Finding the best commercial GPS

Why would you want a stand-alone GPS display? Don’t most phones have GPS?

If you are planning an RV trip, or your job is a truck driver, you quickly realize that smartphone-based GPS only goes so far. If there is no cell signal, you may be out of luck getting updates on traffic and construction.

And since the point of an RV trip is to somewhere often off the grid, relying on a smartphone for GPS can be downright dangerous!

Dedicated GPS units provide several key features you don’t see in smartphones: warnings about speed limit changes, sharp bends in the road and detailed parking info.

One important tip: we’d use both a dedicated GPS and other sources like online maps to check routes. Using more than one source to map out a road trip is smart.

Here are the GPS units we’d recommend:

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We’ve been rating and reviewing products for the home and families since 1994. We do extensive research, evaluating products with an eye toward quality, ease of use and affordability. When we purchase a product for hands-on testing, we do so with our own money. 

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