Paper Maps Take a Back Seat When RVers Use a GPS

The GPS system is a HUGE blessing to the RVing community! GPS stands for Global Positioning Satellite system developed by the US military and now available to the general public. The US Air Force spent $750,000 to send me to navigator school for a year. I flew KC-135s and would have donated body parts if I could have had the use of a cheap GPS back then. Unfortunately the military was only in the research and development phase of this AWSOME invention. I used Microsoft’s Streets and Trips hooked up to a GPS for a couple of years before acquiring my new Mio Digi-Walker C520 portable GPS system. This little beauty has a 4.3 inch wide screen and is sleek. It has no external antenna yet is very sensitive and picks up seven or eight satellites even inside your rig with the windows closed. It will save you money on fuel and take you anywhere you want to go in the US and Canada. The reason we ditched Streets and Trips is because I didn’t have room for my laptop computer in our Honda CRV that we tow behind our motorhome. The Mio can easily be moved from the motorhome to our Honda because it’s attached to the windshield by a suction cup that is secured by a thumb activated latch. This navigation system has all kinds of pre-programed data for points of interest like shopping, fuel stops, restaurants, hospitals and you name it. I tried a Garmin in the same price range and didn’t like it because it wouldn’t tell me the name of the street I needed to turn on when I approached it. If you want a nice looking easy to use GPS system then you need to check out the Mio. Like all new GPS systems, it has a touch screen and runs on batteries. The batteries will only last for an hour without being plugged into a power source. The GPS comes with a 110 recharger and a 12 volt recharger. It also comes with windows compatible software so you can interface with your computer. It has a built-in media player which will play tunes and even show movies. With integrated bluetooth technology you can even use it to talk on your cellphone hands free. And to top it all off, it will store pictures so you can make it into a “slide show” picture frame while you’re sitting in the parking lot waiting for your spouse. The key feature of these portable GPS units is that they will pay for themselves just on the fuel you will save from never being lost again. If you have the address of the place you want to go or the GPS coordinates, you will find it with ease using a GPS. I love using a GPS because if my wife falls asleep (which frequently happens on longer trips) I can find my way to where we’re going without waking her to look something up on the map. I also like these systems because it increases my confidence level about where we are (not lost) and if we ever break down on a lonely stretch of road, I can give the towing company precise GPS coordinates of where we are. If they don’t have a GPS then I can zoom out on my GPS map and give them the nearest cross street. You can purchase this unit on the internet for under $300. How much is it worth to never be lost again? Watch the video below as I take the Mio out for a test drive.
Keeping you headed in the right direction - Jim Twamley, Professor of RVing