SatNav suitable for M/H or Towing

Tammygirl

For some years now I have had a TomTom Start 60 which I can't remember a time when it has let us down. We have Archies POI's loaded onto it and we also purchased the Camper Maps. Whilst the Camper Maps might not update the general maps do so I don't think you need to worry about that. It has the facility of being about to view your destination which is handy. The Start 60 is not a current model but if you look here they are available at a good price.

David

Thanks DK I'll get him to have a look at it. With the camper maps can you put in the vans dimensions?

Tammygirl

I don't remember doing that and I am not sure it's a function. What it tends to do is to stick to the nearest major road. The only example I can give which probably is a bit useless as its near to us, it will, in car mode, send us through Buckingham but in Camper mode it will use the bypass. Personally I would use the bypass anyway regardless of vehicle but then I am familiar with that area!!! I have never been totally convinced how useful it would be putting dimensions in. You are always going to be warned of an approaching low bridge and also a narrow road before entering and as yet it has never tried to take us down such roads.

David

Any sat-nav needs to be used with a dose of common sense ..... if it wants to send you down a road that looks iffy ..... then don't go down it - as you wouldn't have done without a sat-nav. Not that I've ever been mis-led by one ..... 

Any sat-nav needs to be used with a dose of common sense ..... if it wants to send you down a road that looks iffy ..... then don't go down it - as you wouldn't have done without a sat-nav. Not that I've ever been mis-led by one ..... 

The user and all related content has been Deleted User

The dedicated sat nav for campers originally sold by Tom Tom under the name "GO LIVE Camper and Caravan" is no longer produced.

Whilst you can currently update a limited number of Tom Toms with the Europe Camper maps, these do cost between £80 and £100 and surely the chance of these updates continuing to be available is slim. IMO any money spent would be better used in purchasing an up to date system.

id stick with the tomtom and your undoubted map reading skills..

you know, to keep an eye on the old man....

that's generally how we operate....at a big junction that TT is indicating, ill just wake up OH and check that this looks a goodish option.....

however, i usually check the TT planned route against the map prior to departure so dont have too many surprises, and i can always force the route in a particular direction if i dont agree with TT.

one option might be to get a proper TT refurbished unit with a large memory (on the TT we site, and a good deal cheaper) and then go with the camper maps, lowering the overall cost....

none of these things are perfect, just keep an eye on the map and an eye on the driver 

i have two TTs one very old, use it in the car in the uk and is my MH back up as it has all the same POIs as its larger brother.....

the larger XXL for the MH agin has all POIs and a more recent map.

both are set for 'fastest route' which tends to steer us towards larger (faster) roads, which is good....

keep well away from 'shortest route' it will have you heading into some interesting places....

There have been a lot of discussion on these in recent months so it may help you if you do a search to see if the treads survived the  forum "improvement".

I use a CoPilot Caravan app running on an iPad mini and find it works very well indeed. I particularly like the ability fine tune the parameters like rig size and average speed for various types of road. Check it out. 

Thanks everyone for your comments.

The OH is still interested in a new TT as we both like the one we have. Just last year it started to be a bit daft and kept sending us home rather than where we had put in, this only happened after he had done an up date.

The Garmin is about 6 years old, has lifetime maps update but he can't set it to the size of the van (which he would like to do, especially when towing the trailer) neither can he add it on.

The truck one can be fine at times but it does have a bad habit of shutting off at the most inconvenient moment, ( it doesn't like Belgium very much ) the other problem with it is that because its for a truck it will always route you around anywhere that is prohibited for over 3.5 tons, which at times can be annoying.

BB what can I say, my map reading skills are top notch  I tend not to fall asleep (pretty difficult when he's cursing the SatNav at every opportunity) 

dmiller555, I have gone back over all the recent posts  that come up in a search but they don't have many replies to them. I was trying to find a thread that I knew had lots of info but is seems to have gone in the upgrade.

We are hopefully going to the Manchester show next week so will have a look at what is on offer there (won't buy there though unless a bargain)