Compare
Four ways to watch an RV, and what each one costs you.
Every RV monitor on the market is one of four designs. They fail differently, they cost differently, and the right one depends on where you park. This is the honest version, including where we are the wrong choice.
The designs
Start with the architecture, not the brand
Brands come and go and change their pricing on a Tuesday. The design underneath does not. Work out which of these four you are looking at, and most of the questions answer themselves.
Single Wi-Fi sensor
One box that measures one or two things and talks to the campground Wi-Fi itself. Cheapest to start, no hub, often no subscription. Every extra thing you want to watch is another box with its own Wi-Fi login, and when the campground network goes down they all go quiet together.
Cellular monitor
A sensor with its own SIM card. Independent of any Wi-Fi, which is its whole pitch, and the best answer for a rig in storage with no network at all. You pay a monthly plan per device, coverage is whatever the carrier has at that campground, and it usually watches temperature and not much else.
Proprietary station
A base station and a family of sensors made to work only with it. Broad coverage of RV systems and a polished single app. The sensors are the catch: you buy theirs, at their price, and the ones you already own do nothing. If the company stops, so does the hardware.
Bluetooth hub (RoamVitals)
One hub that listens to the Bluetooth sensors you already own, from any brand we have verified, and puts them in one place with one set of alerts. The hub needs an internet connection to reach you. The sensors need nothing but a battery.
Side by side
What each design gives you, and what it asks for
The RoamVitals column says what is true today. Where something is planned, it says planned. Where we are worse, it says that too.
| Wi-Fi sensor | Cellular monitor | Proprietary station | RoamVitals | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Uses sensors you already own | No | No | No | Yes, from the compatibility list |
| What it can watch | Temperature, humidity | Temperature, humidity, sometimes power | Temperature, tanks, battery, power, doors, with their sensors | Temperature, humidity, tanks, battery, shore power, doors, leaks, tires, air quality, with yours |
| Needs internet at the rig | Yes, Wi-Fi | No, has its own cellular | Yes, usually Wi-Fi | Yes. Wi-Fi or a hotspot. Cellular backup is planned for Pro and Enterprise |
| Works when campground Wi-Fi drops | No | Yes | No | Not today. A hotspot or your own router does; see the part nobody sells you |
| Adding a fifth thing to watch | Another box, another Wi-Fi setup | Another box, another monthly plan | Another of their sensors | Any verified sensor, from any brand, no extra setup on the hub |
| One app for all of it | Per brand | Per brand | Yes | Yes |
| Monthly cost | Usually none | Per device, always | Often a plan for remote access | Free tier. Paid tiers for more history and alert channels; cellular backup would be per hub |
| Hardware cost | Low | Moderate, per device | Highest: station plus every sensor | Hub price announced at launch. Sensors are whatever you paid for the ones you have |
| Alerts during a power cut | Ends when the router does | Continues on the device battery | Ends when the station loses power | Ends when the hub loses power; you get an offline alert. Battery backup is your 12V system or a small UPS |
| If the company disappears | Sensor keeps working locally | Brick | Brick | Your sensors still work with their own apps. They were never ours |
None of these is a safety device. A monitor tells you something happened. It does not stop a fire, vent propane, or cool a dog. RoamVitals is not a substitute for the CO and LP alarms your RV is required to carry, and neither is anything else in this table.
Straight answer
When RoamVitals is the wrong choice
Your rig sits in a storage lot with no Wi-Fi and no hotspot. Buy a cellular monitor. We need a connection to reach you, and until the cellular backup ships, we cannot make one for ourselves. Checking on a stored camper covers what does work in a lot.
You want one thing watched and own no sensors. A single Wi-Fi thermometer costs less than a hub and needs nothing else. We earn our keep when you have three or four things to watch, or already own the sensors.
You want a detector for gas. Nobody’s monitor is one, including ours. The alarms your RV came with are the detector; what monitoring can and cannot do about gas is the honest length of that.
When it is the right one
You already own a Govee, a Mopeka, a Victron shunt, a Power Watchdog, or any of the devices we have verified, and each one lives in its own app that never tells you anything until you open it. You park somewhere with Wi-Fi or carry a hotspot. You want one screen, one set of alerts, and a free tier to prove it on before paying for anything.
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