In this video we try out the Avtex Tourer Three Plus with Dash Cam. We've been sent the unit free for the purpose of making a video. The opinions expressed are our own and based on the two motorhome trips we've made using the sat nav in the last two months. Note: all comments are held for review, so it may take a while for me to respond (or not) to comments! ▶ Thanks for watching, if you enjoyed the video, give us a like, leave a comment and you haven't already, please subscribe, it's free! 😊
We have this Bob and got it nearly 2 years back at the Manchester show. I really think it should have what three words’. So much easier than coordinates which we find we have to do all the time.
We purchased the tourer 3 and sent it back following a caravan trip to Norfolk from Leeds, West Yorkshire, the reason for this was because the sat nav tried taking me off my main route for no reason and left me in a couple of awkward situations and had to rely on google maps in the car for peace of mind, believe it’s because there is no option for alternative routes when inputting your destination, I opted for the tourer two to which we’ve since used and much happier.
It does offer alternative routes, but not as route summary screen, There is a slider on the planning screen, before you press go, which shows alternative routes on the map. It does offer route shaping (which is a bit fiddly) or Detour by distance or road. We will be doing an update on how we are getting on with the T3.
@ when we purchased the tourer 3 I inputted Wharfedale CAMC to which we go to regularly to see what route it would take me on, as its one main road that being the A65 it was only when we went past Skipton that for some strange reason the sat nav decided to come off the A65 and to take us down a very narrow country road then re join the A65 further on, as I know the route well I opted against this however for someone that doesn’t know the area it could be quite scary, also google reviews from other users say they experienced the same issue with the T3.
Hi Bob and Jenny well done on a very detailed and thorough review it looks a really impressive sat nav and great you can tailor it to the dimensions of the van and if you are towing it’s great to see the functionality but as others have said what three words integration would be useful nowadays merry Christmas to you all Have a great time and best wishes for 2025 Daniel
Looks like a very well featured satnav. I've just ordered the version without the dashcam from the club shop so looking forward to give it a try. The volume isn't an issue as the first thing I do is mute all the speech and annoying bleeps and bloops. I can't stomach the jibber jabber, I much prefer to just glance at the screen occasionally. I'm like a victorian parent - satnavs should be seen and not heard 😄
A very good review. There are many features I like. The screen looks very clear, easy to read and navigate around and I love how it highlights which lane to go in. I have a high definition dash cam that I can remove from the windscreen leaving the fitting in place. I was thinking that perhaps you would have to remove the whole thing every time you wanted to put your windscreen blinds down which if that's the case, it would be one aspect of it I wouldn't like.
We bought a car satnav tomtom Garmin mobile GPS rubber dashboard nonstick mount mat from Amazon. No need to remove when blinds are closed and has worked brilliantly.
The two of you have done a very good detailed analysis on the Sat Nav. It was very informative and honest. In my case using these devices it can be an expensive investment and also an expensive mistake should these devices have fixings and controls which maybe difficult to use. Great work, Thank you .
Excellent review. I think it’s great piece of kit and because of the dash cam feature I always use it even if I’m not navigating. I must admit I haven’t used the voice recognition feature, after seeing you using I’ll definitely try it. One really useful feature is the planning feature. I often plan a day before and save the route. This is really useful if you want to go somewhere but use a particular location. You can also avoid locations. There are so many features it takes time to get used to them. Generally I always use google maps using car play and it’s amazing how the two differ. I think because of the dimensions input forces the Avtex to use main roads whereas google maps often takes a slightly shorter route but that leaves one question which one do you trust if you’re not familiar with the roads.
It's certainly come on since my ancient Tourer 1 :). I would like to wee What 3 Words arriving on Sat Nav's now. I know it all takes storage but really, storage is so cheap now. Ian
It looks very good but expensive. We find that with a van conversion Google maps is absolutely fine and will constantly update the route to avoid any significant holdups along the journey.
Bob it sounds expensive to me. I now no longer trust my Sat Nav which is a Garmin unless I program waypoints to force it to go down the roads I want. Else it always takes the shortest routes sometimes down almost a dirt road. Same goes for Google maps. So I am back to good old maps and brain with the Sat Nav used for the last few miles.
Looks a nice piece of kit, but at that price I think I will stick with tour 2. Plus it clearly dosent like me, as it clearly tried to avoid us at the Walton fox.😂
Thats a very useful addition, used to use garmin sat nav on the motorbike, really good features on this one , asfor the dashcam position , not convinced on that , would it work if the sat nav was angled towards the driver
No, I think I'd wait a little while, and go for the tourer three, but I'd miss out on the speedier route calculation and the extra features like environmental zones, and birds eye views.
Really like the addition of the environmental settings. Do know if you have to manually update the CAMC sites or does that come down with the map updates automatically? Probably more relevant to the CL's which get added/removed more regularly. If you were to search for Lickpenny would it come up as an independent site still or as Lickpenny Matclock Club site?
Great piece of kit and it proves the theory that you get what you pay for. At the upper cost level for a satnav it provides much more functionality than most. We have the Avtex Tourer 2 which I think we will keep for a few more seasons 👍🏻 Excellent review 😃 Trev n Sue 🚐💙
In this video we try out the Avtex Tourer Three Plus with Dash Cam. We've been sent the unit free for the purpose of making a video. The opinions expressed are our own and based on the two motorhome trips we've made using the sat nav in the last two months. Note: all comments are held for review, so it may take a while for me to respond (or not) to comments!
▶ Thanks for watching, if you enjoyed the video, give us a like, leave a comment and you haven't already, please subscribe, it's free! 😊
That looks really good.
Always can count on you for thorough and honest reviews
Thank you.
Thank you, I was a bit concerned it was a bit too long.
We have this Bob and got it nearly 2 years back at the Manchester show. I really think it should have what three words’. So much easier than coordinates which we find we have to do all the time.
I agree, I wish sat navs had What3Words too.
We purchased the tourer 3 and sent it back following a caravan trip to Norfolk from Leeds, West Yorkshire, the reason for this was because the sat nav tried taking me off my main route for no reason and left me in a couple of awkward situations and had to rely on google maps in the car for peace of mind, believe it’s because there is no option for alternative routes when inputting your destination, I opted for the tourer two to which we’ve since used and much happier.
It does offer alternative routes, but not as route summary screen, There is a slider on the planning screen, before you press go, which shows alternative routes on the map. It does offer route shaping (which is a bit fiddly) or Detour by distance or road. We will be doing an update on how we are getting on with the T3.
@ when we purchased the tourer 3 I inputted Wharfedale CAMC to which we go to regularly to see what route it would take me on, as its one main road that being the A65 it was only when we went past Skipton that for some strange reason the sat nav decided to come off the A65 and to take us down a very narrow country road then re join the A65 further on, as I know the route well I opted against this however for someone that doesn’t know the area it could be quite scary, also google reviews from other users say they experienced the same issue with the T3.
OK, that's interesting. We're going to Wharfedale soon, so we'll see where it tries to take me.
Hi Bob and Jenny well done on a very detailed and thorough review it looks a really impressive sat nav and great you can tailor it to the dimensions of the van and if you are towing it’s great to see the functionality but as others have said what three words integration would be useful nowadays merry Christmas to you all
Have a great time and best wishes for 2025 Daniel
Looks like a very well featured satnav. I've just ordered the version without the dashcam from the club shop so looking forward to give it a try. The volume isn't an issue as the first thing I do is mute all the speech and annoying bleeps and bloops. I can't stomach the jibber jabber, I much prefer to just glance at the screen occasionally. I'm like a victorian parent - satnavs should be seen and not heard 😄
Thanks, good to hear.
A very good review. There are many features I like. The screen looks very clear, easy to read and navigate around and I love how it highlights which lane to go in. I have a high definition dash cam that I can remove from the windscreen leaving the fitting in place. I was thinking that perhaps you would have to remove the whole thing every time you wanted to put your windscreen blinds down which if that's the case, it would be one aspect of it I wouldn't like.
Yes that is a drawback I missed. I wish there was a better mounting system that allowed it to be dash mounted.
We bought a car satnav tomtom Garmin mobile GPS rubber dashboard nonstick mount mat from Amazon. No need to remove when blinds are closed and has worked brilliantly.
I don’t remove the whole mount I just remove the head unit and push back the mount but leaving it on the screen.
Thank you Bob and Jenny for your review. I've ordered the Tourer 3 as I already have a dashcam.. Hope you have a lovely Christmas.
Great to hear. Have a great Christmas yourself.
The two of you have done a very good detailed analysis on the Sat Nav. It was very informative and honest. In my case using these devices it can be an expensive investment and also an expensive mistake should these devices have fixings and controls which maybe difficult to use.
Great work, Thank you .
It's certainly not difficult to use, but unless the dashcam is important, I'd go for the Tourer Three.
Excellent review.
I think it’s great piece of kit and because of the dash cam feature I always use it even if I’m not navigating. I must admit I haven’t used the voice recognition feature, after seeing you using I’ll definitely try it.
One really useful feature is the planning feature. I often plan a day before and save the route. This is really useful if you want to go somewhere but use a particular location. You can also avoid locations.
There are so many features it takes time to get used to them. Generally I always use google maps using car play and it’s amazing how the two differ. I think because of the dimensions input forces the Avtex to use main roads whereas google maps often takes a slightly shorter route but that leaves one question which one do you trust if you’re not familiar with the roads.
Thanks for your feedback. We didn't really cover the trip planning, but it is really useful.
It's certainly come on since my ancient Tourer 1 :). I would like to wee What 3 Words arriving on Sat Nav's now. I know it all takes storage but really, storage is so cheap now. Ian
Yes, but it would be nice to see What3Words. Tourer 4 version maybe?
What do you think I have the tourer 2
The tourer two is still a good sat nav.
Good review many thanks. I look forward to your next usage update.
Thank you
It looks very good but expensive. We find that with a van conversion Google maps is absolutely fine and will constantly update the route to avoid any significant holdups along the journey.
As I said in the video there were some occasions when Google maps let us down due to lack of signal.
Bob it sounds expensive to me. I now no longer trust my Sat Nav which is a Garmin unless I program waypoints to force it to go down the roads I want. Else it always takes the shortest routes sometimes down almost a dirt road. Same goes for Google maps.
So I am back to good old maps and brain with the Sat Nav used for the last few miles.
Never had anything like a dirt road with the tourer two in all the years I've been using it! Does your Garmin have weight and dimensions?
Looks a nice piece of kit, but at that price I think I will stick with tour 2. Plus it clearly dosent like me, as it clearly tried to avoid us at the Walton fox.😂
We had it set as towing a trailer! That's why it took the long way round.
Thats a very useful addition, used to use garmin sat nav on the motorbike, really good features on this one , asfor the dashcam position , not convinced on that , would it work if the sat nav was angled towards the driver
Yes, you can adjust the dashcam lens, I didn't show that.
18 months ago I got a tourer two would you update it to 3 or not.
No, I think I'd wait a little while, and go for the tourer three, but I'd miss out on the speedier route calculation and the extra features like environmental zones, and birds eye views.
😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁
Really like the addition of the environmental settings. Do know if you have to manually update the CAMC sites or does that come down with the map updates automatically? Probably more relevant to the CL's which get added/removed more regularly. If you were to search for Lickpenny would it come up as an independent site still or as Lickpenny Matclock Club site?
Good question. I don't know if and when club sites are updated, but I will find out very soon if Lickpenny is included as a club site.
Great piece of kit and it proves the theory that you get what you pay for. At the upper cost level for a satnav it provides much more functionality than most. We have the Avtex Tourer 2 which I think we will keep for a few more seasons 👍🏻 Excellent review 😃 Trev n Sue 🚐💙
Thank you, we always liked the Tourer Two.