Sat nav app or dedicated device for a motorhome or caravan?
Last updated: 9 November 2026
It is the first question most people ask, and the answer depends on how tall your outfit is, whether you tow and how far you go. If your van is under 2.5 m tall, you never tow and you mostly drive routes you already know, a phone covers most of it and you can save the money. If you are taller than a car park barrier, tow, or tour abroad, a dedicated unit earns its keep. The rest of this page explains why, and where a sat nav app fits in.
Can I use Google Maps or Waze in a motorhome?
For a route you already know, yes. For anywhere new, be careful. Google Maps and Waze have no idea what you are driving. To them you are a car, so they will happily send a 2.6 m outfit under a 2.4 m railway bridge, down a single-track lane with no passing places, or through a width restriction. Nothing in the app knows your height, width, length or weight.
Are there sat nav apps made for motorhomes and caravans?
Yes. CoPilot and Sygic both offer caravan and motorhome profiles with dimension-aware routing, and they can be good. They fix the biggest problem with Google Maps. What they cannot change is that they run on a phone that is also doing your music and your calls, and that they burn battery and data on a long drive abroad.
What a dedicated device adds
A dedicated unit also plans routes around your dimensions. What it adds is everything around the routing:
- Offline maps. They keep working with no signal, and the moment you most need a route is usually the moment you have no bars.
- Campsite data on the same screen as the route. The Garmin Camper range carries the ACSI and CamperContact directories, so you are not switching to a second app to find a pitch.
- A bigger screen in a cradle, readable at a glance in a bright cab.
- Your phone stays free, with no battery or roaming data burned on the route and nothing competing with your calls and music.
- Vehicle profiles you can switch. On the Garmin Camper range you save several and swap between them, so the car on its own and the car plus caravan are one tap apart.
One thing a dedicated device does not remove: your phone. The Garmin Camper range has no built-in SIM, so live traffic, weather and parking arrive through your phone and the free Garmin Drive app. That is fine in the UK but worth remembering abroad if your data plan is tight. The maps themselves keep working offline.
Which should you choose?
A phone is enough if your van is under 2.5 m tall, you never tow, and you mostly drive routes you know. Our campervan guide says the same.
Try a camper app if you drive somewhere new only now and then and want dimension-aware routing without buying another device.
Buy a dedicated unit if you are taller than a car park barrier, tour abroad, or tow. It earns its keep on the three things that actually go wrong: an unfamiliar route, a foreign country, and finding a site with hook-up at 5pm on a Friday. For high-tops and anything approaching 3 m, we'd fit one without hesitation. If you tow, our towing guide works through that case in detail.
Even the right device does not replace reading the road. Plenty of UK campsites ask you not to follow any sat nav for the last few miles, and our list of campsite sat nav traps collects those warnings.
If you decide on a device
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Our top pick: Garmin Camper 795
A 7-inch screen, routing around your vehicle's size and weight, the ACSI and CamperContact campsite directories plus TripAdvisor ratings, and map updates that are free for the life of the device.
Read the full review Check price on Amazon
For UK Club sites: Aguri RV760
Its 30,000-site database includes the Caravan and Motorhome Club, the Camping and Caravanning Club and Camperstop out of the box. The interface is less polished than Garmin's.
Read the full review Check price on Amazon
Still deciding? The full comparison table puts all six current models side by side.
Common questions
Is Google Maps safe for a motorhome?
On a route you already know, it is fine. On a new one it treats you as a car, so it can send you under a low bridge or down a lane too tight for your vehicle.
What is the best sat nav app for motorhomes?
We review dedicated devices rather than apps, so we do not rank them. CoPilot and Sygic both offer caravan and motorhome profiles with dimension-aware routing.
Can I use a sat nav app when towing a caravan?
Yes, if it has a caravan profile. Ordinary Google Maps and Waze do not. For the full picture, including the UK towing speed limits, see our towing guide.