sat nav for motorhomes

Hiya has anyone used a Sat Nav specifically designed for motor homes? Like everyone else we have on ocassion found ourselves on a road not really suitable for motorhomes. I've got a fairly new Tom Tom but wondered if it might be wise to invest in a Sat Nav that I can add the width, height etc of our van. Anyone any advice on whether we should get one or not if so which would you recommend. Thanks in advance for your help .

I have snooper sat nav that was bought because my previous sat nav was very good at taking any vehicle down inappropriate roads, it has a built in dash cam also. 2600miles of use so far, no cockups:

I have the 5" Garmin Camper Sat Nav (Caravan Club or Camping Club version, can't remember which, bought it second-hand off Ebay). It does avoid low bridges etc but occasionally when I turn onto a narrow road by my own choice it will tell me that it has no information on that particular road meaning as it didn't recommend that route it doesn't know width or height restrictions. But apart from that it works well and has camp sites of whichever club its from marked on.

In my experience of currently owning both types the dedicated Camper satnavs are not worth the extra expense.  I believe that the camper units are preloaded with a database of restrictions supplied by local authorities and you will avoid these roads.  But, it wont prevent a route being planned down country lanes where there is no formal restriction.  If you imagine the great british countryside of rolling hills, valleys and narrow lanes then most of these 'White' roads have no restrictions, you will see buses, oil tankers, farm feed lorries, huge tractors and lorries carrying animals.  When on these roads my dedicated satnav merely reads ...' No restriction information' .... and when in Spain it routed me along a dry river bed.  As an experiment on long runs we usually run both units in His and Hers configuration and they usually agree untill we come to a road with a statutory restriction.  Before buying the camper unit we just drove past the restriction and found another way, usually on instinct, and that's not a bad way of finding your way around.  The first and last mile is generally the worst for narrow roads and this is unavoidable when getting to some sites.  If you live on a housing estate with narrow roads the dedicated satnavs will give no information and these can be quite tricky as well.
Rich..

We have had several, only 2 of which was pre-loaded with Motorhome/Caravan type software
1. Snooper (pre CC software) Software ok, Hardware rubbish
2. Falcon OK we still have it but not the quickest to program

At the moment we are using a 5" Garmin (normal software) we bought this year after changing car which hadnt got one in as standard.   It is very quick to pick up Satellites and Program so it gets used in the van as well - love it
Garmin Support (from prev experience) is very good

We've got the Tom Tom camper version and so far it's been OK. I always check roads on Google maps street view first if we're going somewhere fairly remote.

Nora

I recently took the plunge and bought the recently released Co-Pilot Caravan version and so far really like it.

For many many years I have used Tomtoms (my usual favourite) and Garmins, but they always fall short when it comes to MH routes due to prioritising a tiny road over a main road because it shaves 30 seconds off the route.

I've tested the new Co-Pilot app a few times now and am really impressed. You enter all your dimensions and also tell it which roads you prefer, so I have motorways/dual carriageways very high and drop in priority to small lanes being very low.

It will then stick to major routes even if slightly longer to prevent you going down silly little roads.

I tested this recently and it worked very well, avoiding a route with a low bridge and also favouring the motorway for a smaller twisty road that was technically 'quicker' but more hassle.

Overall I would really recommend it, and comes with traffic updates too - you just need to have it on a mobile device of course and use data if you want traffic updates.

I use  tom tom and garmin, but have always checked off the route against a road atlas before setting off. 

What I do find just using a sat nav without consulting a road map, is I'm not then familiar in my mind with the route I'm taking, but after reading a road map  it gives me a better idea of my route.

Using this method gives me piece of mind. There have been times abroad  when we have ditched the sat nav completely and rely only on a road map, the reason is because the sat nav want's to take us in a direction I don't wish to go to get from A to B.

Leighton.

What Noggin said about CoPilot - though I haven't got the caravan version.

It's not infallible, but as said earlier in the thread, none of them can possibly be perfect if the routing information is not available to them - or not installed.

I can't understand why some people say CoPilot is rubbish. I can only think they are too bone idle to learn how to use it, since (like any modern techy gadget) there is a definite learning curve. Once familiar with the menu structure it is really very good, and has useful features not found on other satnavs - like dragging the route to suit yourself, and more than 30 waypoints available. (That's the most I have entered so far!  )

Many people have an old smart phone that has been replaced with a newer one, and CP will run perfectly well on that. It can also be run simultaneously on the human co pilot's 10" tablet, so that zooming out to navigate round road blocks and huge traffic jams (about which it will warn you) etc. is very easy.

Does it make sense to buy all the hardware to run a "proper" satnav when you have it already on the phone? CoPilot simply uses that, and provides only the software - hence the much lower price and frequent free map upgrades.

Gromit wrote:I can't understand why some people say CoPilot is rubbish.

Must admit, I have both Tomtom mobile and Co-Pilot on my phone so can make a direct comparison and was very impressed how Co-pilot has come on since they started it years ago.

The interface is very similar to tomtom mobile and if you can use one then it's no problem to use the other. I personally find Garmin the biggest pain to use, far clunkier than either TT or CP.

Thanks to all for your advice. I will look into all the suggestions and sounds like a good map is something we also need to invest in. Thanks again