Garmin Vs Google Maps In Our RV
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    19 years
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I wanted to share a story from our trip today. My wife and I bought a Jayco RV almost a year ago. It has a Sony XAV-AX8000 in dash which works with Android Auto or Apple Car Play with a wired connection.
When we first bought this RV I wanted to use my Garmin DriveSmart 65 with Amazon Alexa. My wife was adamant that there would be nothing on the dash! That ruled out my Garmin Portable Friction Mount.
We have made a few trips this year and we have used the Sony XAV-AX8000 with Android Auto. In fact, I typically use a spare smart phone for navigation and streaming Sirius XM music. For the most part, it works well enough. The shortcomings are sometimes the screen becomes illegible. A pull of the power cord and re-connection fixes it. Also, when the turn signal is activated, the screen display switches to exterior cameras. Unfortunately, if you need the screen for navigation while the turn signal is on, there is no apparent override.
As we have discussed here on POI Factory, there are some definite advantages to Google Maps over Garmin navigation. The POIs are very current. The real-time traffic function is very helpful.
After each RV trip we make I think of things to make our future journeys better. About a month ago we spent a few weeks in the RV and I decided to try to reintroduce the Garmin DriveSmart 65, not to replace Google Maps, but as a supplement.
Keeping in mind that my wife wanted nothing on the dash, I took a chance and mounted a dashboard disc below the Sony. I didn't tell her ahead of time that we would be using both, but I decided to see how things played out.
I started off by driving this morning and she was in the front passenger seat. At some point we switched the Garmin from 24 hour time to 12 hour time because she doesn't like it. She also wanted Garmin to track up, rather than north up. The volume was essentially muted on the Garmin and we listened to Google Maps.
When she mentioned it was time to think about stopping for a break, we had options. We could use the Garmin, Google Maps or what she found on her Samsung smartphone. We eventually found a place and took a break,
After lunch, she offered to drive. I was still wondering how this would all go once she was in the driver's seat. At some point I noticed she had adjusted the Garmin's screen to her favor! When there was a difference in routes, that is where we focused our attention.
All in all, I am still reluctant to prefer one over the other. I think we will continue to use both and favor one for certain functions at that moment in time.
I am also tempted to load the current Open Map Chest maps on the Garmin and try Waze on the smartphone.
I want to see google maps
I want to see google maps drop a breadcrumb every second to a gpx file to be reviewed later. Sure it drops these back to the google mothership for GOOGLE use, but not end user.
On the motorbike it was interesting to review these to see how my corner speeds were in various areas. On the car, still useful for review of detours and other travels.
update frequency less than 1 Hz.
I want to see google maps drop a breadcrumb every second to a gpx file to be reviewed later. Sure it drops these back to the google mothership for GOOGLE use, but not end user.
On the motorbike it was interesting to review these to see how my corner speeds were in various areas. On the car, still useful for review of detours and other travels.
Driving around a traffic circle I once tried to infer the display update frequency and the GPS update frequency. I no longer remember what I thought but I'm sure that it was less than 1 Hz.
Garmin 1090 & Garmin 765T in Newmar Dutch Star RV
We have an 07 Newmar DP and have used a Garmin 1090 and older 765T over the past few years with good success. There is no in dash GPS.
I have been wondering about Google maps, so the other day, I tried Google on my iPhone 15, in a complex area that I was familiar with and found the map VERY confusing as it did not clearly show the route. There were blue lines all over the roads with no clear way to see the one I should be driving on.
This morning I put in a test trip from home and it seemed better. I may try Carplay because the Jeep maps are out of date and the price to update is ridiculous.
rvOutrider
Garmin Vs Google Maps In Our RV
I just wanted to give another update on this trip. My wife and I returned yesterday after being out of town for over two weeks. Our return trip involved navigating with the Garmin DriveSmart 65 and the Sony XAV-AX8000 connected to a Google Pixel 6 using Google Maps.
My wife takes a keen interest in various aspects of routing on longer trips. She wants to make sure that fuel stops and restaurant stops are close to the route we are on. Obviously, having fuel stops at places that are big enough to handle RVs is crucial, too.
When the route selected by Garmin is different than the route created by Google Maps, she becomes very interested in how they differ. I would also like to post "why", too, but that isn't always so easy to determine. Anyway, several times during the past three days of driving she would tell me to "go with that one" when she was referring to the Garmin DriveSmart 65.
What we did most of the time is muted the volume of the Garmin DriveSmart 65 and listened to Google Maps. That way when the notices of construction ahead/object in roadway/crash ahead were announced, we would hear them. It was easy to see on the Garmin DriveSmart 65 things like current temperature, etc. While en route, when the next change in course differed from one device to the other, it was very easy to pick up on it. Sometimes, we would even make the Garmin re-route by cancelling a route and then selecting it again. Sometimes that would cause a different route to be selected.
I think the likely future for us on long routes is to continue using both Garmin and Google Maps. Both have their strengths and using both allows us to take advantage of the best of both worlds!
RV+Waze
I use both the Garmin RV and Waze on the phone. I find Waze has the quickest route, but must verify the route is safe for our MOHO, and realize that Waze is based on auto speeds, which are higher than what we drive our RV on interstates (65-67mph). Just like Waze for up to date crash/police/traffic jam info. Sound is off on both devices.
I do use Google maps for hotels and restaurants, and end up plugging the side trip into our Waze only.
Garmin Vs Google Maps In Our RV
HaroldPE, thank you for the reply. You make some very great points. I am certainly open to trying some other things, too. I have to be a little bit careful because my wife is a resistant to change. However, she has used Waze in the past, so I think I could introduce that and she might be okay with it.
The other thing I may try in the future is Open Map Chest for navigation. I have used Open Street Maps, which is what Open Map Chest is based on.
Your Google Maps comment for restaurants and hotels is right on the mark. Garmin may (or may not) show gas stations and restaurants that we might be interested in stopping at. The fact that Google Maps shows whether they are open is huge. I suspect that a few of us here have gone to a Point Of Interest (POI) found on a Garmin only to find it closed upon arrival. Conversely, new POIs are in business and Garmin takes a long time to get them to City Navigator.
That very reason is why I want to try Open Map Chest for longer trips. I want to see if they have more POIs and how quickly they are added.
Another big issue, of course, is that of Live Traffic. I still don't have a real good feel as far as whether Garmin Traffic is better or Google Maps/Waze Maps traffic is better. Again, I will take the military adage that "Two Is One And One Is None" and use both navigation devices at the same time.