Trip Planning Software

[Wstevenson94]

If you use any trip planning software such as RV Trip Wizard, what do you use and how good is it?

[EA37TS]

We use RV trip wizard and RoadTrippers. We like RV Trip Wizard because we can configure the RV and it keeps us away from low clearance, bridges with weight restrictions etc..

Her lately, since RV Life took over (bought the application), the software has been getting less user friendly and we are considering going elsewhere. Functions are beginning to degrade (selection of RV parks to display) and the distance circles are totally worthless since they are now based on straight-line rather than highway distance. RV trip Wizard was far better 5 to 10 years ago.

Lately, I am beginning to use my Rand McNally Motor Carriers (Truckers) Atlas and my Garmin GPS for trip planning.

[TaftCoach]

I break it down into a couple of different areas.

For locating places to park I use primarily
RV Parky and Allstays
I will also look at
FreeRoam, Park Advisor, The Dyrt, Trip Advisor, UC Public CG, Yelp, and general internet searches usually Google.

For route planning an Atlas to get a big picture and not be forced on any one highway. When I get to the GPS navigation it's almost always Waze. I read a good review about Sygic and downloaded it right before we stopped travelling.

[Joan617]

I have always been fan of RV Trip Wizard. Besides the obvious routing and logging of trips, it was generally pretty good at identifying road hazards. Of course I would always still cross check with Rand's Commercial Carrier's Atlas and my RV GPS. Over time I found RVTW to be accurate and reliable - even more reliable than my Rand Overdryve RV GPS.

I just found out yesterday that they quietly removed the ability to point out hazards such as low bridges.

This last summer while in Ft. Worth, RVTW prevented me from converting my air conditioners to skylights by pointing out a low bridge that was 1" lower than my rig on Rt 121/ Airport Freeway. This winter we have to go back to Vogt RV in Ft Worth for needed repairs and while I reviewed the planned route, I noticed that the application did not point out the low bridge.

When I inquired with tech support at RVTW, this is the response I got...

"We have changed routing providers and they do not provide the hazards. Originally, we put together a database of hazards which we have stopped maintaining so the hazards do not appear."

...and yet they still have the icon/button on the application labelled "show hazards". This is deceptive and potentially dangerous since this is a feature that they have advertised.

I am deeply disappointed and will not pay to renew my subscription. In fact I am asking them for a refund.

Angus

[us71na]

I use Garmin's Base Camp software. I can plan a trip including stops and specific way points, fuel stops, food stops etc. along the way and it will follow the route planned and still handle detours. It moves seamlessly from one leg to the next. I can select RV as the vehicle, which I have adjusted the speeds on various highway types to what I normally drive. This keeps my arrival time at my destination realistic and not constantly growing because I may not be driving the posted speed limit on all sections of road.

Once a trip is planned, I can transfer it to my Garmin unit and go on the trip. You can also reverse the route for the return trip if desired.

[hbravo]

Angus - I'm pretty new to TW and have just started planning my trips for next year. Are you saying that the program no longer takes the height, weight, propane, etc parameters into account when planning routes? Being new I'm not sure what the hazard feature is for if it automatically diverts you around hazards based on the RV parameters I've entered.

Thanks!

Originally Posted by Joan617

I have always been fan of RV Trip Wizard. Besides the obvious routing and logging of trips, it was generally pretty good at identifying road hazards. Of course I would always still cross check with Rand's Commercial Carrier's Atlas and my RV GPS. Over time I found RVTW to be accurate and reliable - even more reliable than my Rand Overdryve RV GPS.

I just found out yesterday that they quietly removed the ability to point out hazards such as low bridges.

This last summer while in Ft. Worth, RVTW prevented me from converting my air conditioners to skylights by pointing out a low bridge that was 1" lower than my rig on Rt 121/ Airport Freeway. This winter we have to go back to Vogt RV in Ft Worth for needed repairs and while I reviewed the planned route, I noticed that the application did not point out the low bridge.

When I inquired with tech support at RVTW, this is the response I got...

"We have changed routing providers and they do not provide the hazards. Originally, we put together a database of hazards which we have stopped maintaining so the hazards do not appear."

...and yet they still have the icon/button on the application labelled "show hazards". This is deceptive and potentially dangerous since this is a feature that they have advertised.

I am deeply disappointed and will not pay to renew my subscription. In fact I am asking them for a refund.

Angus

[colby]

Originally Posted by hbravo

Angus - I'm pretty new to TW and have just started planning my trips for next year. Are you saying that the program no longer takes the height, weight, propane, etc parameters into account when planning routes? Being new I'm not sure what the hazard feature is for if it automatically diverts you around hazards based on the RV parameters I've entered.

Thanks!

This is the answer I got in another forum. Not sure where in-between the answer lies... https://www.irv2.com/forums/f287/haz...se-512781.html

[hbravo]

Colby - well, that seems like a better answer than they are just not going to update hazard as that would quickly make the close to useless. If I owned RVTW I wouldn't like the idea that I had no oversight where a hazard list is concerned.

Thanks for the post!