the quickest route and it is giving what I asked for. I now forward plan the route and stick to the turns I have worked out on a map.
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As the speedo on the Peugeot cab bounces around all over the place I find the speed indicator on my Garmin very useful and accurate. Lifetime maps essential as well.
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I used an aguri satnav for some time, It never took me along an unsuitable route and I would still use it had I not sat on it. The screen objected! It does have problems; the dash cam needs to be sited to view the road, the sat nav must be seen from the driver's seat and above all you must not obstruct your view of the road. I found it impossible to use the dash cam safely. It is expensive and rather clunky in use, but the routing is good and the voice instructions clear and easy to follow. I found it good at roundabouts.
Ray
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I have to say that it does pay to check the route you want to follow against that suggested by a sat nav.
This then enables us to chose motorways over A roads, A roads over B roads and hopefully ignore white roads on the map.
The journey may be longer by 200 yards or so but the driver's equilibrium is usually undisturbed. (or should that be unperturbed?)
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