SNOOPER Ventura S6810 Review

The Snooper Ventura S6800 is a motorhome and caravan dedicated sat nav which is equipped with a 7 inch touch screen. Its distinctive features are a built in FM transmitter and its compatibility with a tyre pressure monitoring system (TPMS). Like all caravan and motorhome sat nav devices, it will exclude all unsuitable roads using the vehicle's dimensions and weight.

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SNOOPER Ventura S6810 Test

Just like on the other Snooper models, navigation is very comfortable on the Ventura S6810 due to its big 7 inch screen and to the clear display of all the useful information such as the vehicle’s speed and the current speed limit, hazards on the itinerary and road warnings. This model also includes a pretty efficient lane guidance and junction view feature.

Once we’d entered the specs of our motorhome (Size, weight…) the Snooper Ventura S6810 did a good job at planning specific itineraries excluding all unsuitable roads. As with the other models of the Ventura range, the S6810 offers a very user-friendly configurator to enter the vehicle’s specifications.

What a shame the display resolution is so poor with just 800 x 480px! The Garmin equivalent model (the 770 LMT-D) offers a 1024 x 600 px resolution and a much nicer touch screen. But keep reading, this Snooper model includes some great features and an excellent campsite search engine.

10 Vehicle profiles can be entered and saved

This motorhome and caravan sat nav offers a ‘Car mode’ which enables you to use the device in your car as well as your motorhome. But the excellent feature on this model is the ability to enter and store up to 10 different vehicle profiles! This can come in very handy for users who may need to use the sat nav in multiple different vehicles or with different vehicle profiles. Thus, some users may for example create a profile they will name ‘Car + caravan’ and another profile named ‘Motorhome’ and possibly even ‘Motorhome + trailer’.

Because there are also specific rules for vehicles towing caravans and trailers, the vehicle profile configurator also asks that the users specifies whether or not they are driving a towing vehicle. The motorhome sat nav will then have the ability to avoid all forbidden roads.

Very precise Campsite search engine

The searchable database on this model includes over 24 000 campsites and thousands of points of interest (POI). This information is provided by several companies such as The Caravan Club, ACSI and BordAtlas.

We were impressed by the Snooper smart campsite search. Indeed, this is a very powerful and precise search engine which allows the user to make searches by campsite facilities and other criterias such as the location.

Once you’ve selected the facilities that you are interested in, the sat nav only displays in the search results the areas or campsites that meet your requirements. For example, you may only want to search for campsites that have a swimming pool, or maybe ones that are close to the coast or to an ATM, etc.

For each proposed area, extra information is provided such as the details of the offered services, the rates, and even - most of the time - a photo of the campsite.

Motorhome and Caravan Sat nav include specific Points of interest

The Snooper Ventura S6810 comes with thousands of specific points of interest for camping enthusiasts. These points of interest make it easy to find tourist sites, monuments and buildings, dealers for your motorhome manufacturer , or even accessory stores for motorhomes. The database includes 24 000 campsites across Europe. This model allows the user to add extra POIs by downloading them from the manufacturers website. You then have to use the brands software to transfer these POIs to the motorhome sat nav.

Using Multi-routes and Planning journeys

We found that planning a basic itinerary on the Snooper Ventura S6810 was pretty straightforward. This model will also allow you to create journeys around the UK or Europe with breaks on the way in multiple different locations. In fact, you can add up to 16 different stops allowing to create a complete journey. This is done by entering postcodes or POIs in the journey planner. You can also specify if you wish to travel on a particular road. After a stop, once you get going again, the Ventura - with the trip stored in its memory - asks you if you wish to continue with the current planned journey of if you want to plan a new one. Moreover, this model will allow the user to store up to 7 different journeys.

Lifetime Map and Traffic updates on this model

The Snooper Ventura S6810 is a caravan and motorhome sat nav that offers free lifetime map updates for Europe. This is a crucial feature that you should consider when looking into sat navs systems because updating a sat nav can be quite expensive on models that don’t offer free map updates. This will enable you to always have the latest maps and points of interest, or in other words, up-to-date reliable information on roads, restrictions, campsites, etc.

The live traffic information is also provided for free as it uses the provided TMC traffic receiver. This antenna is to be plugged into the specific connector on the device, and mounted on the vehicle’s windscreen. Some motorhome sat navs will use your phone’s data plan to download traffic information, the TMC network is free and does not require any kind of subscription. It’s important to note that the data is transmitted by FM stations so the reception can sometimes be affected by geographical conditions (Just like when listening to a radio station).

Built-in FM transmitter and Tyre pressure monitoring, some unusual features for a motorhome and caravan sat nav

You may be wondering what the FM transmitter is. This is indeed an interesting peculiarity that enables this caravan and motorhome sat nav to send the turn-by-turn directions to the vehicle’s speakers using your radio system. As the built-in speaker is not the best we’ve ever heard, this feature may come in handy.

The Snooper Ventura S6810 also offers Tyre Pilot compatibility. This is an optional feature that will require that you purchase an extra kit and sensors. The system can then be paired to the device using Bluetooth. Once installed, this enables you to monitor the tyre pressure while driving. There are several different kits available to chose from depending on the type of vehicle (basically the vehicle size and the number of wheels).

Optional Camera and driving hazard Database

The Snooper Ventura S6810 can warn the driver of any hazards or fixed cameras on the itinerary. However, to access this feature you will need to register and download the AURA camera database.

This service is not free and requires a subscription. It costs about £3 per month but can be cheaper if you go for a yearly subscription.

Hands-free phone and Reversing camera compatibility

Unlike the smaller Ventura S2700, this model comes with a built-in hands-free phone system. This means you can connect your mobile phone to the device in order to make and receive phone calls. We tested this feature, and as with many other sat navs, the built-in microphone in the bottom left corner only offers limited quality for the person on the other end of the line. This feature is handy but not as efficient as dedicated systems such as Parrot kits or factory mounted solutions that come with the vehicle.

This Ventura S6810 also has a video in socket (2.5mm jack). This can be used to connect an optional reversing camera to the unit. Once connected, the sat nav will automatically display the video signal from the camera when you engage reverse gear.

The Strengths of this Motorhome Sat nav

• Excellent Smart search engine
• The detailed data sheets for every campsite with photos and a lot of information
• Free lifetime map updates and free traffic information (TMC)

Weaknesses of this Caravan and Motorhome Sat Nav

• The quality of the LCD display, with its 800 x 480 resolution, could be better especially when considering the price of the device

Detailed Specs for the Snooper Ventura S6810

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