New to keystone

Firecapt176 · 10-23-2022, 03:08 PM

I’ve had TT, Fivers and MH. Recently sold MH for a keystone sprinter limited fiver and pull with a 2016 Ram 3500 dually diesel. Looking for best app to plan trips that will have access to and from without overhead problems.

Roper46 · 10-23-2022, 03:17 PM

Welcome from south Georgia and congrats on your Sprinter. A lot or people here use the RV Life apps at the top of the forum page for travel plans. I'm sure others will chime in with their favorite apps.

spicercars · 10-24-2022, 03:37 AM

Welcome from northern MN.

jsb5717 · 10-24-2022, 06:15 AM

Welcome aboard! IMHO, RV Life Trip Wizard is the best online app for route planning. HOWEVER, keep in mind that the online app does not do RV routing for height, etc. For some reason that logic is in their phone app. After you've built your route you can see it in the phone app and any necessary rerouting will happen there.

I use Trip Wizard for planning but then use the Garmin RV GPS for routing when on the road. Other's use different tools but that's worked for us.

markcee · 10-24-2022, 06:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jsb5717

Welcome aboard! IMHO, RV Life Trip Wizard is the best online app for route planning. HOWEVER, keep in mind that the online app does not do RV routing for height, etc. For some reason that logic is in their phone app. After you've built your route you can see it in the online app and any necessary rerouting will happen there.

I use Trip Wizard for planning but then use the Garmin RV GPS for routing when on the road. Other's use different tools but that's worked for us.

Can you elaborate on this?

The web app allows for adding your trailer specs (height, weight, length) for routing purposes - you can actually now choose your exact year/make/model trailer from a pick list and let the app 'autofill' the info - as well as allowing for other filters such as avoiding toll roads, unpaved roads etc.

Are you saying that while these settings appear on the web app, they do not work?

jsb5717 · 10-24-2022, 06:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by markcee

Can you elaborate on this?

The web app allows for adding your trailer specs (height, weight, length) for routing purposes - you can actually now choose your exact year/make/model trailer from a pick list and let the app 'autofill' the info - as well as allowing for other filters such as avoiding toll roads, unpaved roads etc.

Are you saying that while these settings appear on the web app, they do not work?

It's possible my info is out of date. It's been over a year since I called and spoke with someone at RTW about this since I was seeing a disparity between the online app and their phone app, as well as my Garmin GPS. The person I spoke with told me about the different logic engines in each app and that, for some reason, they weren't able to incorporate the RV specific routing into the online app since they were written differently and in different computer languages.

It's possible to do some test routing through areas we know should be avoided to see if it functions correctly. It absolutely should be possible for the RV specific routing to be included in the online app...it's just logic and coding in whatever language they're using. They must have someone who can write that logic and may have already figured it out. My reporting above is the last I heard from them on the issue.

jsb5717 · 10-24-2022, 08:33 AM

Follow up to RV Trip Wizard: I apologize, my info is out of date. I just continued to operate on old data. There are updated settings that I hadn't seen and in some brief testing the online app appears to route around known low clearance locations. I'm actually quite happy to discover this...a very nice tool made even better.

markcee · 10-24-2022, 08:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jsb5717

Follow up to RV Trip Wizard: I apologize, my info is out of date. I just continued to operate on old data. There are updated settings that I hadn't seen and in some brief testing the online app appears to route around known low clearance locations. I'm actually quite happy to discover this...a very nice tool made even better.

I really enjoy planning with RVTW as well. I still use my RV-specific Garmin for the actual routing, but like laying out an entire trip, including getting a loose idea of my fuel stops (thanks to the tow vehicle parameters you enter) with RVTW. Just the ability to have one click, drill down access to the details of a specific campground along my potential route makes it worth using, IMO.

jsb5717 · 10-24-2022, 08:51 AM

Sigh, here's another test where RVTW failed to route around low clearance. It shows the low clearance location and clicking on the icons show 12'10". I've got my RV height settings at 13'5". I checked this location on Google Maps as well and the sign on the overpass confirms a 12'10" clearance. But you can see that RVTW routed me right under it. Not sure what to conclude except to make sure you've got your settings set to show you those locations and confirm when you see them so you know whether or not you'll need to route around.

markcee · 10-24-2022, 09:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jsb5717

Sigh, here's another test where RVTW failed to route around low clearance. It shows the low clearance location and clicking on the icons show 12'10". I've got my RV height settings at 13'5". I checked this location on Google Maps as well and the sign on the overpass confirms a 12'10" clearance. But you can see that RVTW routed me right under it. Not sure what to conclude except to make sure you've got your settings set to show you those locations and confirm when you see them so you know whether or not you'll need to route around.

Interesting. Are you certain you have your 'Show Low Clearances' option set?

I created a 'trip' in that location and with my default trailer setting of 11'5" I'm in the clear. When I change my trailer height to 12'5", I get the warning symbols.

jsb5717 · 10-24-2022, 11:51 AM

I've been communicating this morning with Larry at RVTW. He confirms that, generally speaking, the online app will attempt to route around low clearance hazards. That said, the data bases used are from other vendors and do not correlate directly to the Low Clearance icons in the app, which are RVTW's own logic pulling from a different 3rd party vendor. The background logic will still work to route safely independent of the in-app icons.

I think I've discovered that if you do your normal routing that the app will typically route around the hazard. However, if you place a stop too close to the hazard it will route you through it. I have to assume that if there's isn't a way to route without backing up then the system isn't able to route around.

I think bottom line is that in normal planning it should work as expected. But you should still pay attention to when those icons show up and verify to be sure. Also, by using multiple tools, like the Garmin RV GPS, and others, you should be able to know your safe route before driving up to a hazard and getting stuck.

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