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RE: Do you have a Good Sam Rand McNally RVND-7725-Lm GPS
I received my 7725 and have completed my "first impressions" blog post. You can read it here.
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jeffcarp
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05/18/13 08:02am |
Technology Corner
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RE: Do you have a Good Sam Rand McNally RVND-7725-Lm GPS
I will receive my 7725 by UPS today. I plan to do a full review with first impressions / setup and settings kind of stuff. Then I will do a follow up after using it for routing on a trip in 2 weeks.
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jeffcarp
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05/17/13 05:55am |
Technology Corner
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RE: Highways Magazine
You are receiving the four issues that the Highway's content is published in for free. How much more fair can they be?
I'd read the entire terms and conditions of your Good Sam membership before I'd go and accuse anyone of breaching a contract. Chances are pretty good that they have every right to do this.
My problem is when I signed up as a life member the Highways magazine was part of the deal. If I understand you correctly,you are giving me four issues of another magazine but only one time? The way I see it, I am paid up for life for four issues of the Highways magazine, so you owe me four free issues per year of Trailer Life as it's replacement.
Sure you can say that the insert in Trailer Life or Motorhome is the Highway's magazine replacement, but what if me or anyone else doesn't subscribe to these publications? We then won't receive Highway's magazine and you have in fact reneged on a contract.
Benefits for Life members
Exclusive Life member membership card
Lifetime Subscription to Highways Magazine
Lifetime Subscription to Lifetimer Newsletter
Lifetime Product Testing Privileges
Life Member Toll-Free Hotline
Life Member Discount of RV Insurance*
*Only available through GMAC Insurance in select states
Member-Exclusive Savings at Camping World
Enjoy $600 in online Camping World Coupons
Enjoy savings of $0.06 per gallon on gas and $0.08 per gallon on diesel at U.S. Pilot and Flying J locations. Due to the gallon to liter conversion in Canada, fuel discount at the Canadian Pilot and Flying J locations is $0.02 per liter.
Save $4 off Trailer Life magazine and Save $5 off MotorHome magazine.
Invitation to private and exclusive events, previews and parties
Ability to purchase Life membership at a reduced rate for your children
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jeffcarp
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05/15/13 05:50am |
Good Sam Club
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Desire for more specific CampingWorld shipping information
I appreciate the CampingWorld free shipping policy for GoodSam members. That helps make CampingWorld more competitive with Amazon.
One thing that I realized when ordering the new GoodSam GPS this week is how spoiled I am by the Amazon ordering process. I wish that CampingWorld offered a little more information when ordering.
Specifically, when I ordered the GPS this week, I knew it was in stock but I know nothing else in terms of when to expect to receive the item. CampingWorld doesn't provide any indication of when it will ship. Contrast that to Amazon where as part of the ordering process, I am told the exact date or date range to expect the delivery. I also know from Amazon that those delivery dates are based on ordering the product by x:xx pm today. Wait until tomorrow and I know my dates will shift by a day.
In searching for a general policy about when items ship from CW based on the ordering day (I. E., ships within 2 business days if ordered by 1pm EST) and I don't find any commitment on that.
If I am looking to stock up on dewinterizing supplies or supplies for a trip, if I am uncertain about when I'll receive my order I am much more likely to shift that spending to somewhere like Amazon where I know with precision when I'll receive my order. With CW if I don't order with lots of time to spare I feel like I risking not getting my stuff in time because of the uncertainty with CW.
This is really a perception issue more than anything. I am not asking for a quicker shipping process necessarily just more transparent communication about what to expect.
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jeffcarp
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05/14/13 11:13am |
Camping World Accessories
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RE: Highways Magazine
Where does it say that the 4 free issue benefit is for new subscribers only?
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jeffcarp
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05/13/13 05:37pm |
Good Sam Club
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RE: Can I Pick Your Brains About Smaller Class C's?
Another strategy for coping with the odd sized beds with uncomfortable mattresses is to go with an aftermarket foam bed that sits on top. This is what we use in our cab-over as well as on top of our jackknife sofa.
This way, you'd remain open to many more RV choices than the very few that you'd have to pick from if you really needed a home-sized queen.
Two options that I researched include:
Cordaroy's Bed Only option
Robb's Pillow Furniture
I ultimately went with Robb's because they offered sizes that were more exact to our existing bed dimensions. We sleep on those and throw a large, soft microfiber blanket over us and we are good to go.
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jeffcarp
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05/12/13 05:55pm |
Class C Motorhomes
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RE: Can I Pick Your Brains About Smaller Class C's?
You might look at Phoenix Cruiser. Seems like used units are available typically. They have 6 models at 25' or less.
Born Free makes 7 models at 25' or less, though not all have been available for a long time in order for there to be used inventory.
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jeffcarp
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05/12/13 01:58pm |
Class C Motorhomes
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RE: Map Search
I am guessing this is a classic case of the publishing deadline falling before the map was 100% ready. I'd bet that they THOUGHT it would be ready but ran into some kind of unexpected problem. By that time the magazine was well into production. Looks nice though, even though we don't have it yet!
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jeffcarp
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05/12/13 01:48pm |
Good Sam Club
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RE: Any Advice on Financing an RV Purchase?
You came to this group with a specific question and I am glad to see nearly everyone here helped you with that. You are working hard and doing what you need to do in your life situation. You owed none of us the explanation you just provided, especially not someone who knows nothing about you or your situation but feels the need to chime in unsolicited anyway to comment on something not being right based on knowing about 10% of your life's financial circumstances. Ignore that nonsense.
In regards to my income vs. something not being right....
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jeffcarp
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05/09/13 05:41pm |
Beginning RVing
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RE: Quality of RV
I'd say, in general, most people agree to the following "groups of quality" when it comes to Class C or similar coaches.
1) Coach House, Dynamax, Renegade (not really a C IMO)
2) Lazy Daze, Born Free, Leisure Travel Vans (Triple E)
3) Winnebago, Nexus, Phoenix Cruiser
4) The rest
That doesn't suggest that "the rest" are equal. They aren't. I'd encourage you to take all the time and money you need to travel around and spend time in various quality levels of coaches. You will start to determine for yourself exactly what you are looking at in terms of quality.
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jeffcarp
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05/07/13 06:14pm |
Class C Motorhomes
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RE: Chevrolet Roadtrek Refueling
I don't think it's the gas pump. It happened at my local Love's where I fill up our cars and our current RV without any issues.
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jeffcarp
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04/28/13 03:47pm |
Class B - Camping Van Conversions
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RE: Chevrolet Roadtrek Refueling
There is a Yahoo Group dedicated to Roadtrek owners.
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jeffcarp
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04/27/13 01:17pm |
Class B - Camping Van Conversions
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RE: Chevrolet Roadtrek Refueling
We had that problem in our RT 210 also. From the Roadtrek forums the general opinion was that this was caused by RT modifying the fuel supply line between the fill point and the tank. People felt that the slope was too flat and caused fuel to "back up" against the trip mechanism when flowing at a high rate.
Like PSW said, I had some success by not inserting the handle all the way into the filler as well as angling the handle by pressing the handle towards about a 2pm position in the hole and then keeping the flow at a low rate. Total P.I.T.A but it seemed to work most of the time.
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jeffcarp
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04/27/13 08:12am |
Class B - Camping Van Conversions
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Flying J search warrant affidavit made public
Just read the search warrant affidavit against Pilot Flying J. Sounds like a very serious case of fraud and that it went to the highest levels of the company. It will be interesting to see if Good Sam disassociates itself with them completely. The affidavit is found here.
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jeffcarp
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04/22/13 02:51pm |
Good Sam Club
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RE: Price for RV Storage
If it were me, there is absolutely no way I'd do this without creating an LLC and renting the storage space under that LLC. With that comes business insurance. No way I'd take personal liability for something like this by doing it personally.
In Des Moines, I pay $265 for a private 40 x 12 with 14' door, with 120V convenience power for a battery charger. No heat.
By doing this, you're creating a bailment, where you could be responsible for damage to an RV. Imagine a break in or vandalism. Posting a sign saying that you aren't responsible is a waste of wood. Check with your insurance agent to see what that coverage would cost before you take the leap.
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jeffcarp
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04/19/13 04:52pm |
General RVing Issues
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RE: Parking 24 ft class C near French quarter
Couldn't a small RV park in the Riverwalk Marketplace parking lot?
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jeffcarp
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04/12/13 08:13pm |
Class C Motorhomes
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RE: Good Sam/Rand McNally partner. Marcus get the GPS right!
I am all for common sense but when there are three ways to get through a major city, how does common sense factor into an electronic device telling you there is a major wreck and traffic on one of the routes and the other two, normally longer miles, is quicker right now?
I'd love to have the freedom to not care about that...to take off when I take off and get there when I get there. But as a young family with school aged kids our RV trips are shoehorned in when we can take them and spending two hours crossing Nashville or Atlanta can be a major issue in that circumstance. I'd argue that hitting traffic through Atlanta at 3pm on a Saturday has little to do with common sense.
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jeffcarp
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04/06/13 07:08am |
Good Sam Club
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RE: Good Sam/Rand McNally partner. Marcus get the GPS right!
I am a big fan of Google Maps and I use it all the time but it has a couple of issues as it relates to RV travel. First, Google Maps does not automatically reroute based on traffic. So while it will show you real time traffic and it will give you an indication if the traffic on your route changes, it does not adjust your route because of that. I have no issues with that in a car because it is relatively easy to make the three button presses that it takes to change your route. I am much less comfortable taking my focus off the road to do that when driving an RV. In a very dynamic traffic environment when you are trying to cross a major city, etc, this can be a big deal. The second issue of course is that you have to have a data connection and there are many times when traveling that the data connection is very spotty.
Currently , I pre plan my trip and select the routes I want to take including my overnight stop overs, including a general idea of where I might get fuel, etc. I put that entire route in a Garmin. I then use Google Maps for just my next destination. That gives me robust traffic coverage from which I can adjust my route to the next stop if needed. I use Google Maps as my primary. Garmin is in the background on mute catching up to any route adjustments that I make because of Google traffic. If I run into a data problem, Garmin is routing for me too until Google works again.
It is a decent one person solution but would be nice to have it all in one device.
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jeffcarp
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04/06/13 06:58am |
Good Sam Club
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RE: Good Sam/Rand McNally partner. Marcus get the GPS right!
This is a mature and available technology. All we are talking about is licensing costs and implementation into the device. I can't agree with you on the premise that this is simply common sense. TomTom made a fortune with their IQ Routes technology. They just don't have anything specific to RV'ers. Now others like Inrix have the data but few have built it into devices. Garmin uses this technology from Navteq but Navteq got such a late start into the historical data gathering game that it is not of much use in my opinion. All of the pieces are there. Someone just needs to put them together.
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jeffcarp
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04/05/13 08:57am |
Good Sam Club
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Good Sam/Rand McNally partner. Marcus get the GPS right!
Interesting news about an upcoming Good Sam branded GPS.
While I agree with Marcus that customers are demanding an easy way to navigate to their campground, most current GPS products (Rand McNally's included) miss the mark for RV drivers in one very important way. If this GPS also misses the mark on this, it will just be another of 30 GPS products available with nothing substantial to differentiate it.
If I am driving an RV, I want to avoid traffic situations at all cost. Traffic in an RV equals stress. RVing is not supposed to be about stress.
Live traffic reporting on major freeways isn't enough. A worthy GPS must have knowledge of historical road speeds at city street level to help route me in the most efficient way possible given the mess that traffic congestion is in the US. That is way Google Navigation and Waze are so popular today. They both have knowledge of historical traffic. They know that certain city roads are terrible at 8:30am but fine at 1pm.
If a GPS has knowledge of historical road speeds, combined with live traffic reporting at the city street level and THEN you combine that with special RV routing attributes like low clearance, etc., then you've got yourself a winner that stands out Marcus.
Marcus, please use your influence in the industry as an RV'ers advocate and do something bold that the existing GPS manufacturers aren't doing. Demand historical, city level traffic data in your product and market the heck out of the benefits of it. I'd pay $30 - $50 more for the product if it clearly had that feature. Check out Inrix or Airsage as a partner.
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jeffcarp
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04/05/13 07:21am |
Good Sam Club
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