Saturday, November 19, 2011

Which Gps?

Not much going on around here.  Al has been working pretty hard trying to get all his pest control accounts done, so I haven’t seen much of him.  He’s finished now, so we have some time to get caught up on some things we need to do.  No play time this week!  We’ll be leaving a week from tomorrow for Fort Myers, so we need to squeeze a lot into this next week.

Al is planning on making a quick trip up to our storage shed in Georgia to bring some more stuff down here.    I sure wish we had never left all the stuff in the shed, but we just couldn’t get it all disposed of before the house closed.

Next Tuesday Baxter is going to the Vet to get neutered.  I can’t believe my little boy is growing up!   Poor Baxter. 

It was Al’s birthday today, so we went to Sam’s Club and got him a new gas grill, then off to Texas Roadhouse for a nice lunch.

We have been wanting a new Gps and have been looking at the Rand McNally 5510

What we are looking for is a Gps that knows we’re driving a motor home and will not try to route us someplace we shouldn’t go. 

The Garmin Gps we have now is made for cars, not large trucks or rv’s.  We want something that we can program in the length and height of the motor home.  We don’t want to be routed somewhere that we can’t or shouldn’t go.   Of course no gps  is perfect but anything we can do to help us might just be money well spent….another type of insurance.

The other Gps we are considering is the Garmin Dezl 560 LMT.   It’s made for truckers but also has an rv setting on it.  You can program in the length, width, and height of your rv, and it will take that into consideration before it routes you.  Hopefully it will keep us from going under a 10 foot bridge!

We have been using Garmin Gps for many years and are pretty happy with the brand.  We bought a Magellan unit for Geo-caching several years ago it was so bad we returned it immediately.  I’ve been real hesitant to buy any other brand, but the Rand McNally has caused quite a bit of interest in the rv community, so we decided to take a good look at it.  Of course you can’t really test any unit until you actually get it home and use it.

In my research I’ve seen some complaints about the screen on the Rand McNally being hard to see in the sun and that it locks up fairly often and has to be reset.  That’s pretty much made the decision for us, since one that is hard to see in the sun, and shuts down isn’t much help.

Do any of you have either units?  What is your opinion?

We are trying to finish buying “one time” items for the motor home.  I think the gps and a new dash cover will be about it.  Hopefully!

11 comments:

  1. good luck with the GPS shopping..
    one meant for RV's would be a good idea!!

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  2. We have the Rand Mcnally GPS and like it. No it's not perfect. If you miss a turn, it can take a little time to recalculate. One thing I really like is all the campground info is in there including state park and national park locations. It helps if you don't have internet while driving.
    Baxter's really growing up fast!
    Syl

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  3. I too have heard good things aout the Rand McNally. We've had a Garmin which we hated. It would tell you to go around the block to get to the store in whose parking lot you were sitting. After it took me twice no where near where I wanted to go I put it in the trunk. If anyone wants it, I'll get it out and get the model number. I'll make you a VERY good deal.
    But I will be very interested in hearing your experience with one of these two.

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  4. Aw, little Bax is unpacking his bags. Tucker has forgiven us.

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  5. We have a Garmin & have been using the streets and trips program in the laptop, I think it will on;y be a matter of time before streets and trips makes an RV ap. We are sold on it since our Branson trip was the first tryout with the new truck mount i made. It seems to be more intelligent than the GARMIN car model. Almost no "Recalculating" Be safe out there. Sam & Donna.

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  6. My daughter and her husband have the Garmin unit for truckers for their big rig. They love it. They are full time long haul truckers. They like the big screen, and all the other parts and pieces that do for them what they need, do it quickly when they are in tight city situations. I'm not sure of their exact model, but if you want send me an email and I'll find out.

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  7. I have the Garmin model where you can choose truck or car mode. I put in my length, height, and weight and have been very pleased with it.

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  8. Happy Birthday, Al. Hope you had a wonderful day! Good luck with the new grill!

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  9. I have the Garmin - I thought in the Settings there was an option to program in what you're driving.

    My Garmin has only misdirected me a couple of times. It's pretty good and comes with lifetime maps now. I had to purchase the lifetime maps, but I think the new ones come with that.

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  10. We've had an old obscure LG GPS for 5 years now and it still seems to get us where we want to go with no problems.

    If I was looking for a new one, I'd probably start with Garmin.

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  11. Happy Birthday to Al! But you were supposed to take him home & test the new grill ;-) Good luck little Baxter & good luck on the GPS selection as well.

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