I discovered RoadTrippers about 6 months ago and signed up for the full “Roadpass” yearly license which includes Roadtrippers, TOGO RV and Campendium. Roadtrippers is a great way to plan your trip, Campendium is a good way to review camping options (I focus on it for free camping) and TOGO RV has some class material and checklists that are ok to review. In practice the last trip was hard to implement with Roadtrippers and Apple Car Play because I would have to select a waypoint -> send it to Apple Maps -> compare the route options -> select the right option for every way point. In short it got us where we wanted to go but it was a pain to deal with while driving. Two days after that trip Roadtrippers released the Apple Car Play version and it solved many of the issues we had.
When the app is launched it goes right into a default moving map with two options Search and Re-center and you will want to jump right to that Search link.
The nice thing is that if you saved a trip online you can reference it here however if you’re just looking for a new random location it’s not really designed for that and you would be better suited by the default Apple Maps or asking Siri. My suggestion is that you go right to Trips (because that’s most likely what you setup in Roadtrippers app).
For this example, I just loaded up a bunch of random stuff for routing then went out to see how it did. I wanted to pick whacky routes and then see how easy the directions where to follow and how aggressive the computer gets when I went a wrong direction and how long it took to re-route.
I really like how the trip just does not start navigating but brings up the individual way points. There are times I will flood the trip with “maybe” waypoints depending on time, gas levels, weather, etc.. so being able to see all the way points and skip or pick specific ones is very useful feature.
The navigation screen is very easy to use and gives you a good overall idea of the next turn. I dislike navigation systems that are so zoomed in you have no idea of the turn after the turn. I really do like the map it has the information I need without putting too much info on the screen.
What’s the Good Bad and Ugly?
- The Good:
- It’s integrated with Apple Car Play.
- Simple to use.
- Good visual maps.
- Good visual routing.
- Preview features for Propane and trailer height, length routing.
- Mute/Un Mute – there is mute button, so the directions don’t talk over you if you’re on a phone call or just need to concentrate.
- The Bad:
- I cannot find any options for Voice prompt- I prefer a beep not a long verbal sentence that interrupts my music/call.
- I don’t need to Chage the map layout which is good because there is no option for it.
- Adding a new waypoint through app while in use cannot be done (even gas search stops).
- The Ugly:
- Would be cool if Campendium was Apple Car Play integrated with a “FIND FREE CAMPING NEAR ME NOW” or “along route” option.
In summary, I am very happy they came out with an Apple Car Play version, and it is under continuous improvements so I am sure it will just keep getting better.
