Sat Nav mapping for MHs?

[Steve121]

Could you please try your 760 with the latest maps to see if it still routes under bridges that are too low?

The coordinates are given earlier in this thread.

Thank you

I simulated driving towards one of the bridges, and on the approach to the low bridge it displays the message 'Accessibility unknown'. This is obviously not a fault with the 760 but simply due to a lack of data, which I believe is provided by local councils. Not good, I grant you, but as I've said before, I will not consider any model of tomtom, or other brand, which does not support 3rd party maps, in particular OSM.

Errors of this nature are not down to the map (I believe Garmin and tomtom use the same map data), but the software, which is updated at intervals just as the maps are.

I rather suspect you could find some restrictions which would be avoided by Garmin but not tomtom. Two instances close together, ie. same database, can hardly be called conclusive.

 

[Steve121]

I presume he means these posted by Norm De Plume

Hope so, as they are the ones I used!

 

[Canalsman]

I simulated driving towards one of the bridges, and on the approach to the low bridge it displays the message 'Accessibility unknown'. This is obviously not a fault with the 760 but simply due to a lack of data, which I believe is provided by local councils. Not good, I grant you, but as I've said before, I will not consider any model of tomtom, or other brand, which does not support 3rd party maps, in particular OSM.

Errors of this nature are not down to the map (I believe Garmin and tomtom use the same map data), but the software, which is updated at intervals just as the maps are.

I rather suspect you could find some restrictions which would be avoided by Garmin but not tomtom. Two instances close together, ie. same database, can hardly be called conclusive.

Thanks for trying that out. I agree it's a very small scale test, but TomTom Truck refuses to route under these two bridges ...

 

[Weston]

I bought a Tomtom Via135 around £100 from Argos at the time. My plan was and in the end I never did, was to also purchase the camper map to load in. Tomtom continually change their prices and I have seen the map drop to around £50. This combination would cost around £150, £100 cheaper than the dedicated unit. In the end with observation and a little common sense we have not come to a road that was to narrow or a bridge to low... yet!

 

[derathe]

My Garmin 760 Camper is rubbish, set to my motorhome size it often takes me down very narrow country lanes as short cuts instead of staying on the main road and turning at the next junction.

so does my tom tom truck... none are perfect, and as far as I am aware all give warning about not relying on them completely...but having tried both garmin and tom tom .. tom tom gets my vote every time

 

[Talbot]

I had a garmin camper for 4 months. I oversized the motorhome dimensions as I picked up this tip in a previous thread and set off to France and Spain. There are many positive points to garmin satnavs and I liked the ease of use, but when it came to the main reason for buying it it let me down badly. Two times it tried to take me under a low bridge which was also on a narrow road with no room to turn and I had to reverse several hundred yards before I could get turned around. It regularly avoided main roads and chose to take me on all the minor roads where even a car would struggle. As a satnav I loved it, but it didn't do what it said on the box so I took it back for a full refund because that was the only reason I bought it. The retailer said they had refunded other Garmin camper satnavs for the same reason so it seems to be a common problem.

 

[Steve121]

It's common for new roads to deviate significantly from the shortest route in order to avoid things like towns and villages. If you select 'Shortest route' in the navigation options it should take you along any road which will result in a shorter journey, and this will usually be a narrower road with sharper bends. The obvious solution is to select a different navigation option - 'Fastest route' should be a good choice.

All too often people simply blame the SatNav, which, like printed maps, are not perfect. It would be better to look for a solution, like experimenting with the device's options. It would be nice if all SatNav manufacturers gave us a few more options. Many allow you to select things like 'Avoid Motorways' and judging by some comments I've been reading it would be useful to have an 'Avoid roads of less than XX metres wide', for example.

I'll stick to the narrow lanes most of the time - they're much more fun.

 

[portiapug]

I fully agree that a satnav should not be set to 'shortest route' when used in a motorhome. I learned this from experience and it has applied to every satnav I have owned.

My first ever satnav (a Navman) had more options than just shortest or fastest route as on modern ones and they seemed to work.

 

[Talbot]

I'll stick to the narrow lanes most of the time - they're much more fun.

I fully agree. I prefer to let the satnav take me into the unknown as we always see more and discover little gems of villages on our travels. I don't mind being on narrow lanes and even coming across low bridges that I can't get under. I don't mind reversing out of sticky situations or doing 3 (or more) point turns when I need to turn around. I've used a Tomtom for the last 6 years and have enjoyed all the places it's taken me to. As the new Tomtom's didn't have the ability to load custom poi's, I decided to purchase a garmin camper as I could load poi's with great ease compared to Tomtom's latest efforts. The camper version is an expensive piece of kit and cheaper garmin's or Tomtom's do a great job getting one from A to B. IMO the camper version wasn't worth the extra money and when it failed to do the job I purchased it for, ie avoid low bridges even though I put a height value over 18 inches greater than the actual vehicle height and it took me to a 2.5 meter bridge, I decided to return it as "not fit for purpose". Having recently owned both a Tomtom Go 6000 and subsequently a garmin camper my preference would be another Tomtom, although I thought the garmin was also a decent satnav. There is no right or wrong satnav. It's a personal preference for whatever works best for each individual.

 

[paintman]

I bought a Tomtom Via135 around £100 from Argos at the time. My plan was and in the end I never did, was to also purchase the camper map to load in. Tomtom continually change their prices and I have seen the map drop to around £50. This combination would cost around £150, £100 cheaper than the dedicated unit. In the end with observation and a little common sense we have not come to a road that was to narrow or a bridge to low... yet!

A little common sense fantastic, having given up on a rather expensive and unreliable device I bought a £99 Garmin from Halfords for our last holiday and it was just fine, if I wanted a campsite the Garmin would list nearby ones, vets were also listed along with no end of other stuff. We did encounter a few low bridges and one way streets but guess what ? as you are about to enter a road with any restriction there are warning signs !

 

[Deleted member 48306]

free camper satnav app

Pay for savnav don't think so. free app called navmii set it on lorry setting its brill got it on iPhone and android works great hope this helps :dance: