RV Trip Wizard Planner

[Winddancer]

Any of you Pro's use the RV Trip Planner that is always popping up on our board? I use Google maps, Garmin RV GPS, and the Good Sam app, but was wondering about this app. It is only $40 a year and if it works within maps might be a easy fast way to put a trip together on my computer.

[coachmen916]

Love RV trip wizard. It's helped us plan trips super easy and very fast. I recommend it. They have a trial too.

[dalford]

I also love rvtripwizard.com. It is a trip planner and you can download routes to certain gps units. I don’t use it so much for the routing as I use Waze or google maps for point to point routing.

I would suggest you try the free trial. Just pick a start point and an end point. It will route you an RV safe route depending on the specs you entered for your truck. I use the distance rings to see where I will be after about 6 hours of driving. I then can drill down on campgrounds and get a quick overview. Low stars, look at the next and then I can drill down to the website, reviews, etc.

You can sign up to Rvlife and rvtripwizard as a pro member. Rvlife will give you a RV safe gps route right to your smartphone. If you are not worried about the route you can get the route on google or waze. Plus it will download the map data for use offline so need for wifi or a data plan.

I planned a trip from Florida to Glacier National Park and back. 7000+ miles, 75 nights all on rvtripwizard. Everything about the trip was on the the program. I saved reservation numbers, added notes or anything else needed. I printed out an itinerary for the DW so she knew where we were, what’s next, etc.

This is not an app. It is a web based program. You can log in from any computer, phone or tablet. Check it out.

[OldGal3]

I've used RVTripWizard for 4 years now and like it very much. Just for clarification, if it routes you on a particular road and you would like to take a different route, you can change it (drag the route). I usually don't go a direct, main road route, so that comes in really handy. I don't plan every stop since I change my mind a lot (!) and it's simple to add/subtract/change items. For me it's worth every penny and I like having a record of every trip I've done since the beginning - fun to look back on.

[Winddancer]

So I went and used the 7day free trial and after one day purchased it. It appears to be very easy to use with lots of features. I have made a couple trips using it and did as suggested, beginning to end then used the miles/hrs ring to figure out where to stop for the nights. Cool feature. The best thing for me is I can open the web base program on my Garmin GPS, down load it to the GPS. This allows me to sit at my desk use a real screen I can see, but still use the Garmin which is integral with all my other electronics in the RV. I have noticed on one of the routs that the Garmin rerouted a leg of the trip to a different road. Not a big deal but would like to understand why.

[Dirt Sifter]

Like those above, I use it and like it. The flexibility built into the program lets me adjust/change itineraries and still keep important dates in the program. I'm not computer savvy enough to download it anywhere, but keep it on the old travel laptop for reference. Its not a 'got to have' program, but a great 'nice to have' program.

[sbrookssc]

I just started using RV Trip Wizard a couple of months ago. I am retiring t the end of September, and we are planning to take some longer trips. I planned our first trip to Florida in Jan-Feb 2021 manually, and have all of the information in a spreadsheet. I probably spent 30 hours or so researching campgrounds, and planning that trip. I used RV trip wizard to plan a trip up the East coast, to Maine, and then up into Michigan and then to Ohio and home. That probably took me a couple of hours. It is so nice having all of the links right there, where you just click away. As I book them, I put the reservation info in as well.
Since it is web based, you can access it anytime, anywhere, from any device. Makes it super convenient. Well worth the annual cost if you are planning longer trips.

[Winddancer]

The other thing I discovered is I can filter out the different types of parks and or campgrounds to where only the ones I am members of show up. It is a little weak on the standard fuel stations. Seems to favor the bigger travel stops, (Flying J, Loves, and so forth). My Garmin list everything which can also be a hassle at times. Overall I am very pleased with it, for $40 a year it is a no brainer for me.

[dalford]

Is your RV diesel? If so, you might want to check out TSD and get anEFS card. Can save quite a bit on diesel at some truck stops. I just looked from my house in central FL to Savannah Loves was 16 cents off cash and Travel America is 45 cents off cash price. TA always seems to have the best discount.

https://www.tsdlogistics.com/services/fuel-program/

[dalford]

I have been a big fan of RVtripwizard.com and have used it for several years to plan my trips. I mainly used it as a trip planner and not for the gps route function. The trip planner capability of RVTW is outstanding in that it allows me to plan each stop, look at reviews for campgrounds, view them on satellite, go to the campground website to make reservations and have a complete itinerary with all the particulars without leaving RVTW. I can print the itinerary out and give it to my DW so she can plan accordingly and also know where our next stop is. It is a complete planner package.

Up until recently it was cumbersome to download the route to a gps so I would load each leg separately. I would use google maps or Waze typically and just load each leg from point a to b for each day.

That has now changed dramatically with the addition of RVlife. RVlife and RVTW are combined with RVlife Pro. You get both programs with one paid subscription and with RVlife you get your RVTW trips downloaded to a gps route. You can also download the state road maps so you don’t need to be connected to the internet. The route is each leg and you can either download a RV safe route or use other gps routers such as Apple Maps, google maps or Waze.

If you want to modify your RVTW route you can and it will automatically sync to RVlife for routing.

I have just completed a 3000 mile trip from Florida to Michigan and back and have used the RVlife app exclusively to do my daily legs. Sometimes I used RV safe routes and sometimes when I know I would be exclusively interstate I used google or Waze. I have Apple Car Play in my F350 so sometimes I used both google maps (Car Play) and RV safe on my iPhone at the same time.

I loved the convenience of the gps route planning. It made everything so easy.

Im still a RVTW and RVlife fan.

[RGrimm]

I have used Trip Wizard for years and liked it. Tonight my subscription expired and my ONLY renewal option was a "Special Price" of $49 for the 3 RVLife Pro tools listed as a regular price of $127. I have no options to just renew RVTrip Wizard for the $39/year.

Has any one recently renewed your subscription? Did you have the $39 RVTrip Wizard only renewal option?

My concern is that the $49 "special price" will disappear for my next renewal in a year and it will cost $127.

I have not renewed at this point.
-Russ

[Dirt Sifter]

I do not recall that 'special' when I renewed in Dec. I'd sign off tonight and see what tomorrow brings. That typo "all off" rather than "all of" kinda bothers me re the validity of the site.

[dalford]

Originally Posted by RGrimm

I have used Trip Wizard for years and liked it. Tonight my subscription expired and my ONLY renewal option was a "Special Price" of $49 for the 3 RVLife Pro tools listed as a regular price of $127. I have no options to just renew RVTrip Wizard for the $39/year.

Has any one recently renewed your subscription? Did you have the $39 RVTrip Wizard only renewal option?

My concern is that the $49 "special price" will disappear for my next renewal in a year and it will cost $127.

I have not renewed at this point.
-Russ

I was updated to RVlife Pro by RVTW this past year. My subscription renews in a few weeks. I have sent them a message to see if they will clarify their pricing model. I will renew for $49 as I really like the RV safe route feature in RVlife and how it is synced to RVTW. If next year they jump to $127 they will loose me and I’m sure many more. I will let you know what I hear from them.

[RGrimm]

Originally Posted by Dirt Sifter

I do not recall that 'special' when I renewed in Dec. I'd sign off tonight and see what tomorrow brings. That typo "all off" rather than "all of" kinda bothers me re the validity of the site.

When I go to the RVTrip Wizard and Not logged in, so I appear as a non-member the only option is subscribing to All the RVLife Pro 'Tools' , purchase all or none. So I suspect after this current 'Special Price' $49 the next renewal will be higher. I have no real need for the other two 'tools'.
-Russ

[OldGal3]

I also have the screen from RVLife Pro. The way I read it, at this time if you renew you get all the 'Tools' for the $49. To me, that's a special they are running to get everyone they can to try their whole package. When that first year is up, you probably get an AUTOMATIC renewal (like Ancestry) at the higher price. If I can't turn off the automatic renewals, I keep a note on my calendar that warns me before the renewal date so I can cancel or adjust or whatever necessary. I'm also not going to renew at $127.

[RGrimm]

Originally Posted by dalford

I was updated to RVlife Pro by RVTW this past year. My subscription renews in a few weeks. I have sent them a message to see if they will clarify their pricing model. I will renew for $49 as I really like the RV safe route feature in RVlife and how it is synced to RVTW. If next year they jump to $127 they will loose me and I’m sure many more. I will let you know what I hear from them.

I'm like you, I'd probably renew for $49, but not at $127. While they may not push it to $127, but I doubt it will remain at $49 after the first year.

I'll be interested to hear what renewal rate they offer you.

Thanks.
-Russ

[RGrimm]

Originally Posted by dalford

I also love rvtripwizard.com. It is a trip planner and you can download routes to certain gps units. I don’t use it so much for the routing as I use Waze or google maps for point to point routing.

I would suggest you try the free trial. Just pick a start point and an end point. It will route you an RV safe route depending on the specs you entered for your truck. I use the distance rings to see where I will be after about 6 hours of driving. I then can drill down on campgrounds and get a quick overview. Low stars, look at the next and then I can drill down to the website, reviews, etc.

You can sign up to Rvlife and rvtripwizard as a pro member. Rvlife will give you a RV safe gps route right to your smartphone. If you are not worried about the route you can get the route on google or waze. Plus it will download the map data for use offline so need for wifi or a data plan.

I planned a trip from Florida to Glacier National Park and back. 7000+ miles, 75 nights all on rvtripwizard. Everything about the trip was on the the program. I saved reservation numbers, added notes or anything else needed. I printed out an itinerary for the DW so she knew where we were, what’s next, etc.

This is not an app. It is a web based program. You can log in from any computer, phone or tablet. Check it out.

Back in 2019, when I owned a 35' Class A DP, I did a 71 day trip (7000+ miles) from FL to the West/NW (including Glacier) and did the entire trip in RVTrip Wizard. I was in West Glacier for a few days and then moved to East Glacier, RVTrip Wizard tried to route me across 'The Road to the Sun' through Glacier NP. Bad .... There are tunnels and Glacier NP has width and height restrictions. After that I never assumed that the RVTrip Wizard route was RV safe and always double checked the route. I know that the RVTrip Wizard has been up dated since 2019 and I hope they have fixed some of the short falls.

We Loved Glacier and all of our trip in 2019.
-Russ

[dalford]

Originally Posted by RGrimm

Back in 2019, when I owned a 35' Class A DP, I did a 71 day trip (7000+ miles) from FL to the West/NW (including Glacier) and did the entire trip in RVTrip Wizard. I was in West Glacier for a few days and then moved to East Glacier, RVTrip Wizard tried to route me across 'The Road to the Sun' through Glacier NP. Bad .... There are tunnels and Glacier NP has width and height restrictions. After that I never assumed that the RVTrip Wizard route was RV safe and always double checked the route. I know that the RVTrip Wizard has been up dated since 2019 and I hope they have fixed some of the short falls.

We Loved Glacier and all of our trip in 2019.
-Russ

Yes, I agree.. I don’t trust any of them to be 100% accurate but to route you to The Road to the Sun is like a no brainer. RVtripwizard is not a gps. It does create a route but does not give turn by turn instructions. You have to create that yourself with a gps. But when you couple RVTW with RVlife you can get a leg to leg route downloaded to your smartphone to tablet. One of the options is for an RV safe route. You can also select Waze, Apple Maps or Google which are not “RV safe” I used RV safe once when going to Gettysburg KOA and it gave me a safe, all be it longer, route. My buddy used google maps and it led it gave him directions to a low bridge that he was barely able to clear.

I used RVTW to plan our trip out west from Florida also back in 2019. We probably passed each other. We must have been traveling in opposite directions as we were in West Glacier then moved to East Glacier. We came the south route to Arizona, north thru all the Utah parks, Grand Tetons, Yellowstone then onto Glacier then west to all the other monuments along the way. it was nice to have all trip info in one place. I’ll keep buying for $49 but not $127.

[OldGal3]

Concerning the RVLife/TripWizard website - just remembered I got this email a few days ago - maybe they are having some 'adjustments' after an upgrade? I noticed my renewal button page only goes part way, then stops.


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[OldGal3]

dalford: "RVtripwizard is not a gps. It does create a route but does not give turn by turn instructions. You have to create that yourself with a gps. "

Guess I don't understand what turn by turn is. I thought that's what TripWizard was doing when it guided me though areas I'd never been in before or told me to be in either of the 2 left lanes in 1 mile while on a 4 lane freeway. Is there more to it?