gps

[warm]

I am looking in to a rv gps with rear view cam . should i get wired or wireless cam.? and what gps are working out good?

[booster]

Originally Posted by warm

I am looking in to a rv gps with rear view cam . should i get wired or wireless cam.? and what gps are working out good?

A lot depends on how you want to use a GPS and the camera. Do you want to be able to preprogram exact routes on a laptop and then transfer then to GPS so you can get your own route, or do you like to take what the GPS chooses for a route and only set route on the GPS? How good of a camera do you need in image quality and if night vision, etc? Lots of options out there.

[warm]

a good quality view on cam is a must and night vision. T
he gps we just put a route in and go.

[Deano]

I bought a Garmin RV 760 with wireless back up camera a few years ago. There may be better available, but mine does what I need and the picture is adequate. However, I did change the B/U lamps to LEDs and added a pair of LED lamps under the rear bumper.
Also, it has adjustable size parameters for the RV and for the B/U guide lines.

[jrobe]

I don't think there is a great combination GPS and RV camera system. At least I couldn't find one. I ended up buying and installing a Garmin GPS and a separate wired side and rear view camera system from Rear View Safety.

https://www.rearviewsafety.com

I have 2 separate screens strategically placed in my van that both work well and are of high quality. The cameras are designed for over the road truckers but work well for RV's with good day and night vision. I use the side cameras more than the rear camera especially for changing lanes and also for backing up. The reviews are not as good for wireless units so I bought a better wired system. My rear camera is built into the van's rear brake light on top of the van.

[Travato06]

I installed a Garmin BC30 wireless camera on my Travato and mounted it low to the license plate holder and powered it from the back up light. I am using it with a Garmin Drive Smart 61 which is not an RV GPS. The picture quality is quite good and I have had no issues with the transmitter mounted in back door.

[CJBill]

At the black friday sale 2017 I purchased a Garmin backup camera BC 30 and a Drive Assist 50 LMT which could display the picture. I felt I was due for a newer GPS and wanted a backup camera. However I am pretty disappointed with the camera as it is hard to see in any kind of light that is not pretty bright out. Maybe if one had a bigger screen it might be better as has been reported here but as it is I would not recommend the setup I have as I have seen good reviews of other backup cameras.

I am also disappointed with the new GPS as I think the routing is not as good as my older one was. On the other hand I don't know where you would get something better than a Garmin.

Bill Dillinger
190 Popular 05/06
Rockville, MD

[peppster66]

I was reading the other day that Garmin has come come out with a new model GPS , geared towards the Rvand trucker market with much better tools and camera possibilities, I believe it was the 780 model,,,it looks very interesting, I don't own it, so I cant give an honest review,,,hope this helps,,,,,

[Travato06]

Amazon carries them. Garmin RV 770 for $300. Has 7 inch screen, programmable to your RV specs, blue tooth, and WIFI. On my shopping list!

[booster]

Originally Posted by peppster66

I was reading the other day that Garmin has come come out with a new model GPS , geared towards the Rvand trucker market with much better tools and camera possibilities, I believe it was the 780 model,,,it looks very interesting, I don't own it, so I cant give an honest review,,,hope this helps,,,,,

I just looked at the 780 on the Garmin site and the camera is listed as the BC30, which is the same as we have on our older model. Mediocre camera with no night vision, but good enough not to run over people in parking lots and such.

[avanti]

Darn. For about 10 minutes I was really excited about this product.

I have a 4-camera 360-degree "bird view" setup in my van. I am currently displaying it on the tiny little Sprinter nav screen. It is just too small for this purpose, so I have been shopping for a second screen. When I saw this item, I thought that maybe I could get one and feed my bird-view image into the backup camera input.

Alas, there IS no backup camera input, only the ability to connect to the BC30, which is a wireless camera. I see no way to feed an NTSC signal to the device. Oh well...

BTW: IMO, ALL wireless backup cameras are second rate. I would go with a wired cam if at all possible.

[gregmchugh]

Originally Posted by avanti

BTW: IMO, ALL wireless backup cameras are second rate. I would go with a wired cam if at all possible.

I had the Garmin camera which worked but not really great.

Switched to a Rear View Safety wireless system which is pretty good. Haven’t had a wired system so I cannot compare it to one. I got the large screen model with a wireless rear view camera (powered all the time, not just in reverse) and provision for two side view wired cameras which I may add in the future but our truck has good blind spot mirrors so I may not need them.


https://www.rearviewsafety.com

[Bertiboo]

I have had car GPS units for years, mainly Garmin. But I bought an XGPS Bluetooth antenna for my ipad (for boating-Navionics) and it worked marvellously as a mapping and chart-plotting screen. So when I was looking for an RV-specific GPS, I looked into ipad RV GPS apps, and bought Co-Pilot. Although I haven’t used an RV specific GPS, copilot has some features I’ve read about, mainly setting your vehicle length so that it avoids routes where you can’t turn around. (We tow a toad) And my iPad 2 has a far bigger screen than even the big GPS screens. Since I already had the iPad and the antenna, this was a big savings and one fewer device to go obsolete.

I would think there should also be rear cameras that link to an iPad, though maybe not at the same time as a gps antenna if both use Bluetooth. Perhaps a wifi camera with a Bluetooth gps antenna?

Regards,
Gary
LTV Libero

[SteveWolf]

Originally Posted by warm

I am looking in to a rv gps with rear view cam . should i get wired or wireless cam.? and what gps are working out good?

I separate out the two. Garmin is the only GPS that I will buy as their updates are free and I can manipulate the routes. For example, I often travel from northern Ohio to the Outer Banks in North Carolina. The normal way is to drive through ... ugghhhhh ... Washington D. C. I have manually entered a quite variegated route around D.C. that was provided by some other folks who also hate D.C. My Garmin is able to follow my special route and that alone is enough to love the thing. Not too many GPS systems will make that task easy.

I am never going to buy a car navigation system again. They are poop compared to my Garmin.

Steve

[Hatteras Jim]

Personally, I would go with a wired camera if you are able to route the wires. I tried a wireless camera (forgot which one) in my sprinter and the 20 foot separation produced a grainy picture. As far as GPS, we bought an RV760 in 2013 and it is very visible and the camera works great running to it. The camera is mounted in the 3rd brake light above the rear doors. You'll need a large screen in an RV, so 7" would be the minimum IMO. As far as being accurate.....it has taken us places we really didn't want to go by routes that were non-existent. I think you'll have that problem with any brand. The day/night screen on the garmin works well. When we did several cross country trips, we always checked the GPS map with the Rand McNally, just to be sure. Also, I wired a switch into the camera circuit so I could activate the camera without being in reverse. Very handy when towing a small trailer or checking to see if the bicycles were still on the bike carrier.

[D&J Phillips]

I bought a Garmin Drive Smart 61 and a Garmin BC30 wireless camera - went with the BC30 because it seemed to be the only camera that the Drive Smart 61 would support.
Bought them both from Crutchfield. Used them for one trip and returned them for full refund (one of the biggest reasons to deal with Crutchfield).

I have no experience with GPS other than my '08 Ford Expedition, and I found the Garmin a lot less user friendly - the touch screen is nice until you point at something on the screen and accidently touch the screen while you are in traffic trying to find something and the screen suddenly jumps to a different view and you don't know what you are looking at while you are busy trying to drive. Was having van troubles on the Oregon coast and looked for 'local Dodge repair facilities' and the nearest repair it came up with was 3 hours away - this was while sitting in a Dodge dealership parking lot…… I get the impression that they only show the businesses that pay a fee to be listed???

The BC30 camera was a huge disappointment but I have never had a back-up camera before and maybe that is just the way they are. I mounted mine by the 3rd brake light above the rear window thinking this would allow a better view of camping spots but it was grainy and very difficult to understand what I was seeing. Almost no picture at dusk and I didn't take time to mount a spotlight/back up light.

Either way, I returned them both and have reverted to maps and feel much safer on the road simply because I am watching the road and not a 'device'.

Dave