Interesting day today. We went into town to update/upgrade the wife's phone. In our discussions with the manager, I pronounced that I had absolutely NO use for a tablet. I'm not much of a reader, and I couldn't think of anything else that I would need one for, so I declined interest. Then in more discussing, I was told that I could put some of my photos on the tablet and show them easier than on my phone. Then the thought hit us....GPS app for a tablet, then buy a holder for it and I'd have a GPS unit for our F450 as well as having the functions of a tablet.
Never say "never." We walked out with the above mentioned tablet in addition to the wife's phone.
Now, my question for the technological minded folks at RV Dreams. What would be a good app for RV use for a tablet? I would prefer free, but I'm not shy about spending a "little bit" of money for one. I did notice one called Copilot and seemed to remember it might have been mentioned here in the forums. Would that one be a good application, or are there other ones that might be better? I'd definitely be interested in one that talks to me with upcoming turns and such.
Thanks for anyone's help.
Terry
BoAndRach said
05:14 PM Feb 27, 2016
Terry, Ruth mentioned Co-Pilot in my post about planning travel routes (Beginner's Question - Travel Routes). I haven't looked at it yet and probably wouldn't have any meaningful feedback yet even if I had, but I believe she said that there were some features that Dale liked. Perhaps she'll chime in.
BTW, using the tablet as a GPS is a neat idea. I'm still getting to know the nav in our new truck - the tech is infinitely better than what is in my five-year old car, but it will be interesting to figure out/put together the new arsenal. I'll be following this topic to see what others suggest.
Happy hunting!
Rachael
Alie and Jims Carrilite said
06:45 PM Feb 27, 2016
Hi Terry, We run CoPilot in the rig. Ours is loaded on a Samsung tablet that we also have all the campground listing sites on. We bought the truckers version so we could input more data- weights, width, height, etc.
Neil and Connie said
08:28 AM Feb 28, 2016
Copilot is pretty good…but only has the navigation part by default and has to connect to the phone system to download data. Dedicated GPS apps like the Garmin one are $50 or so but keep all the maps on the device so you don't have to have connectivity/signal. There is another one named NavMII which is free and has all the maps but doesn't have as much other stuff or get updated maps as often.
All the above I have on my iPhone but since you've got Android I'm sure that there are others. What you really want is an app that you download all the map data once like Garmin…then you have a GPS that will work in the absence of a cell signal. It's true that you can force download the maps for your planned route on the others ahead of time…but that always seemed like a whole bunch of trouble to save a relatively small amount of money.
Terry and Jo said
08:54 PM Feb 29, 2016
Follow up question:
We've been looking at Co-Pilot and are finding that there is a free option, but there's also a mention that the "free" is only good for 14 days. There also appears to be an option of Co-Pilot for trucks, thus the ability of putting in heights, lengths, and weights, but that option costs $140 per year. I thought I saw a comment somewhere that there was a lower priced option, but I can't find anything about that on their website, although I could have missed something.
For those of you that have Co-Pilot, what option did you take and in a lower priced option, are the heights, weights, and lengths a part of that option?
Also, it does appear that Co-Pilot does allow downloading of maps and them being stored on the tablet instead of having to be "attached" to the cell system for the maps to work. Is that what you users are finding as well?
Terry
Alie and Jims Carrilite said
07:54 PM Mar 3, 2016
The truckers version is cheaper than that if you load it on an android platform tablet. Windows version cost more. The maps are downloaded to the tablet. The only item required is that the tablet has GPS capability, which the Samsung should. No phone needed. With that said, you do need to turn off the WIFI on the tablet so it forces CoPilot to use the GPS side. That's how our Samsung works anyway.
CoPilot works nicely for us. We do use a Garmin as well, and I usually do a Google maps the night before to get a nice overview.
Interesting day today. We went into town to update/upgrade the wife's phone. In our discussions with the manager, I pronounced that I had absolutely NO use for a tablet. I'm not much of a reader, and I couldn't think of anything else that I would need one for, so I declined interest. Then in more discussing, I was told that I could put some of my photos on the tablet and show them easier than on my phone. Then the thought hit us....GPS app for a tablet, then buy a holder for it and I'd have a GPS unit for our F450 as well as having the functions of a tablet.
Never say "never." We walked out with the above mentioned tablet in addition to the wife's phone.
Now, my question for the technological minded folks at RV Dreams. What would be a good app for RV use for a tablet? I would prefer free, but I'm not shy about spending a "little bit" of money for one. I did notice one called Copilot and seemed to remember it might have been mentioned here in the forums. Would that one be a good application, or are there other ones that might be better? I'd definitely be interested in one that talks to me with upcoming turns and such.
Thanks for anyone's help.
Terry
BTW, using the tablet as a GPS is a neat idea. I'm still getting to know the nav in our new truck - the tech is infinitely better than what is in my five-year old car, but it will be interesting to figure out/put together the new arsenal. I'll be following this topic to see what others suggest.
Happy hunting!
Rachael
Copilot is pretty good…but only has the navigation part by default and has to connect to the phone system to download data. Dedicated GPS apps like the Garmin one are $50 or so but keep all the maps on the device so you don't have to have connectivity/signal. There is another one named NavMII which is free and has all the maps but doesn't have as much other stuff or get updated maps as often.
All the above I have on my iPhone but since you've got Android I'm sure that there are others. What you really want is an app that you download all the map data once like Garmin…then you have a GPS that will work in the absence of a cell signal. It's true that you can force download the maps for your planned route on the others ahead of time…but that always seemed like a whole bunch of trouble to save a relatively small amount of money.
Follow up question:
We've been looking at Co-Pilot and are finding that there is a free option, but there's also a mention that the "free" is only good for 14 days. There also appears to be an option of Co-Pilot for trucks, thus the ability of putting in heights, lengths, and weights, but that option costs $140 per year. I thought I saw a comment somewhere that there was a lower priced option, but I can't find anything about that on their website, although I could have missed something.
For those of you that have Co-Pilot, what option did you take and in a lower priced option, are the heights, weights, and lengths a part of that option?
Also, it does appear that Co-Pilot does allow downloading of maps and them being stored on the tablet instead of having to be "attached" to the cell system for the maps to work. Is that what you users are finding as well?
Terry
CoPilot works nicely for us. We do use a Garmin as well, and I usually do a Google maps the night before to get a nice overview.
Are these for an android tablet?