Newbie to motorhome

I agree with others, a Safari room ties the motorhome to the pitch and the advantages of it , over a caravan dissapears, plus as said they are heavy. If its onsite storage you need,  a standalone  awning or even a pop-up tent could be used.

However the wind- out canopies are Very useful, we use ours mainly as a rain shelter, suitably strapped down and tilted to allow run-off. For feeding and drying off the dog, before coming into the van, But can be wound in and cleared away in minutes.     Have Fun ! 

Hi all, as we have now purchased our first motorhome, I could do with some help and/or advice for fitting a sat nav system.

#We have a 2005 Fiat Ducato with a single din slot for the stereo, I tried to fit a single din stereo with flip out screen for the sat nav/reversing camera etc, but this version of Ducato has a flip up map holder/route planner, and as the stereo fits in under this flip up holder, when the new stereo screen came out it fouled the map holder and would not stay out, so can anyone advise on how to overcome this issue, or can the standard Fiat single din radio pod with map holder be replaced with an aftermarket double din pod, then I would have more choice of a replacement audio system, I have fitted a dash cam & managed to hide all the wiring, so I don't want a separate sat nav system to clutter up the dash, any help would be appreciated.

I know you don't want a separate sat nav but they are far easier to upgrade, add poi files, etc, etc...

some (expensive) dash satnavs require (expensive) discs or memory sticks to conduct map updates...

my german (not garmin) in dash satnav doesn't use full postcodes, annoying, I've no idea how to add my many POI files of sites, CLs, aires, GPL stations etc, etc...also annoying.

looks nice, though

i use a TomTom and have tucked the wiring away so doesn't clutter the dash much....so easy to update on my PC.

I know you don't want a separate sat nav but they are far easier to upgrade, add poi files, etc, etc...

I agree, when I bought my X-Trail 13 years ago I started of by looking at the options. When first looking I was told that I could get one with a built in satnav at no extra cost. I said hat I was not interested for the reason that you suggest BB but, also I did not like its central location and preferred the alternative of an additional cubby hole

I'm with the 'no safari room' and 'separate satnav' band for the reasons given already. I'd add that it is better to get to know the motorhome before splashing out too much more cash on accessories.

I prefer Truckers maps to satnavs but in Britain more and more roads are poorly signposted because of cuts to the maintenance budgets; I concluded a satnav was worthwhile. I bought a c£100 Garmin model [no longer made] which is great for cars but for motorhomes will send us down single track roads and on a couple of occasions across farmland if we let it. It's also rubbish at following a route I prefer. I am reluctant to shell out for a Truckers satnav and I definitely wouldn't buy a Motorhome satnav because I don't want all the clutter it comes with.

I chose to have the clutter of a separate satnav because it enabled me to locate it to get a better line of sight [stuck anywhere on the bottom of the windscreen depending on whether the passenger wants/needs to see it].

I have an ageing TomTom sat nav with Camper Maps installed and I have been very pleased with it and have rarely had a problem with it taking me on incompatible routes. Having said that we have a new motorhome on order and that will have a built in Peugeot sat nav. I have no idea what that will be like and my current thinking is to give that a try before deciding whether I need to invest in a new TomTom Camper freestanding sat nav.

David

 David, I don't know how old your TT is, but if it can be updated by dragging and dropping POI etc, and you are happy with the mapping, and perhaps has lifetime updates...the. hang on to it.....I would not go for a more modern TT.

Whilst the navigation is terrific (traffic and rerouting superb) the POI handling is prehistoric...no user icons can be downloaded, files have to be downloaded one at a time (rather than dragging the whole lot in one go) and then assigned a generic icon....

so, LPG stations are a blue blob rather tha. an icon saying LPG, similarly I can't now distinguish between club sites or CLs as there aren't enough generic icons and my brain hurts with just half a dozen....

....now we're my ACSI sites red or green.....diamond or square?...

i still keep my old Classic XXL as back up which is terrific for finding POIs but the map can't be updated...

I used an old TT Go, albeit with outdated maps. Even that is almost a better option than the Peugeot built-in one. DK you will not like it. POI's can only be loaded manually one at a time.

Quite happy with my TomTom Start 60

Unfortunately mine is a Start 60 and you can only update/add POI's via TomTom Mydrive Connect. The changes to this software now do not allow you to add an image if setting up a new group of POI's. I have tried to update Archies but I have no idea if it has been successful. I even asked Archie what new campsites he had added so I could check that way but I think the there were no new campsites! I do have the option to carry on using the current sat nav but it would be nice to get rid of some clutter.

David