Are truck/large vehicle satnavs worth the extra price (1 Viewer)

Dec 28, 2015
1,156
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low profile mh
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Since 2015
I am looking to replace our deceased satnav. I like Tomtom do we are looking at either go6200 or the prof6250 where you can enter your vehicle size

I don’t know if it’s worth the extra cost to be able to input your size .
We are 2960 high and 6750 length

Any advice welcome

Cheers Sue and John
 
Oct 7, 2013
5,867
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Swift Escape Compact
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Since 1988
The short answer is.......






.......YES!

In our opinion, at least.


How much does it cost to replace a roof taken off by a low bridge?

We bought one after coming to a halt with a low bridge ahead, a cliff to the left and a drop to the right. Never to be repeated.
 

Euphony

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Nov 9, 2016
481
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3 years of weekending with the odd month here and there.
Yes, you can programme height, width, length and weight so you won’t be wandering into situations that are un-navigable.

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Gellyneck

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Jun 5, 2014
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More than toes wet now!
Amazon have the Garmin Camper 760LMT-D on offer at under £300 at the moment.
Might be another alternative for you?
 
Apr 16, 2017
167
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Hymer Mli570
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Getting better
Hi @sueandjohn
It seems to be about £100 difference in price and I would agree what others are saying. Visiting France last year on a 2400 mile round trip we encountered at least 3 occasions where the height restriction of low bridges had us navigating ourselves out of the area. The more help in sat nav support helps with MORE Enjoyment of your trip
 
Oct 7, 2013
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We bought the Garmin one from the Caravan & Mothome Club. We find it invaluable with its pre-loaded C&MC sites and ACSI sites too.

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BONZO

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Mar 1, 2012
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We have one they are good and make you more secure about the roads that it takes you on . Ours was ust under 300 .
 

DanielFord

Free Member
Jun 1, 2013
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Wouldn't be without mine, once came across a low bridge with a standard at nav, took us ages to convince the sat nav that I couldn't go that way.

Now we have dimensions programmed, have never had an issue in 6 years!
 

Badknee

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Aug 25, 2014
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Living the dream.
We use a Navtech Chinese sat nag, £35 on e of the bay. Brilliant bit of kit, wouldn't be without it.

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Nov 25, 2013
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Firstly, you should always know the height of your vehicle, and nearly all low bridges are marked, , The Snooper can be bought with the Camping Chip , Shows many sites and Aires in the UK and Europe, and you can set up your Height, length and axle weights on it.
I fitted one into my S700 and it works very well.
 

funflair

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Dec 11, 2013
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Yes they do work, we use CoPilot caravan on iPhone so not even a lot of cash OK we are a bit bigger at 8.5 metres and 6t.

Martin
 
D

Deleted member 29692

Deleted User
Yes definitely.

We have a Pioneer one integrated with our radio unit.

It has never let us down.

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Mar 13, 2010
249
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Have the snooper unit has not let us down in three years not cheap but neither is a roof also run app on phone so they can fight with each other
 

Northernraider

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Jul 30, 2017
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Had a cheap Chinese truck nav off eBay
I had it set at 3.3 metres high 9 metres long and 6 tonne just to be safe

Tried to take me under bridges 2.5 metre etc one was 1.8 metre.
It would constantly tell me vehicles if my size were banned from places I wanted to go...but generally it worked reasonably well.
It eventually died just outside Portsmouth at only 5 months old

I bought a Tom Tom In Argos Portsmouth for £79 Was the cheapest one with European maps included.
And so far here in spain it's been brilliant...hasnt failed to get me where I want to go. I just pay attention to the road and if it tries to take me down roads that have signs etc for low bridges or look to narrow I just don't go down them and it will tell me another route.

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EX51SSS

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Jul 18, 2015
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Another vote for Garmin camper albeit mine is the 660. Use it every day in truck 14'6" high and I put in 60' length. Works superb.
 

stewartwebr

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Jun 6, 2010
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36 years and 16 motorhomes
Without a doubt for piece of mind.
I have a Snooper in the cupboard somewhere. Biggest piece of junk I have ever bought. Graphics looked like they were drawn by a 6 year old, stand looked like it was made at a wood workclass and the sound was like a 1972 portable radio. As for updating it...forget it...threw it in the cupboard
 
Feb 11, 2017
1,036
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Carthago C Tourer
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We currently have the TT Go 5000 Camper - it has tried to take us down a variety of farm tracks and under low bridges, very unimpressed with it and we’ re finally giving up with it. Looking at the Garmin 770 Camper - or the Avtex badged version, which seems to be available for £10 less.
 

scotjimland

LIFE MEMBER
Jul 25, 2007
2,077
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Suffolk Coastal District, UK
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15
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Timberland
Also use a Garmin camper, bought from Aldi when they were on offer at £198 ..

It is very good, best I have ever owned.

Bear in mind any sat nav is only as good a the road data base, which is far from perfect.. In the UK Roads are classified as Motorway, A and B class . but none have had the lanes width measured, so you can be send down a B road that is only a single track road.. but if that is the only way to get to the destination it will use it..

setting your width it will avoid narrow bridges or roads that are on the data base.. but as said, the data on this isn't 100% . same for low bridges.


In France roads are classified; Autoroute, National and D (department) roads .. D roads are maintained by the Department and can be anything from a Farm track to a dual carriageway.. the sat nav has no way of knowing the actual road width..

This is where plotting and using other software or paper maps is worth while.. and Garmin Basecamp is excellent.. plot your route, add waypoints etc and load to Garmin.. no surprise detours though industrial estates or housing schemes. It takes a bit of learning, but worth while, there are tutorials on Youtube..
http://www.garmin.com/en-GB/shop/downloads/basecamp

Load it with sites and aire POIs, I use Camperconatct, or whatever you use, and when you need a place for the night it will show the closest and navigate to it .

Watch for deals on Aldi ..
 

grumps147

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Jun 6, 2010
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We bought the Garmin one from the Caravan & Mothome Club. We find it invaluable with its pre-loaded C&MC sites and ACSI sites too.

Our choice to, it’s some years old now and at first we had problems with Garmin and the lifetime elements especially map updates. That had to be sorted by a strong complaint to the club, but was eventually.

Please remember none are perfect. I have learned to add an extra few inches in width size settings after ours routed us down one of the narrowest streets in Honfleur, it must have been shorter than the main route by about 25 yards.

There are also some interesting minor roads in parts of France, my fault, I believed the sat nag instead of listening to the seat nag.:whistle:

Google street map for the last 1/2 mile into your night stop is brilliant to view likely problems - also check market days.

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two

Aug 4, 2011
4,901
4,560
West Midlands
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17,624
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A-Class Fiat
Any SatNag is better than none but, if you need to watch the pennies, I’d just get whatever I could.

My fancy Pioneer SatNag tried to take me through a narrow and low archway on the very first outing. I have a very low opinion of them, considering the number of iterations they’ve gone through. Sadly, I’ve not found any of them do what they claim (on the tin). The Truck ones are better, but still not perfect.

It’s about time SatNags were completely voice-response and the data kept up to date.
 
Oct 29, 2008
5,024
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West Yorkshire
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4,712
MH
PVC
Exp
since 2008
If you trust any satnav 100% you will end up in trouble some time. I think a lot of people trust them far too much! Especially truck ones.
 
Feb 12, 2018
735
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South Yorkshire
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52,385
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Adria Coral 600SL
Exp
Since 2017
Best to regard electronic Nav systems as an "aid to navigation" and apply common-sense/use other sources for checking bridge heights etc.

I bought a TomTom Start 25 in January 2016, with life-time upgrades for Western Europe Maps for £74.99 from Amazon. (Currently on sale for £102, but watch out for offers.) This does not include Speed Camera (sorry - "Safety Camera") updates after the first year but these are available for on-line purchase.

I choose this model because I had had 2 previous TomToms so was familiar with their use and also because even with a 5" screen it is compact and light making it easy to carry in a cabin bag when flying and picking up a hire car, as well as in our motorhome and car. We also find it convenient to use as a hand-held device when walking/sightseeing in new Cities.

I found that the internal battery was not holding much charge after two years - no problem when plugged in to 12v in the Motorhome or a car, but becoming less useful for hand-held use when walking. TomTom say the battery can not be replaced, but I was able to buy a replacement battery kit (tools + battery) from Amazon for £10.25 Fitted this a few weeks ago and so far working fine. Found fitting fairly easy but a bit fiddly. The kit came with no instructions, but a Google search gave an easy to follow video on YouTube showing how to fit the replacement battery.

I would also recommend using "Brodit" holders, which we have specific to our car and motorhome. These are well designed, a good fit and place your TomTom (or other satnav) where you need it, rather than at some distance stuck on the windscreen. If interested have a look at https://www.brodit.co.uk/ , but possibly cheaper to buy the identified specific model for your satnav/vehicle on Amazon.

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