Best GPS for Toyhome?

[VJS]

Hi All

We're new to the forum. We recently picked up a 93 Dolphin that we're almost finished remodelling for a 9 month tour of N. America (starting from the Yukon) with our 5 month old baby girl.

My question is regarding GPS. Seeing as the unit is mounted on the dash or windshield under the overhang for the master bed, is there any problems with satellite reception? Is an external antannae needed to mount on the roof?

If anybody has any reviews of GPS units they've been happy or frustrated with (or any other tips in general) we'd love to hear about it.

Thanks!

[waiter]

We have a 4 year old megellion, works OK oh the windshield. I also have a blue tooth receiver that sits on the roof, I use it with my laptop.

John Mc

88 Dolphin 4 Auto

[Bob C]

My daughter gave me a Tom Tom and it works really well in the Toyhouse. I also use my Garmin topographic GPS in the Toyhouse and it works properly also.

[Bunneys]

We use our old Garmin unit mounted on the windshield, never had a problem that i can remember... I'd love to hear more about the trip, travelling with a 5 month old is nice! i remember going up north to Kitimat, BC when our daughter was only 2 months old.

Andrew.

[Derek up North]

I've 2 Garmins. Nuvi 350 and Nuvi 360. There are those who say that all GPS's are obsolete with the advent of Smartphone GPS apps. Well, I don't have a Smartphone so they work fine for my needs.

[83 SunRader]

A good "paper" map is a travelers best friend.

[Derek up North]

Agreed, except that my old eyes can't safely read a map folded on my lap while navigating a freeway through a city at rush hour at 60mph. But in the planning stages, yes.

[Bob C]

I love to sit and look at paper maps for hours on end while planning my trips. We taught our kids to read maps when they were young and they love taking off with a map to explore the state. If they get really really really lost, they will turn on the GPS. We made a game of map reading when we went on drives while they were young. Their job was to try to find roads with "character" on the Gazetteer. Every kid has a Gazetteer in their car.

[VJS]

A good "paper" map is a travelers best friend.

I agree that there's no substitute for a paper map when planning or travelling but a good GPS is the best tool you can have when looking for an address or service in an unfamiliar city.

[VJS]

Hey Andrew.

Thanks for the tip. Our trip takes us from Whitehorse down to Pr. Rupert BC where we'll take a ferry to the northern tip of Vancouver Island to tour for a week, then to Vancouver to visit family. From there down the pacific coast from Pt Townsend WA to San Diego, zigzagging across the central / southern states to Key West, then up the east coast to the Maritimes and back across Canada.

So far our daughter is a great traveller but we don't know what to expect on such a long trip. We have the luxury of being able to take our time so I'm sure it will be great.

We use our old Garmin unit mounted on the windshield, never had a problem that i can remember... I'd love to hear more about the trip, travelling with a 5 month old is nice! i remember going up north to Kitimat, BC when our daughter was only 2 months old.

Andrew.

[VJS]

I love to sit and look at paper maps for hours on end while planning my trips. We taught our kids to read maps when they were young and they love taking off with a map to explore the state. If they get really really really lost, they will turn on the GPS. We made a game of map reading when we went on drives while they were young. Their job was to try to find roads with "character" on the Gazetteer. Every kid has a Gazetteer in their car.

I love maps as well and hope to impart that to my daughter!

[Totem]

I use a RAM suction cup mount and my Iphone 4GS at present. Latest Greatest Siri is very nice, press button speak address and go. Best part I can call people from the same device as well as check gas stats, find truck stations with free wifi/showers etc.

GPS units are so old they are 20$ a piece at a garage sale now so if a smart phone doesn't suit your fancy this can still work.

Funny side note about Iphones... even if you dont have a phone plan or area with data service the GPS still works usually.

So if you see a used Iphone for sale that works; buy it over a GPS. The GPS part of iphone is free. and many apps also. Siri will require a data plan, however many apps like mapquest and googlemaps are great still. you will need a dead sim card though. Any sim card that matches the size and is provider appropriate will work, meaning an old killed off AT&T sim card will still get the phone operational for free with GPS and emergency 911 services. turn on wifi and an older IPHONE is still more functional than a Garmin; for free.

[VJS]

I use a RAM suction cup mount and my Iphone 4GS at present. Latest Greatest Siri is very nice, press button speak address and go. Best part I can call people from the same device as well as check gas stats, find truck stations with free wifi/showers etc.

GPS units are so old they are 20$ a piece at a garage sale now so if a smart phone doesn't suit your fancy this can still work.

Funny side note about Iphones... even if you dont have a phone plan or area with data service the GPS still works usually.

So if you see a used Iphone for sale that works; buy it over a GPS. The GPS part of iphone is free. and many apps also. Siri will require a data plan, however many apps like mapquest and googlemaps are great still. you will need a dead sim card though. Any sim card that matches the size and is provider appropriate will work, meaning an old killed off AT&T sim card will still get the phone operational for free with GPS and emergency 911 services. turn on wifi and an older IPHONE is still more functional than a Garmin; for free.

We have an ipad, I assume that will work the same as an iphone?

[Totem]

actually ram has an identical mount for Ipad that they do for iphone. Its awesome; its a huge "X" where at the ends of the X points are rubber fingers. The X is spring loaded to it grips. Its ball joints are steel and the suction cup is one that has a plastic shell around it that you flip a switch to suction; no lick em stick em.

Ram makes the best mounts. Yes, a 3G/4G enabled Ipad would be even better but only if it has a cellular data chip. If its the Wifi only Ipad I do not think those have GPS.

[Maineah]

I would rather lose a $100 GPS then a phone. I have tried several over the years and the Garmin seems to be the winner. They do make a GPS just for MH's but I'm sure it's more for the class "A" the little Toy homes can go places they can't they also are about 3X more. I have a 7" Nexus it has a GPS but it's a bit to awkward to sit on the dash.

[Totem]

just get a RAM mount for it. problem solved and its good for any phone or GPS device even a Tom Tom or Garmin. And why would you lose your phone? Your GPS is a target for theft; your phone goes with you; you have one anyway; same reason i dont take cameras separately anymore. One device does it all. Heck the Iphones flashlight it dang bright theres another thing i don't need in the rig, extra flashlight. I change my mind, the Garmin isn't a target for theft its just an antiquated GPS that doesnt get updated maps like an iphone or droid does. The key here to me is a good mount and Ram is the one.

[Skydancer2992]

I have been very pleased with the Garmin Nuvi 1490 LMT.

-bought from Egghead, refurbished model for about a $100.

The LMT stands for Lifetime Maps and Traffic. The Traffic feature has warned me enroute when the interstate is blocked and when to divert, suggesting alternative routes.

The 1490 also has a bigger screen than the other Garmin models.

Sometimes I switch the voice to German or Portuguese to try to pick up some vocabulary.

Helps pass the miles.

[stamar]

there is nothing out there that can compete with google maps on a smart phone. I wish there was.

i use a droid bionic and google maps because im driving around all the time.

a standalone gps with features that would be competitive with google maps would be super expensive. the only thing standalong gpss have going for them in reality is they are starting to come standard with largerr screens.

I have 2 gps now as back ups and never use them they are too clunky slow

[stamar]

you know its weird, I started using a gps regularly in 2012.

Now I have no idea how I got along without it. I literally just say go home to my phone and it tells me how to go home every day.

I dont even really remember how I survived without one.

I just stuck to areas I knew and then did mapquest or got directions a lot. Remember asking for directions to a place? I never do that anymore I just say whats the address?

[stamar]

I use a RAM suction cup mount and my Iphone 4GS at present. Latest Greatest Siri is very nice, press button speak address and go. Best part I can call people from the same device as well as check gas stats, find truck stations with free wifi/showers etc.

GPS units are so old they are 20$ a piece at a garage sale now so if a smart phone doesn't suit your fancy this can still work.

Funny side note about Iphones... even if you dont have a phone plan or area with data service the GPS still works usually.

So if you see a used Iphone for sale that works; buy it over a GPS. The GPS part of iphone is free. and many apps also. Siri will require a data plan, however many apps like mapquest and googlemaps are great still. you will need a dead sim card though. Any sim card that matches the size and is provider appropriate will work, meaning an old killed off AT&T sim card will still get the phone operational for free with GPS and emergency 911 services. turn on wifi and an older IPHONE is still more functional than a Garmin; for free.

ya actually this doesnt work so well

If you did want to use a defunct cell phone as a non assisted gps, your best bet is to get a windows cell phone and use the tom tom software which is windows ce, an offline gps program

all the android and ios gps are assisted gps programs that need to be connected to a cell connectiion ( google does own motorola and apple basically makes more from cell phone company fees than it does from all of its hardware and software sales)

there are phone nerds that use something called mapdroyd for an offline gps.

but at that point you are better off getting an old gps at a garage sale. It will get you through the mountains better than a smart phone.as all it needs are the 3 sattelites.

its good to have one of each

i run into this constantly as im literally driving around in the boonies with 2 cell phones and a garmin and a tom tom. I have an extra droid 2 at this point id love to convert to a gps with google maps but you need to pay for a data connection.

[stamar]

actually i take that back, tom tom has just released their program for android.

Im about to make totems suggestion Live starting tommorow.

even so, tom tom android is a far cry from google maps where you literally close up on their front door and shows a picture of the building.

however tom tom android is far superior to the same thing they sell for 100$ being the very top end version of their software because as totem said any smart phone from droid one on is a computer powerhouse compared to whats used in a standalone gps.

[stamar]

most reviews of using cell phones internal gps only triangulation offline say it is mostly unusable. basically will not get your location correct and useful only in emergencies.

standalone gps units are made to only use the three satalites.

using a cell phone without cell service as a gps is a very unreliable thing overall depending on the model.

if you have the map downloaded in google maps and you lose service you go into follow the route mode basically it will have no idea where you are but give you a direction to head. ive had it be miles off, basically not usable just some help.

[Totem]

Again I stated with an old SIM card in. In theory it should have connection for 911 but will ping the towers nonetheless and allow the goog. Siri would not work on that method though.

[stamar]

I recently bought a droid bionic to work on cricket 3g.

but all the time now I see ads for virgin mobile for 35$ a month that gives you unlimited 4g.

to make a long story short virgin will never allow a verizon phone on their network. virgin is owned by sprint. all of the sprint companies will never allow a non sprint phone on their network.

so they wont allow a cricket phone or a whatever else there is phone, just a sprint phone.

BUT you can buy a used sprint phone and use it on virgin or boost. like a galaxy s3 or something nice.

And get unlimited everything but 300 talke minutes ( who can talk for 300 minutes anyway?) for 35$ SOLD.

SO that makes tis bionic and the car mount im using live for the offline gps system.

I downloaded tom tom and put the 3gb maps on the internal storage. it covers north america.

It works. It fades out once in a while and it is not as useful as google maps at all.

I once tried the same experiment with a droid 2 and the copilot software and i found it to be making me miss my turns so often it was sort of useless.

so in general its a hit or miss as to whether or not your phone model has q good enough gps sensor, and this includes whether or not its cloudy.

I noticed my garmin nuvi uses cell phones, someones cdma network probably verizon so it is also a guided gps service.

Yet some are offline too. I did enough research into this subject to show that.....

a smart phone with no celll phone service has a niceer screen and a better computer than a 100$ standalone gps.

It is definitely better than nothing. considering the circumstances it is probably free.

i have what is often just my location as an arrow in a blank screen. meaning no roads and the map flashes on and off based on whether or not im moving too fast.

Tom tom voice guidance sounds better than google maps though.

[stamar]

however, I will test the oonline using the cell phone service someday when i cancel the service, whether or not it still works.

I cant speak to that yet.

Im going live with this concept regardless of how well it works. Ive got a droid bionic with tom tom android installed and a window mount. its also a bluetooth mp3 player gamer and it has game of thrones.

I think there are forums especially for this. I believe you can buy gps signal boosters too that plug right into the usb port for cheap.

Ive got a droid bionic, tom tom 2012 north america software and its functional.

A real pro has got something better im sure, whatever else you need to make it really work right.

[stamar]

Just a guestimate of data of gps programs....tom tom android has north america in

under 3gb. Downloading the google maps area of portland is 7gb. That should give you a rough estimate of scale.

Even saying that all that data is just drawing the roads of your surrounding area which is actually just fluff. Once you have a route programmed if the phone never loses its signal it will tell you when to turn exactly as accurately as google maps.

Its kind of just a triangle and thrn theres a symbol showing where to turn next. All the fancy high resolution roads arent useless but they arent necessary. What i need next is the bluetooth antenae someone described.