low clearances

First off, welcome to the board.

Secondly, before you begin to do too much with your unit read our FAQs and then do the beginner exercises. One of the first will be to do a backup of the software on your unit so yo can always restore if something goes awry.

The third thing is to read how to download custom POI and set alerts. Then download and install Firenutt's Low Clearance POI and install it with a proximity alert and one of the custom warnings. Your unit only processes WAV files so be certain you understand that you will need SOX.exe to get the sounds to play.

I second all of Box Car's suggestions.

I'll just add, even though your nuvi can do a lot and give you advance warnings of potential hazards down the road, don't expect too much from your nuvi assuming you're planning to use your 50LM. If you're really interested in avoiding situations unique to 65' long vehicles, you may want to look at the features of the Garmin big rig models like (I think) the nuvi 4x5 and dezl series GPS units where you can set specific avoidances unique to long or high vehicles, etc.

It is true that you should read some of the forum topics but a simplistic answer to your question is this. One of the things that was mentioned is you can add "custom POI's" for low bridge clearances. You can then set an alert, in feet, so that when you get within that distance from the POI location you will get an audible alert. So if you want an alert when you are about 2 miles from a low bridge, you would set the alert distance as 10560. The Garmin unit will not, however, prevent a route being established that would take you over that low bridge, just warn you as you approached it.

The secret is setting an alert far enough away so you can either 'manually' decide to take another route or use the detour function on the GPS to calculate an alternate route. But you always face the possiblilty that the last turn to avoid the low obstacle was back a few miles before the alert sounded.

Does this answer your original question????

With the Low Clearance POIs loader in your GPS when you get ready to leave, set a destination or route to navigate to. Then, with such a big load, it would be wise to take another minute to search your route for low clearances before starting to drive.

1) a route or destination is selected and your route is calculated
2) then select "Where To?" again
3) select "Near" (usually at the bottom of the page)
4) choose "Along my route" or "My current route"
5) then goto your Custom POIs and select the Low Clearance POIs

This will tell you if your have any known low clearances along your route before you even leave. This can be done anytime before you leave, even the night before. You will have to check any POIs that display because they may not necessarily be on your route but instead just close to it.

Safe travels!

Here in the New York City area we have hundreds of clearances lower than 12' 6". I wouldn't trust any GPS or guidebook. Use common sense and more than one source of info.

Take a look at this thread -

http://www.poi-factory.com/node/30852

glwilbert wrote (in part)-

Use COMMON SENSE and you will be just fine. I Maintain the Weigh Station file and have the Low Clearance file on my unit as well.

I also was a Trucking Instructor!

(1)READ ANY SIGN with a NUMBER on it and it will keep you safe.... HAS for 18 Years!
(2)Never Trust ANY Electronic device.
(3) PLAN your ROUTE IN ADVANCE... DON'T treat it as another TRIP!
(4) WHEN IN DOUBT,,,, DON'T!!!
(5) GET a MOTOR CARRIER ATLAS as a BACKUP AND Reference.... NON Restricted Routes are Highlighted and LOW Clearances are listed by State.
(6) TREAT EVERY VEHICLE in front and around you as if they ARE YOUR FAMILY!!!
(7-1000) USE COMMON SENSE EVERYDAY!!!!

Setting the unit to the fastest route will keep it on the best and often time major roads. Stay off County or private roads.- glwilbert
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dobs108

thanks sire 1234 thats exactly what i needed to know. and 10-4 gud buddy do13 108, it seems the s&t will still be my best bet for real one page overview flight planning. i'll use the nuvi as a backup helper to the laptop gps and also much easier to use in the car and harly and canoe. now that i know my limitations i can now read the tutorials and such with better understanding of my limitations. i have already installed the low clearances. the discovery owners group was helpfull. thanks for the reply and hi all. jim 98 dynasty.

Welcome to the site.

Since you are new, you may want to do a couple of the Beginner Exercises.

To make it easy, when you click on the first link below, hold down the "Cntl" key as you left-click. That will open a new "Tab" in your browser in the "Tab" bar. Click on that 'Tab" to do the first exercise - leaving the "Tab" you are now reading open and available to click on and return here.

The first link makes sure settings on your computer are such that you can do more advanced POI loading.
http://www.poi-factory.com/node/30393

This next link helps you get a backup by attaching your GPS to your computer. (NEVER do anything to your GPS until you have a backup)
http://www.poi-factory.com/node/30394

As a fellow RVer, I have learned never trust the route on a Car GPS. Garmin does sell a trucker model that will allow you to set in height, weight, and if you are carrying propane,and then route you on roads, bridges, and tunnels that you are allowed on and that will not give you any low clearance surprises.

There are also RV spccific GPS units but not from Garmin.

On a standard GPS - Garmin or any other - the low clearance POI is not sufficient to warn you so that you can be sure there is an exit before you come to the overpass. You would need to demo the entire route and see where it is taking you and if the poi alerts you in time.

What I do is this with my car GPS - I route my trip using a free software program called TYRE which uses Google maps. I then check the route to see what roads it is using. I check state websites for road restrictions and clearances. Then I set waypoints on the route to take me around the roads that my RV cannot travel on. This is can be a long exercise of checking back and forth. Now, you also need to know that TYRE will transfer the whole thing to your Garmin but what gets transferred are the waypoints and not the route and the GPS may decide to find a way back to one of those roads you cannot travel on - if it does you need to go back to TYRE and place more waypoints that will not allow the GPS to go any other way but what you have set in.

Get a truckers atlas to use when creating the route, or search for state restrictions. Never rely upon your GPS on its own to not get you into trouble in your RV. Again, the only GPS you could rely on in an RV is a truck GPS or an RV specific GPS.

With newer car units like the 2460 and such you can set avoid road from point A to point B and the unit will not route you into that section.

Once you indentify the low clearance locations in your route you can then go to Tools>Settings>Navigation>nuRoute>Custom Avoidance>Add Avoid Road follow the on screen instructions to select point A and Point B and hit Save

I checked in late and the conversation was excellent and fairly complete.

I would add that with an RV pulling a tow car 4-down, backing up is not an option, so there is a strong reason to have early warning of low clearances. You can sneak back a few feet, but if you really have to back up, you have to disconnect the tow bar, the electric connection, the the safety cables, etc. Not something you want to do with traffic behind you.

Been lucky so far and want to keep it that way, so POIs are a great thing.

You should always read your signs, road atlas low clearance page etc, BUT...when i called Garmin when i was having issues with mine http://www.poi-factory.com/node/37136

And i straight up asked her if my model will alert me when coming to a low clearance, she said yes it will and on top of that will route you around it if necessary.I was shocked she admitted that due to the liability issue's. I have seen my buddies gps which is the same model as mine (465 LMT)alert him when going down a restricted road.

Once again read the signs because think of this, i am driving a 53' trailer that stands @ 13' 6". If i am driving and come to an underpass that is 13'7"-13'8" and the pavment has been redone, well that just raise it up. And your gps will never know it.

I hope this helps

nothing takes the place of watching the signs and being careful. I have the low clearance POI installed but you always need to watch what's ahead and around.

I'm not a truck driver or RVer or big trailer puller so I really don't need to load this, but I've often wondered why there's no POI offered here or on Garmin's trucker GPS units for Escape Ramps. Or are these built into trucker GPS units or is a custom POI available? Just curious.

Then again, I suppose if you really need to search for the nearest one, you might be otherwise occupied and won't have the time to do a GPS search for it!