Thanks for watching. I have ran into those issues from time to time and I send them into support to fix for the next guy. I think that is why they now have the send feedback option. Interesting enough I have had some pretty interesting things happen with other GPS's also. This is why I always say there is nothing perfect. But I can usually figure out issues by just looking ahead so I like that option also.
I don’t worry about traffic…it’s just part of traveling. I run 10mph under the speed limit most times and stay in the right lane..:I’m retired…what’s the rush!
Thanks for watching Todd. Depending on what you try to do I agree. I have been using it for 6 years now so I forget how things were when I first started. If you have any questions or suggestion on things to cover please let me know.
RV Life also works with CarPlay and Android Auto. So if you have an Apple iPhone or any Android Phone try the app and display on your dash stereo for even better experience.
I purchased a 9 inch android tablet for under $100, put it in the cab where I can see it, connect it to the internet (either satellite or mobile hotspot [5g]), and it works fine. Total cost - under $200.
The GPS app on the phone is not good for navigating. One thing I found annoying on my last trip was that the time to your destination does not get updated real time. The RV Life GPS only updates time to destination if you recalculate at each stop you make. I just use my Garmin GPS to navigate. It gives me constant updates.
Thanks for watching. This GPS uses what you say is the speed you travel unlike other GPS's. Other GPS's use the speed limit of the area you are traveling to do the calculation which doesn't work well with an RV going up and down the hills. Or uneven, rough, or just slow driving. We calculate our average is 50 mph however if we drive faster it does catch up as time goes on just like any GPS. Other just say you will be there in 3 hours but it really takes 4.
Does it take into consideration the height and weight of your tow and rig? We use the Garmin RV GPS and are happy and amazed with it even after 6 years. Updates are free, that’s great. This model has a browse, dash cam and so much more; worth every penny! The Garmin RV GPS will not route us over bridges that won’t hold our weight, or to gas stations that we can’t fit in, etc. Does your app do that?
Thanks for watching. The thing I like about RV LIFE is it is more than just a GPS and costs considerable less. Also it runs on things I already maintain. It creates a safe RV route based on the height, weight, and length of my rig. This GPS is part of a complete suite of products listed under RV LIFE PRO.
Yes, it allows you to put your RV height, weight, average speed that you drive, toll roads or not, tunnels etc. It does a pretty good job. The think that Garmin doesnt do is provide campground locations along your route that you have to have another source to find those out when on the road. I think it is worth it and handles all of an RV questions and routing, but, to each their own. When hooked into carplay, I have a large map right on my dash that is supplying the route eady to read.
I have RV life. Not bad for planning a trip. Two issues, one, cannot select the last stop of the day and have it navigate through all of the intermediate stops. Need to select them one at a time after you artive at the last one. Second big issue for me is no real time traffic updates. Forces me to have a second phone app running at the same time or a real GPS to avoid traffic backups.
Thanks for watching Marty. The real time is easy with a standard gps because it will just route you through an area that is difficult to navigate an rv through. I know because that happened with me and Waze. But that is a good thing to ask RV LIFE. The first thing you mentioned I'm not sure I understand what you are saying. Are you saying you have several stops planned for the day and want to put in the last entry and have it route through each other stop on the way to the last one? If that is the option then what you want is actually to use the drag and drop option. That way it will route exactly to the end through each stop. Otherwize it is meant to route to each one at a time.
I'll have to check the drag and drop next trip. Not sure why that would work different than planning a trip with the trip wizard by picking places. I assume the result in either case would create a saved trip. I did contact RV life and they said the navigation works as described, navigates to the specific point selected in the trip. But does not stop at the intermediate points. They did not mention the drag and drop. For me personal preference is to select my trips end point once and have the navigation take me to the places in between, in order. No real time traffic and real ETA still requires a second device anyway
@@martyp603 I understand what you are saying and wanting. Never really looked at it that way before. The deal is it goes from point A to B the best way it thinks it can get there. By using the drag and drop and saying follow the route exact you override how it would just go straight. But that would do what you want more than the adding stops. We add multiple stops for the day like sites to see, gas stations, and the final camping stop. I like where I can just pick the one I want to go to and go to that one. And as far as the timing you set in your preferences how fast you go as a default. So it uses that to calculate your time to start. As you drive your speed is taken into account. Most GPS's base it on the speed limit which most people can't manage especially on hills. It is an estimate. Safe Travels.
This is not a onetime buy like GPS. The money you spend on yearly will cost you the same or more than if you buy a GPS. At 65.00 per year a cost that is due each year is not a onetime buy. And you never lost you signal like you do on your phone. And the Garmin gives you constant updates cost free.
Thanks for watching. So if you like a dedicated unit then there are some nice ones out there. They only last so long just like a computer so you will have to upgrade at some point. What I am saying here is based on my criteria and using this for 6 years and on my current trip of 11,000 miles this is the Ultimate GPS. If you download the maps you do not need a signal and you have a lot of options you can edit for the trip. Also this is one piece of a suite of products for that $65 subscription which you could save 25% on the first year and you do have a 7 day free trial.
Thanks for watching. That is the benefit of downloading the maps a head of time. You do not need Cell service to route continue routing or to start new routes. You can even search for things in the area
Be careful, a cop can interpret that as you making a call, use a real GPS. Especially a truck driver size and you won't get bothered. Cell service is not always %100 available. Satellites in space are always 24hr / 7. Learned my lesson.
Thanks for watching. If you are in a state that is hands free you are correct you shouldn't touch either. Trucker GPS is expensive and great for Truckers. If you download the maps you don't need cell service to navigate to your location. The key here is downloading the maps a head of time.
The RV Life navigation app has a lot of features but it has a huge flaw. It doesn't have any live traffic and therefore doesn't take traffic conditions into account when selecting a route or calculating the ETA. That's a deal breaker for me personally.
Thanks for watching Jeff. RV LIFE is a rv safe routing. You can't just route anywhere. But I know they are looking at options. I used to use Google and Waze and those got me in so many issues with how big our rig is. Even though RV LIFE isn't perfect, and none are, it does a great job for us. The trip this summer is 14,000 miles and we have used it all the way and wouldn't have it any other way. Good luck with your routing.
@@TignerAdventuresYeah, I completely agree with you. I'd never use Google Maps or Waze for RV routing. I prefer the Sygic, TomTom or Trimble CoPilot appa because they have RV/truck routing plus live traffic. Hopefully RV Life will add traffic soon to make it more competitive with these other solutions.
@@danahaselgrove8271We probably travel very differently. There are very few trips that we don't pass through a city where traffic is a concern. I love Google Maps in my car and used it for several years in our first RV, until it diverted me off of the freeway due to a terrible back up in Nashville. The alternative route was not good for an RV.
No my friend.... if you are an oversize vehicle you must always be turning from the outside turning lane, there is no choice based on how far your next turn is. If there is no time or too much traffic to get in the inside lane, then you'll have to find a place to turn around later and retrace where you need to go.
Thanks for watching Jerry. I find that more in congested areas but I try to look at the turn coming up and if it sets back far enough then I can usually get a way with it. But I'm 55' longs so most time I turn and then just slow and hope people let me in. This is on 90 degree exits. But there are a few exits on the freeway where that works nice like merging onto other freeways for example. I do a lot of things that are hard to communicate to people sometimes.
I have tried to use the GPS feature but it is not working properly and doesn't save the info about my rig size and weight. Have to re-enter it every time I use the GPS function. And I have learned that even though I have paid for a year subscription that they have the absolute worst customer service to get any type of technical support on their app. They have no phone support, no online chat, you have a send a message through their website. Then they give you link back to the stuff you can already read and when you asked questions through email you only get one response a day. I have been working for a week trying to get the app to work and can't get adequate support. Feeling ripped off for the money I paid without support.
Thanks for watching and sharing. I'm really surprised about your comments on support. A lot of large companies do not have telephone support anymore because it is so expensive and they have never had telephone support. However I have had excellent response from support and others have told me the same thing. Emails are a good history for me and I have had them come back months later to let know of a updated fix. I'm not sure why your garage would not be kept after you saved it. I have multiple items in my garage and switch back and forth. I would delete the app from your phone and start over. I have a playlist of videos that show all about RV LIFE that might help. They are also have a lot of material. But at this point it seems that you just need to start at the basics.
@@TignerAdventures Thanks, I have uninstalled and reinstalled etc. We shall see about support. Right now I am waiting two days and not hearing any reply after I sent them the details on what was happening and answered the questions they had.
Thanks for watching. I have an Iphone and it does work without a cell signal. I know this because I also Geocache. A lot of those caches are in areas that have no cell service. My guess is that other phones work about the same way but I have no experience with them. I have also used my phone in many areas that have no service with this software and been routed just fine down the road since I downloaded the map a head of time. So I stand by my claim.
@@nhamilton9545 The phone has GPS built-in, at least the iPhone does which I have. The cell tower just helps it. I downloaded a map. Turned the phone to airplane mode and pulled up the GPS and selected a random location and it pulled up a routed and routed me to it. I have used this a lot in areas that have no cell service. My iPhone comes up and says no service but it is still routing me. So yes just download the map when you have service. Works very nice.
Oh heck no!! This is the second worst GPS on the market. Extremely difficult to use and constantly reroutes. The worst is the Garmin RV895. This thing (with all the proper RV settings) takes a 45-foot RV off the highway and into small town America complete with narrow roads, tunnels, and low bridges. In short- it simply cannot be trusted.
Well thanks for watching. In those situations did you turn anything into support? They can't fix things if people don't give them feed back. I am currently on a 14,000 mile trip over 7 months and have completed 11,000 miles so far. I had this issue happen once and I looked a head and canceled the trip and restarted it. After that it continued fine. Every GPS has issues and if you don't give feed back they can't fix them. The great thing about RV LIFE is they take your feedback and try to make it better. That is why I use it.
Thanks for watching. I love the planning tool also. Kind of surprised you don't like the GPS. I have not found any GPS that doesn't have problems but I love the features of this GPS. I have had issues where it gets lost but then I just restart it or it corrects itself. We are on a 14,000 mile trip over 7 months. We have gone 11,000 and 6 months so far and have only had a couple of times where it calculates out a new route. I have turned those into support. This is all we use.
I used it on a month long trip to Texas. It constantly rerouted and it would also take us places that made no sense. This was just last year.
Thanks for watching. I have ran into those issues from time to time and I send them into support to fix for the next guy. I think that is why they now have the send feedback option. Interesting enough I have had some pretty interesting things happen with other GPS's also. This is why I always say there is nothing perfect. But I can usually figure out issues by just looking ahead so I like that option also.
I don’t worry about traffic…it’s just part of traveling. I run 10mph under the speed limit most times and stay in the right lane..:I’m retired…what’s the rush!
Thanks for watching. I love it and couldn't agree more.
Good job as always. Your tutorial on the Trip Wizard was really good also. It takes A-LOT of time to learn the Trip Wizard
Thanks for watching Todd. Depending on what you try to do I agree. I have been using it for 6 years now so I forget how things were when I first started. If you have any questions or suggestion on things to cover please let me know.
RV Life also works with CarPlay and Android Auto. So if you have an Apple iPhone or any Android Phone try the app and display on your dash stereo for even better experience.
Thanks for watching. You are correct but I don't have those so I can't show it. But it works pretty neat. Thanks.
@@TignerAdventures Safe travels!
I purchased a 9 inch android tablet for under $100, put it in the cab where I can see it, connect it to the internet (either satellite or mobile hotspot [5g]), and it works fine. Total cost - under $200.
@@k_enn Good idea. Thanks for watching.
The GPS app on the phone is not good for navigating. One thing I found annoying on my last trip was that the time to your destination does not get updated real time. The RV Life GPS only updates time to destination if you recalculate at each stop you make. I just use my Garmin GPS to navigate. It gives me constant updates.
Thanks for watching. This GPS uses what you say is the speed you travel unlike other GPS's. Other GPS's use the speed limit of the area you are traveling to do the calculation which doesn't work well with an RV going up and down the hills. Or uneven, rough, or just slow driving. We calculate our average is 50 mph however if we drive faster it does catch up as time goes on just like any GPS. Other just say you will be there in 3 hours but it really takes 4.
Does it take into consideration the height and weight of your tow and rig? We use the Garmin RV GPS and are happy and amazed with it even after 6 years. Updates are free, that’s great. This model has a browse, dash cam and so much more; worth every penny!
The Garmin RV GPS will not route us over bridges that won’t hold our weight, or to gas stations that we can’t fit in, etc. Does your app do that?
Thanks for watching. The thing I like about RV LIFE is it is more than just a GPS and costs considerable less. Also it runs on things I already maintain. It creates a safe RV route based on the height, weight, and length of my rig. This GPS is part of a complete suite of products listed under RV LIFE PRO.
Yes, it allows you to put your RV height, weight, average speed that you drive, toll roads or not, tunnels etc.
It does a pretty good job. The think that Garmin doesnt do is provide campground locations along your route that you have to have another source to find those out when on the road. I think it is worth it and handles all of an RV questions and routing, but, to each their own. When hooked into carplay, I have a large map right on my dash that is supplying the route eady to read.
I have RV life. Not bad for planning a trip. Two issues, one, cannot select the last stop of the day and have it navigate through all of the intermediate stops. Need to select them one at a time after you artive at the last one. Second big issue for me is no real time traffic updates. Forces me to have a second phone app running at the same time or a real GPS to avoid traffic backups.
Thanks for watching Marty. The real time is easy with a standard gps because it will just route you through an area that is difficult to navigate an rv through. I know because that happened with me and Waze. But that is a good thing to ask RV LIFE. The first thing you mentioned I'm not sure I understand what you are saying. Are you saying you have several stops planned for the day and want to put in the last entry and have it route through each other stop on the way to the last one? If that is the option then what you want is actually to use the drag and drop option. That way it will route exactly to the end through each stop. Otherwize it is meant to route to each one at a time.
I'll have to check the drag and drop next trip. Not sure why that would work different than planning a trip with the trip wizard by picking places. I assume the result in either case would create a saved trip. I did contact RV life and they said the navigation works as described, navigates to the specific point selected in the trip. But does not stop at the intermediate points. They did not mention the drag and drop. For me personal preference is to select my trips end point once and have the navigation take me to the places in between, in order. No real time traffic and real ETA still requires a second device anyway
@@martyp603 I understand what you are saying and wanting. Never really looked at it that way before. The deal is it goes from point A to B the best way it thinks it can get there. By using the drag and drop and saying follow the route exact you override how it would just go straight. But that would do what you want more than the adding stops. We add multiple stops for the day like sites to see, gas stations, and the final camping stop. I like where I can just pick the one I want to go to and go to that one. And as far as the timing you set in your preferences how fast you go as a default. So it uses that to calculate your time to start. As you drive your speed is taken into account. Most GPS's base it on the speed limit which most people can't manage especially on hills. It is an estimate. Safe Travels.
This is not a onetime buy like GPS. The money you spend on yearly will cost you the same or more than if you buy a GPS. At 65.00 per year a cost that is due each year is not a onetime buy. And you never lost you signal like you do on your phone. And the Garmin gives you constant updates cost free.
Thanks for watching. So if you like a dedicated unit then there are some nice ones out there. They only last so long just like a computer so you will have to upgrade at some point. What I am saying here is based on my criteria and using this for 6 years and on my current trip of 11,000 miles this is the Ultimate GPS. If you download the maps you do not need a signal and you have a lot of options you can edit for the trip. Also this is one piece of a suite of products for that $65 subscription which you could save 25% on the first year and you do have a 7 day free trial.
Buy a dedicated GPS every other year or pay a $65/year subscription...
Exactly Wayne. Thanks for watching and commenting.
Great Video!! Can you put the height of your RV in your profile for low bridges
Thanks for watching Tim. Yes you can put in the height, weight, and length of your unit and if you have propane.
What happens if you loose your cell signal?
Thanks for watching. That is the benefit of downloading the maps a head of time. You do not need Cell service to route continue routing or to start new routes. You can even search for things in the area
Maps get cached
Be careful, a cop can interpret that as you making a call, use a real GPS. Especially a truck driver size and you won't get bothered.
Cell service is not always %100 available. Satellites in space are always 24hr / 7. Learned my lesson.
Thanks for watching. If you are in a state that is hands free you are correct you shouldn't touch either. Trucker GPS is expensive and great for Truckers. If you download the maps you don't need cell service to navigate to your location. The key here is downloading the maps a head of time.
The RV Life navigation app has a lot of features but it has a huge flaw. It doesn't have any live traffic and therefore doesn't take traffic conditions into account when selecting a route or calculating the ETA. That's a deal breaker for me personally.
Thanks for watching Jeff. RV LIFE is a rv safe routing. You can't just route anywhere. But I know they are looking at options. I used to use Google and Waze and those got me in so many issues with how big our rig is. Even though RV LIFE isn't perfect, and none are, it does a great job for us. The trip this summer is 14,000 miles and we have used it all the way and wouldn't have it any other way. Good luck with your routing.
@@TignerAdventuresYeah, I completely agree with you. I'd never use Google Maps or Waze for RV routing. I prefer the Sygic, TomTom or Trimble CoPilot appa because they have RV/truck routing plus live traffic. Hopefully RV Life will add traffic soon to make it more competitive with these other solutions.
A normal Google map on carplay can provide that on the rare occasion when you pass through a busy city.
@@danahaselgrove8271We probably travel very differently. There are very few trips that we don't pass through a city where traffic is a concern. I love Google Maps in my car and used it for several years in our first RV, until it diverted me off of the freeway due to a terrible back up in Nashville. The alternative route was not good for an RV.
No my friend.... if you are an oversize vehicle you must always be turning from the outside turning lane, there is no choice based on how far your next turn is. If there is no time or too much traffic to get in the inside lane, then you'll have to find a place to turn around later and retrace where you need to go.
Thanks for watching Jerry. I find that more in congested areas but I try to look at the turn coming up and if it sets back far enough then I can usually get a way with it. But I'm 55' longs so most time I turn and then just slow and hope people let me in. This is on 90 degree exits. But there are a few exits on the freeway where that works nice like merging onto other freeways for example. I do a lot of things that are hard to communicate to people sometimes.
I have tried to use the GPS feature but it is not working properly and doesn't save the info about my rig size and weight. Have to re-enter it every time I use the GPS function. And I have learned that even though I have paid for a year subscription that they have the absolute worst customer service to get any type of technical support on their app. They have no phone support, no online chat, you have a send a message through their website. Then they give you link back to the stuff you can already read and when you asked questions through email you only get one response a day. I have been working for a week trying to get the app to work and can't get adequate support. Feeling ripped off for the money I paid without support.
Thanks for watching and sharing. I'm really surprised about your comments on support. A lot of large companies do not have telephone support anymore because it is so expensive and they have never had telephone support. However I have had excellent response from support and others have told me the same thing. Emails are a good history for me and I have had them come back months later to let know of a updated fix. I'm not sure why your garage would not be kept after you saved it. I have multiple items in my garage and switch back and forth. I would delete the app from your phone and start over. I have a playlist of videos that show all about RV LIFE that might help. They are also have a lot of material. But at this point it seems that you just need to start at the basics.
@@TignerAdventures Thanks, I have uninstalled and reinstalled etc. We shall see about support. Right now I am waiting two days and not hearing any reply after I sent them the details on what was happening and answered the questions they had.
I use the app, and it saves my info with not problem. It will even save multi-day routes.
Phone gps only works if you have a signal.
Thanks for watching. I have an Iphone and it does work without a cell signal. I know this because I also Geocache. A lot of those caches are in areas that have no cell service. My guess is that other phones work about the same way but I have no experience with them. I have also used my phone in many areas that have no service with this software and been routed just fine down the road since I downloaded the map a head of time. So I stand by my claim.
You just download the map for your area of destination and you have gps without a signal.
@@nhamilton9545 No thanks
@@nhamilton9545 The phone has GPS built-in, at least the iPhone does which I have. The cell tower just helps it. I downloaded a map. Turned the phone to airplane mode and pulled up the GPS and selected a random location and it pulled up a routed and routed me to it. I have used this a lot in areas that have no cell service. My iPhone comes up and says no service but it is still routing me. So yes just download the map when you have service. Works very nice.
Even Google allows you to download the maps for your route.
Oh heck no!!
This is the second worst GPS on the market. Extremely difficult to use and constantly reroutes.
The worst is the Garmin RV895. This thing (with all the proper RV settings) takes a 45-foot RV off the highway and into small town America complete with narrow roads, tunnels, and low bridges. In short- it simply cannot be trusted.
Well thanks for watching. In those situations did you turn anything into support? They can't fix things if people don't give them feed back. I am currently on a 14,000 mile trip over 7 months and have completed 11,000 miles so far. I had this issue happen once and I looked a head and canceled the trip and restarted it. After that it continued fine. Every GPS has issues and if you don't give feed back they can't fix them. The great thing about RV LIFE is they take your feedback and try to make it better. That is why I use it.
Trip Planner is a great planning tool to use on your desktop but is absolutely useless as a GPS.
Thanks for watching. I love the planning tool also. Kind of surprised you don't like the GPS. I have not found any GPS that doesn't have problems but I love the features of this GPS. I have had issues where it gets lost but then I just restart it or it corrects itself. We are on a 14,000 mile trip over 7 months. We have gone 11,000 and 6 months so far and have only had a couple of times where it calculates out a new route. I have turned those into support. This is all we use.