CampRoute: A New RV Trip Planning App

There is a new app, or at least one that is new to me, that I have been seeing advertised quite heavily on RV social media sites. It’s called CampRoute, an AI-assisted trip planner designed specifically for RV travelers.

I’m always looking at new RV apps, hoping to eventually find the perfect one. There are already several good options out there, but I still like to check out new ones to see if they offer features I don’t already have or perhaps an easier interface than the apps I’m currently using. So, after seeing CampRoute advertised several times, I downloaded and installed it.

Based on my initial experience, CampRoute has a ways to go before it would be a contender in my book.

I looked at a couple of areas where we’re planning to travel next season and compared the campground listings in CampRoute with those in RV LIFE and RV Parky. I adjusted the maps so I was looking at approximately the same geographic area in each app.

CampRoute displayed only about half as many campground locations as I was seeing in both RV LIFE and RV Parky.

That’s a significant difference for me. One of the main reasons I use these apps is to find camping options along our route or near a destination. If an app isn’t showing a large portion of the available campgrounds, its usefulness as a trip-planning tool is immediately limited.

The Paywall Stopped My Testing

I also wanted to look more closely at the campground information and test CampRoute’s routing features. That’s where I ran into another problem.

I couldn’t access those features without paying for the service.

I don’t have a problem paying for a useful RV app. Good software costs money to develop and maintain, and I already pay for services that provide enough value to justify their cost.

What I do expect, particularly from an app I haven’t used before, is some opportunity to try the important features before paying for a subscription.

I couldn’t find one with CampRoute.

The subscription choices I was presented with were weekly or annual. The app says the subscription can be canceled at any time, but I didn’t see a trial period or any indication that I could get a refund if I paid for the service and discovered that it didn’t meet my needs.

That’s where they lost me.

I’m not willing to pay for an RV planning service when my initial look suggests its campground database is considerably smaller than the apps I already use, particularly when I can’t first test the features that might make up for that difference.

The App Store Reviews

After my experience, I took a closer look at the reviews in the App Store.

Some of the comments there raised concerns similar to mine, particularly regarding subscriptions and what users were able to access before paying.

As with any app, reviews should be taken with a grain of salt. People who are unhappy are often more likely to leave a review than people who are satisfied. Still, when reviews reflect some of the same concerns I’ve already encountered, they’re worth considering.

For Now, I’ll Pass

CampRoute may improve. It’s a relatively new product, and its campground database and features could grow over time.

I’ll probably take another look at it somewhere down the road.

For now, though, I’ll pass.

There are already established RV planning apps that allow me to see a much larger selection of campgrounds and give me a better idea of what I’m getting before asking me to pay.

If CampRoute wants RVers like me to switch from the tools we’re already using, it needs to give us an opportunity to see why it’s better.

Right now, I haven’t seen enough to convince me.