Does anyone have any information about upcoming tow specific navigation

[Loudram]

To be honest I've never tried the onboard Tom Tom navigation. I've always used Android Auto and Google Maps. But I came across this memo about tow specific navigation. Granted it's on the HD trucks but does anyone know about this? Is it available? Does the 1500 have it? I'll dig into my nav when I get a chance tomorrow but I thought I'd ask here too. If so, this would be great. This is the one area where Google Maps falls flat.

 

[Riccochet]

I've always wondered why no truck manufacturer includes towing/rv navigation capabilities in their trucks. Makes no sense. We use a Garmin where I'm able to program in the height, length and weight of my trailer so I can avoid low overpasses and roads/bridges that won't support the weight.

 

[Travelin Ram]

There are phone apps that provide size and weight routing for RV’s and trucks. Which IMO is a better solution paired with CarPlay or Android auto than the built in systems.

I do have a built in system in the MH with Rand McNally mapping that I am unimpressed with. The accuracy of warnings is probably only 50%, for every legitimate restriction it will warn of a nonexistent weight restriction for example.

In my experience map data for phones is more up to date than built in nav. Case in point yesterday the nav in my Ram is telling me a road I’m on has a 20mph speed limit. It’s NEVER been posted at 20, and it was probably 25 years ago when it was changed from 55 to 45, which it’s been ever since.

 

[Loudram]

I know there have been countless requests by users to Google to add towing filters to Maps. The information is already out there, all they have to do is include it.

 

[JayLeonard]

To be honest I've never tried the onboard Tom Tom navigation. I've always used Android Auto and Google Maps. But I came across this memo about tow specific navigation. Granted it's on the HD trucks but does anyone know about this? Is it available? Does the 1500 have it? I'll dig into my nav when I get a chance tomorrow but I thought I'd ask here too. If so, this would be great. This is the one area where Google Maps falls flat.

A friend of mine spent about 6 years delivering new vehicles for a dealership. He always claimed that the Dodge/Ram had the best navigation system. I liked the system that was in my 17, 1500. (don't have it in my current truck).
You should try it.
That said, I have a Garmin 890 RV navigator. I am not overly thrilled with it. It has NOT taken me on roads that have low bridges, etc. and that way it works fine.
But it has taken me on some crazy routes to avoid narrow roads that I have been on that are not a problem at all.
Hopefully the Ram system will be better.

 

[RamDiver]

I've not been overly impressed with the Nav on my '21 1500 but in the past month or so, it seems completely out to lunch. It often chooses a route that is quite obviously longer and slower.

I scanned all the Nav settings to see if it somehow got set to take the scenic route or had a reset, and found nothing useful. Has anyone found it productive to reset or reconfigure Nav settings?

I often use the Nav just for fun in areas I know and choose a different route while attempting to improve the arrival time. More often than not, my route is faster.

Does that sound normal and usual to others?

I wonder if the Nav features in Canada are substandard or have Nav users in the US experienced something similar?

 

[crash68]

I wonder if the Nav features in Canada are substandard or have Nav users in the US experienced something similar?

Factory navigation leaves much to be desired even stateside. Your better off using Waze or another navigation app on your phone as they have real time traffic updates along with up to date information that the built-in nav can't offer.

 

[RamDiver]

Factory navigation leaves much to be desired even stateside. Your better off using Waze or another navigation app on your phone as they have real time traffic updates along with up to date information that the built-in nav can't offer.

Thanks, good to hear that it isn't just my locale.

Now that Android has fixed charging on my phone so I can have it stop at 85%, I'll check out options like using Waze. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[crash68]

I'll check out options like using Waze.

only caveat I've found against Waze is it sometimes like to route you through a neighborhood to get around traffic back ups. This is probably something more likely to happen in an city situation, but Waze's almost near as it happens traffic reporting far outweighs some questionable neighborhood routings

 

[RamDiver]

only caveat I've found against Waze is it sometimes like to route you through a neighborhood to get around traffic back ups. This is probably something more likely to happen in an city situation, but Waze's almost near as it happens traffic reporting far outweighs some questionable neighborhood routings

That's a feature on the Ram Nav that is quite irritating.

Living in a rural area, I often visit the Ottawa area for supplies or social calls. I prefer to avoid long crawls through urban areas filled with stop signs, ridiculously slow speed limits, and lots of slow-moving vehicles.

The Nav seems to often provide the most direct and simple route which includes all of the above and definitely uses more gas than driving a bit farther on a highway without stopping, followed by a short trip to my destination.

I'll test the Waze app, the near real-time updates sound great.

Thanks again for the details.
.

 

[Loudram]

According to the memo the tow specific Nav that's suppose to be on the '22 HD trucks is not on my truck. I poked around my nav settings and I didn't find anything like that. Either it's something that hasn't or isn't coming out or it's really only for the HD trucks.

 

[tron67j]

There are phone apps that provide size and weight routing for RV’s and trucks. Which IMO is a better solution paired with CarPlay or Android auto than the built in systems.

I do have a built in system in the MH with Rand McNally mapping that I am unimpressed with. The accuracy of warnings is probably only 50%, for every legitimate restriction it will warn of a nonexistent weight restriction for example.

In my experience map data for phones is more up to date than built in nav. Case in point yesterday the nav in my Ram is telling me a road I’m on has a 20mph speed limit. It’s NEVER been posted at 20, and it was probably 25 years ago when it was changed from 55 to 45, which it’s been ever since.

The above, about updates, is why I never use onboard maps in vehicles, especially for towing. I just don't trust something that was created from old data to begin with, by the time it has been in use for a few months it could be 2 years old. Our Toyota van has the absolute worst navigation system ever, no matter that we ignore it half the time, it wants to take us 2.5 miles and twice as many traffic lights to get us in the main road out of town despite the fact that the faster way is a main road with traffic lights at both ends and is the main feed for the hospital. My parents have a Subaru that isn't much better. Personally, I will stick with Google Maps. I also believe that certain apps for trailer towing and forums where people discuss towing issues will be much more useable I overall.

 

[combatgrunt]

Hmm I will have to look at my truck to see if I can figure out how to setup this feature would be nice Waze and google have taken me in some tight spots with my car hauler thankfully nobody was coming the other way lol