I bought a TND 730 at Best Buy about 3 weeks ago. I really wanted to like this GPS unit, especially since it's easy to read without having to grab some reading glasses. But after speaking with RM tech support today it's obvious that our relationship isn't going to work out.
1. When I took the unit out of the box I downloaded the Dock software, connected the unit and updated everything there was to update. As soon as I got on the road I starting having "navi.exe" errors which require a reboot. There's a FAQ regarding this issue but it doesn't fix whatever problem my unit has.
2. On Wednesday I missed my exit in NYC because the unit simply froze up. When I passed the exit for the Tappan Zee bridge the GPS said I still had 4 miles to go. Then I noticed that the clock was off. Touching the buttons got no response. I had to hold the power button down for a good 15 seconds (seemed longer than that in fog and traffic) until it restarted. My company has a policy of no GW Bridge, but oh well, if they ask I'll tell them I blew it. It locked up again on 95 near Newark.
3. Today on my 30 break I called Tech support. Listened to music till my break was over so I hung up. Tried again while on the road and got through. The young lady had a stock response that a software update is coming but no date is projected. When I told her that this was unacceptable for a $400 GPS and I was considering taking it back, she agreed. I probably just got a bad one or something since there are a lot of them out there that seem to be working okay for their owners. But I've had it with this one.
I still cant read the small print on Co-Pilot truck with my Samsung Tab S, at least it doesn't crash on me. And the TND goes back to Best Buy this weekend. Maybe I'll try the Garman.
Taking the TND730 back for a refund
Discussion in 'Trucking Electronics, Gadgets and Software Forum' started by GreenMonster9669, Nov 13, 2014.
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Any GPS will sometimes freeze up in very dense areas when you need them the most, especially in navigation mode. When I ran the 7" RM TND, I found I could not reliably run the traffic feature (wifi) off my hotspot in large metro areas, it was almost guaranteed it would freeze up at some point. You may very well have a bad memory chip on your board. But I moved to the big Garmin and prefer it. The Garmin Dezl worked better FOR ME. Others will be better suited with the RM TND.
Around NYC, my experience is that none of them can be counted on in navigation routing mode to not freeze up. Setting the vehicle height to 12'-6" seemed to help with the bizarre routing and the freezing on both a Garmin and RM.
If you go with the Garmin Dezl, you might consider turning off traffic once you get deep into a metro area during rush hour, and near the destination. This feature can bring them to their knees when traffic issues are rampant all around.Last edited: Nov 13, 2014
GreenMonster9669 Thanks this. -
have you updated your copilot. there's an app update AND map updates. the maps are now 1.8 gigs and not 1.5 gigs now.
it never freezes even with traffic in the big metros. but does get annoying in los angeles rush hour traffic. -
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I would take it back. I have the 720 and nothing but disappointment. I expected that a company that makes maps would at least have all the roads that google maps or mapquest has. Nope.
double yellow Thanks this. -
As far as "roads" go, and when talking about Garmin Vs Rand McNally Vs PCMiler, I think they all use the same map data supplier (Navteq). It's just a matter of who publishes the most current and frequent updates to their subscribers. But also, it's a matter of who does the best job with weights/heights/restrictions routing features. (And it could easily be argued Garmin is very weak in that regard and RM probably wins that battle)
[And I don't want to leave out Cobra, Magellan, and others but I have no personal experience with these and can't speak for/against them] -
Check this forum out for help from a Rand engineer.peterbilt_2005 Thanks this. -
Garmin uses ("Basecamp") is unnecessarily complicated to the point that it's unusable. Hopefully that's not part of the "dezl" package.
At this point I'm not concerned with making my Rand McNally unit work. I'm done with it. When it first started having navi.exe errors I sent an email to their tech support and received a ticket number and their assurance that they would get back to me quickly. That was 7 days ago as of today and I haven't heard a word.Dark_Majesty_06 and double yellow Thank this. -
Garmin provides Basecamp as a free download for a desktop supplement to their product which is better suited to hiking and camping IMO. Not sure why you would need to use Basecamp in the context of trucking. If I'm wanting to do cross country trip planning/saving/printing, I would probably use Google Maps via a web browser and laptop
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