Best sat nav for towing a caravan 2026
Last updated: 6 September 2026
Towing is a different problem from driving a motorhome. A motorhome is one vehicle with one set of dimensions; a car and caravan are two vehicles that become one outfit on the drive and separate again on the pitch. The sat nav has to know the difference – the width of the caravan behind you, the length of the whole outfit for tight turns and passing places, the height including the aerial, and the fact that the speed limit drops the moment you hitch up. Most of the devices we test handle this well, but it is not what their marketing leads with, so this page is the towing-specific version of our main comparison.
What a towing sat nav actually has to do
- Hold an outfit profile, not just a car profile. Height, width, length and weight of car plus caravan, so the routing avoids low bridges, width limits and roads that are legal but miserable with 7 m behind you.
- Switch back to car mode in one tap. You will use the same device solo for most of the year. A unit that makes you re-enter dimensions each time gets left in the glovebox.
- Show the towing speed limit. In the UK the limit on dual carriageways and motorways drops from 70 to 60 mph when towing, and to 50 on single carriageways. The better devices display the limit for the profile you have selected, not the one painted on the sign.
- Carry campsite data you can filter. For UK caravanners that means the Club sites – Caravan and Motorhome Club and Camping and Caravanning Club – as well as the European databases.
- Fit a car dashboard. A 10-inch screen that is a joy in an A-class motorhome is a windscreen obstruction in an estate car. Seven inches is the sweet spot for towing.
Our picks for towing
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Best overall: Garmin Camper 795
Our top pick across the whole site, and the towing case is where its multiple vehicle profiles matter most: set up “car” and “car + caravan” once and switch between them easily. The 7-inch screen sits on a car dash without blocking the view, it shows the speed limit for the active profile, and the ACSI and CamperContact databases plus TripAdvisor ratings cover the Continent well. The CamperCam version adds a built-in dash cam, which is worth having when you are the one who gets blamed at a roundabout. Full-Europe maps with free lifetime updates over Wi-Fi. Rated 4.6 / 5.
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Best for UK Club sites: Aguri RV760
The British-made Aguri RV760 is our value pick, and for caravanners who mostly tour the UK it has one advantage the Garmin cannot match: its 30,000-site database includes the Caravan and Motorhome Club, the Camping and Caravanning Club and Camperstop out of the box. You enter the outfit's dimensions and weight and it routes around height, width and weight limits like the rest. The interface is less polished than Garmin's – that is the trade for the price. UK & Europe maps, free lifetime updates. Rated 4.3 / 5.
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Best if you tour beyond Europe: TomTom GO Camper Max
The TomTom GO Camper Max asks you on first start-up whether you are a car, a car with caravan, a campervan or a motorhome, then takes size and weight – the clearest towing set-up of the group. It shows the speed limit for your profile and a traffic-adjusted arrival time when your phone is connected, and it is the only unit here with worldwide maps. You give up the TripAdvisor ratings and the dash cam option. Rated 4.3 / 5.
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Club members: Avtex Tourer Three
The Avtex Tourer Three is built by Garmin under licence and co-developed with the Caravan and Motorhome Club, with the Club's own site data built in, speed-limit display for your vehicle type, sharp-bend warnings and elevation profiles. If you are a Club member who books Club sites, it is the most convenient of the four; if not, the Garmin 795 is the more capable all-rounder. Rated 4.2 / 5.
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Can I just use Google Maps or Waze when towing?
For a route you already know, yes. For anywhere new, be careful: neither Google Maps nor Waze has any idea what you are driving. They will route a 2.6 m-tall caravan under a 2.4 m railway bridge, down a single-track lane with no passing places, or through a width restriction, because to them you are a car. There are towing-specific apps, and they can be good, but they run on a phone that is also doing your music and your calls, and they burn data abroad. The dedicated unit earns its keep on the three things that go wrong when towing: an unfamiliar route, a foreign country, and finding a site with hook-up at 5pm on a Friday. If you tow twice a year to the same site, save the money. If you tour, buy one.
Setting up your outfit profile properly
Whichever device you buy, the routing is only as good as the numbers you give it. Measure rather than guess:
- Height: the caravan's actual height including the aerial, roof lights and any air-conditioning unit – not the figure in the brochure.
- Width: the caravan's body width, which will be wider than the car.
- Length: the whole outfit, hitch to rear bumper, with the caravan coupled.
- Weight: the caravan's MTPLM (maximum laden weight on the plate) plus the car's laden weight. Overstating is safer than understating – it only makes the routing more cautious.
Save that as a second profile alongside “car” and check which one is active before you set off. The most common mistake we see is not a wrong number but the wrong profile: driving solo on the caravan profile is merely annoying, but towing on the car profile defeats the whole point of the device.
UK speed limits when towing a caravan
| Road type | Car (solo) | Car towing a caravan |
|---|---|---|
| Built-up area | 30 mph (20 in Wales) | 30 mph (20 in Wales) |
| Single carriageway | 60 mph | 50 mph |
| Dual carriageway | 70 mph | 60 mph |
| Motorway | 70 mph | 60 mph |
Source: GOV.UK national speed limits. Local limits and signed lower limits always apply. Rules differ abroad – France, for example, sets lower limits for outfits whose plated gross train weight exceeds 3.5 t – which is another reason a device that displays the limit for your profile is worth having on the Continent.
Common questions
Will it keep me off every narrow lane?
No. It will keep you off roads with a signed restriction and down-rank roads its map data marks as unsuitable, which removes most of the nasty surprises. A lane with no restriction sign and no width data is still a lane. Read the road, and if the sat nav wants to leave the A-road for a shortcut with the caravan on, be suspicious.
Does the sat nav know when I have unhitched?
No – you switch the profile yourself. This is why a one-tap profile switch matters more for towing than for a motorhome, and why we rate the Garmin 795 and TomTom GO Camper Max highly on this specific point.
Do I need a bigger screen?
Not for towing. Seven inches is right for a car dash. The 8-inch Garmin Camper 895 and 10-inch 1095 are for motorhome cabs – see our Garmin Camper range guide if you are deciding between the three.
What about towing with a motorhome, or a campervan with a trailer?
Same principle: make a second profile for the combination. Garmin's set-up even suggests it, with example profiles named “Motorhome” and “Motorhome + trailer”. If you drive a van conversion rather than a coachbuilt, our campervan picks cover what changes.
Still deciding? The full comparison table puts all six current models side by side.