3 Savvy Tips RVing With RV Trip Wizard Review
One of the major pain points of traveling in an RV is planning your RV route. It may sound ridiculous, but RV traveling is different from regular car travel.
For me, the biggest issues of RV travel are usually bridge clearance, hairpin turns and blind turns, toll roads charging extra axles, narrow lanes, and a lack of spacious gas stations. Most beginners usually find it harder to look for parks and routes.
There’re, however, several patchwork tools you could use to help with planning your RV route and navigation.
My favorite tool is the RV Trip Wizard. The app is, in my opinion, the gold standard, coming from a full-time RVer with more than six years in a 25′ fifth wheel.
We use the RV Trip Wizard exclusively to plan our RV trips and, most of the time, for GPS and routing along the way.
It’s a paid app, but it’s worth it because it has many features full-timers need. The trip planning filters alone are worth weight in gold.
If you’re interested to learn more about this app, here’s everything you need to know about RV Trip Wizard and my experience using it to plan my RV routes:
What is RV Trip Wizard?
RV Trip Wizard is an online trip planner. As its name suggests, the app facilitates easier traveling and camping. It’s built with many features to make your trip more successful, including a list of RV campgrounds, fuel stations, rest stops, clearance alerts, etc.
I’ve been using RV Trip Wizard for several years and am generally satisfied with it. It plans my trip based on how, where, and the size of my RV. It displays the available parks and campgrounds along the way, fuel stops, places of interest, and even campground reviews.
Furthermore, it lets me “fly” over the route with Google maps and offers turn-by-turn directions. I especially like this feature because I can use it on my phone without using data.
However, it’s important to remember that RV Trip Wizard is only a planning tool, not a turn-by-turn GPS router. So, once you’ve your trips planned, you can use the RV Life PRO as a turn-by-turn system. RV Life PRO inputs RV Trip Wizard data and provides a safe and accurate route. And the best part is it can download the maps needed for completing your trip, so no cell signal is required while on the road.
My Experience Using RV Trip Wizard (Why Consider RVTW)
I’ve used RV Trip Wizard to plan multi-day trips across the US. One thing I like about the app is that it shows a few more campgrounds than most RV planning apps display.
Plus, it displays tons of info on a single page, which sits well in my books. The ease of planning on this app is also fantastic; punch in your rig size, destination, mileage, and speed, and the app will develop a plan for you.
Here’re some of the benefits I’ve come to love with the RVTW. Of course, there’re plenty of others, and it all depends on your RV rote planning need.
Shows and Filters Available Campgrounds
Beginners usually have difficulty identifying the perfect campground spot for a layover. However, with the RV Trip Wizard, your trip is much easier since you learn about all the available RV campgrounds on the way.
On top of that, the app also filters the apps that can’t accommodate your trailer, so there’re no surprises. The ability to check reviews on a campground is also handy.
Calculate Cost
The app is also handy for calculating your RV travel costs. It can calculate the fuel cost & when to fill up, camping cost, meal costs, and any other costs, depending on your travel input.
Furthermore, the tool will allow you to customize the planning costs, adding any temporary cost to the travel plan or subtracting things on the fly as you go.
I also like that the tool lets you compare your travel plan costs with other archived trips, so planning on a budget gets easier.
Plan your Destination Routes
RV Trip Wizards also makes planning your destination much easier. Once you add your dimensions, simply click on any destination. You’ll see rings around it indicating how far you can travel before maxing out your limits.
It’s a super-helpful feature, especially when determining your driving breaks and finding gas stations or rest stops along the way. Now, for RVers will long RVs and gas-powered ones, you know the importance of planning your fuel stops.
Considering the average expected traffic, it also makes it easier to see the distance between two destinations and the approximate drive time. You could also punch in the gas price to see how much it’ll l cost for the total trip.
The app is also handy for routing your trip, depending on the size of your rig, and quite different from, say, Google Maps, which bases your route on a small car.
For example, it comes with an elevation tab, which displays the altitude drops and helps you determine whether you can do the hill. If not, it suggests an alternative route.
How to Use RV Trip Wizard
RV Trip Wizard is among the most interactive apps I’ve come across. It’s compatible with most browsers; you can access it through a computer, phone, or tablet.
Plus, it has a print option, so when you plan your trip, you can print it and send it to your GPS. It’s a handy feature that lets you access the plan on your smartphone.
How Much Does RV Life Pro Cost?
RV Trip Wizard is affordable and only costs $59 per year if you go with the annual membership. It also has a one-week free trial and free demo.
Can RV Trip Wizard be used offline?
RV Trip Wizard requires an internet connection to plan or change your route actively. However, if you’ve already planned your RV route, you could print it and send it to Google Maps to view it on the phone.
Can RV Trip Wizard make a reservation or book for me?
No, RV Trip Wizard is a planning tool. It provides great information about campgrounds and your route, but it can’t make a reservation for you. You still need to do it the old-fashioned way.
Can I use RV Trip Wizard on multiple devices?
Yes, RV Trip Wizard can run on almost any device, but you can’t log on to the app simultaneously on different devices. It’s likely to result in time-out errors.
Wrap Up
I use RV Trip Wizard after using about every app out there; in my opinion, nothing compares. It’s an amazing tool, making your planning more seamless and convenient.
Of course, not everyone needs it. You can do everything without the app if you’re only out for a shorter trip, doing multiple stops. However, for the vast majority of RVers, who like exploring new destinations and racking up miles, it’s a handy tool.
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