Update on Best RV Travel App/Program

[mgblake13]

Following

[azflycaster]

We learned about waze this summer while caravanning on the Oregon Trail with other Airstreamers. It was a bit of a learning curve but having someone to answer questions made it easy to get comfortable with the app. It did divert us around road events and alert us to various changing road conditions. We found it to be a good companion to the truck's GPS system.

[FishByFly]

I’ve learned to trust, but verify, WAZE. It has helped me many times to navigate around major congestion and shutdowns. At first, exiting the highway upon an app command when there are no apparent signs of an issue was not something I trusted. After learning the hard way a couple of times, I started to listen. WAZE has saved me on numerous occasions.

[ROBERT CROSS]

Cheese balls are our favorite travelling app.

Bob
🇺🇸

[Joyman]

Originally Posted by ROBERT CROSS

Cheese balls are our favorite travelling app.

Bob
🇺🇸

Agreed 120% but DW doesn't like The Orange prints on the leather wheel cover, guess I'll have to convince her to get me a furry wheel cover, so there will be no prints! Love those cheese puffs

[Janet H]

Originally Posted by nryn

There isn't, unfortunately, one tool that does everything. The holy grail for me would be an app (not a website) that allowed you to plan RV routes, examine campgrounds and RV facilities, and give you realtime nav/weather guidance. Nothing like this exists, so you have to run through various apps and websites to get everything you need. I've settled on the following tools:

• RVTripWizard: great RV route planning tool. Not really for real-time use but can be used in the morning if you are figuring out how to get from here today. Some very sophisticated features like elevation graphs and hazard/preference routing. Downsides--it's a web app, not a native app; campground reviews are clunky. It has a native app "companion" which is basically a reader (you still do planning in RVTW), and I find that cumbersome.
  

It's both a surprise and a shame that the landscape for these tools is so immature and that there are no standards for aggregating data across services.

If you are an RV Trip Wizard subscriber try out the RV Life app (Pro). Preplanned trips swill sync with the app on your device for live routing and turn by turn. You can also use the app for quick "point to point" RV safe turn by turn routing. (no need for detailed preplanned trips)

The app is also the mobile gateway to www.CampgroundReviews.com and a good resource when searching for a park.

[nryn]

Originally Posted by Janet H

If you are an RV Trip Wizard subscriber try out the RV Life app (Pro). Preplanned trips swill sync with the app on your device for live routing and turn by turn. You can also use the app for quick "point to point" RV safe turn by turn routing. (no need for detailed preplanned trips)

The app is also the mobile gateway to www.CampgroundReviews.com and a good resource when searching for a park.

Thanks, Janet. I’ve used RV Life (and after your post, checked it to see if it had changed much). It’s good overall. As I mentioned, I find the integration with RV trip wizard clunky. I may try it for more point-to-point work but as I was looking more closely at it I’m realizing its campground listings are not comprehensive, at least in our area. There are a few (very nice) county parks in an area I’ve visited twice that do not show up and quite a few elsewhere that I’ve been that I cannot find on that app. I do like the RV trip wizard planning features, though as you probably know from experience, a planned trip never plays out exactly as planned (and that’s a lot of the fun).

The issue that plagues the whole industry is that everyone seems to be working in their own sandbox and users are left having to sift through multiple sandboxes to find what they’re looking for. It’s just the state of the state right now.

[mrhulse]

We have been using the app, CoPilot GPS, for the last year. It hasn’t let us down, so far. You put in the size of your trailer, rig, etc., and it calculates routes based upon those parameters. We do also set the destination on Apple Maps, just in case. There is a 14-day free trial, which we used before subscribing, and then the annual subscription is $14.99. Our only complaint is that it does not work with ApplePlay, though the audio comes through via Bluetooth.

[jranck]

Originally Posted by GiaPK

...The paid version of rv life looks like it may do the job. ....

I've tried the paid version of rv life and absolutely detest the program. The turn by turn works, but that is all the good I can say about it. The UI looks to have been designed by someone that had no clue what information would be useful while driving. It was absolutely the worst "gps" type program that I have ever used. I used it once and never again.

So I'm still looking.

Jeff.

[WDEL]

Just a heads up. I used my I phone with rv trip wizard pluged in to apple car play for my travels this summer and killed the battery. I had it replaced at batteries and bulbs. They told me that long times plugged in, charged at 100 % is what killed the battery.

[northfayston]

I have paper road maps for every state we will travel through. I pick them Up at info centers at star lines or buy what I don’t have at a gas station or on Amazon. Big maps give you the big picture. I use Google Maps and I use the default as well as no highway(interstates) option. We use a combination of interstates and state and US highways, which are preferred. I keep notes on places to avoid that I read about on social media. “Blue highways” are far more enjoyable and some are even two lanes in ea h direction.

[Atwebs]

We use a nice atlas augmented with phone maps, GPS and travel specific apps (RV Trip Wizard, RV Life, Allstays, Waze).

You can not tell from a paper map the condition of the roads, especially in the out of way places where there may be road work going on, seasonal issues, short bridges, narrow lanes or accidents.

And, you can't tell from that paper map whether the little town at the next exit will have whatever you are looking for, whatever that might be.

[Fungus]

Originally Posted by xyzabe

I was given that answer when I contacted them. So now when we go for our nightly walk with the dogs, I turn on WAZE and put my phone on one dog's harness, and turn on WAZE on my wife's phone and carry that. Both phones are set to show we are driving. Since the trail we walk follows along the Interstate's fence, every time we walk, it shows 2 vehicles moving at 2-3 mph. And when traffic is light (we are in a rural area), the traffic in our direction shows red. And when we walk back, against traffic it really screws with the data.
Tell me you don't care and I'll figure out some way to screw up you data real good.

And I always tell the app there is no cop when they are parked in the trees on the shoulder when I see them while walking. Always willing to help our folks in blue

I love this stuff.

So when someone tells you, “but the data says…”, think about this post.

[rmkrum]

GIGO** comes to mind…







**Garbage In, Garbage Out…well known computer fact from the late 1960’s as the earliest time I heard it…

[northfayston]

One more thought - Use 511 for a state for updated road conditions due to weather, closures, construction, etc. So type in and search the state and put 511 after it. I am not sure if all states have this. Here is the one for northern New England to give you an example of what info is provided. https://newengland511.org

[DavidsonOverlander]

Originally Posted by xyzabe

I was given that answer when I contacted them. So now when we go for our nightly walk with the dogs, I turn on WAZE and put my phone on one dog's harness, and turn on WAZE on my wife's phone and carry that. Both phones are set to show we are driving. Since the trail we walk follows along the Interstate's fence, every time we walk, it shows 2 vehicles moving at 2-3 mph. And when traffic is light (we are in a rural area), the traffic in our direction shows red. And when we walk back, against traffic it really screws with the data.
Tell me you don't care and I'll figure out some way to screw up you data real good.

And I always tell the app there is no cop when they are parked in the trees on the shoulder when I see them while walking. Always willing to help our folks in blue

I would be surprised if this makes any difference. The algorithm very likely filters out anomalous data or outliers.

[jcanavera]

Typically I use Waze here in the metropolitan area due to it's feedback system from it's users that allows you the fastest travel time based on current conditions. I've at times not taken it's advice only to find I should have trusted it due to unforeseen traffic issues.

I remember watching a Today segment where they tested 3 traffic apps in New York and Waze was the winner.

Typically I also use a Garmin 50 GPS. Had it for some time now and bought it for it's bigger screen and lifetime map updates. I usually use a few different PC software programs to in advance, plan the overall route for my travels with the trailer. I find it interesting to see the variances sometimes in routes and will try to figure out what the justifications are. Once settling on a route, I'll have the Garmin plan it's route. Then I'll do that final comparison and if the Garmin varies to what I think is best, I'll take my choice sometimes letting the Garmin do it's thing as I drive. Sometimes as I ignore the Garmin's choice, using the route I planned earlier, it will be interesting to see the Garmin recalculate the route, in most cases now matching my plan.

In areas with metropolitan areas I may activate Waze to find me the best route as we get close to those metro areas.

My worst experiences have been with the Garmin. One in Florida driving home from Destin where it had me doing in circles in an area serviced by state highways. I finally made my best judgement and over ruled it telling me to make a U turn and go back and after traveling 4 miles on the "wrong road" it finally figured out where it was and confirmed I was on the correct highway.

The other was in the Memphis area where I wasn't towing, but got me off on an exit that got me on roads that were below the Interstate that paralleled the highway. It had me going in circles on those outer roads.

I've also found that some of the older technology like the Garmin used multiple GPS satellites in the sky to calculate your position. Dependent upon how many of the satellites it sees, the better it is in locating where you were.

Personally I'm not sure what technology modern cell phones are using. I know they have GPS but I don't know if it is totally GPS driven or uses a combination of cellular towers and GPS and may be much more accurate with positioning.

Anyone up on the cell phone apps and their technology vs. the older GPS technology used by older trip routing units?

Jack

[345bill]

Originally Posted by Woolecox

Local knowledge will route me around that mess next time but:

What is the best app/program for traveling pulling a travel trailer these days?

Thanks,
Wooly

When we're looking for road conditions we google, example, 'road conditions for Wyoming' then it comes up this: WyoRoad.info then a menu comes up with your choice.



Another example would be Oregon ask google for Oregon's road conditions and TripCheck comes up and their menu appears.


Using this method we tap into the DOT's cameras and are able to see actual road conditions ahead in real time. Great for busy highways, accidents, snow or whatever.



Each state has their own website and going thru google we used them all between OR and Ohio on our last trip.

[GiaPK]

Originally Posted by FishByFly

I’ve learned to trust, but verify, WAZE. It has helped me many times to navigate around major congestion and shutdowns. At first, exiting the highway upon an app command when there are no apparent signs of an issue was not something I trusted. After learning the hard way a couple of times, I started to listen. WAZE has saved me on numerous occasions.

This reminds me of the time Waze told us to get off of a perfectly good moving interstate. Once we went down the detour for a mile or so, we could see why it advised us to exit. There was a major accident and the interstate was coming to a total stop. We thought we had made a good decision until our detour headed us down a dirt road. It was a fairly well maintained surface, but the old statement of trust but verify always applies.