In recent years I’ve relied on my smartphone for navigation chores. It’s worked pretty well, but can really drain the battery quickly. It also requires you to stay in areas where there is cell phone coverage.Having in-car navigation is really handy, and I want to have capability  in Westy. That said, I don’t want to be limited by cell phone coverage.So I recently started reviewing dedicated GPS navigation units.

There are three main brands: Garmin, Magellan and TomTom. Sizes range from 5-inch to 7-in screens. Some feature real-time traffic displays, and others are special units designed for RV’s.

The RV model was interesting because it contained a built-in RV park/campground database as well as customization for the size of your RV. After looking into this model I decided it wasn’t a good fit. It doesn’t feature U.S. Forest Service campgrounds, and the owner reviews were not great.

The unit I ended up getting was the Garmin DriveSmart 50LMTHD. This has a 5-inch screen, detailed maps of North America with free lifetime map updates, real-time traffic alerts and voice activated navigation. It is also Bluetooth enabled, meaning you can integrate your smartphone with it to place and answer calls (that’s nice, but we already have that with our Pioneer in-dash system). This model is sold exclusively at Costco, and is a good deal at $199.99.

I wasn’t sure if the 5-inch screen would be big enough, and I also wasn’t sure about where to mount the unit. After looking into it, I saw that there was an air vent mount available for the 5-inch model, so I got one to go with it. Here’s how that looks in Westy:

We tried out the GPS on our trip to Camp Sherman and I was really impressed with it. The 5-inch size is plenty big, and the mount is perfect. It keeps the display below the dashboard, and there is a power outlet right below it. The features of the GPS unit take a bit to get used to, but it is really nice to free up the navigation chores from our smart phones. Here is how the GPS unit looks installed: