Rand McNally intelliRoute TND 500

how easy it to see the screen on the 500 in the daytime. On my first trip to cali my co driver had a worldnav 7 inchgps. It totally sucked, was useless, gave horrible directions, wanted to put you on small roads right across the country, if u missed a turn it wanted you to go back the way you came and then turn around, lol. Not to mention that but also in the daytime in sun you could not see the screen whatsoever, total useless trash.
What is the TND like?

 

Better than that. It's got some problems with telling you to make uturns instead of going on around but they have bugs in the avoidances that they've been working on. I can see the screen fine on the 500 unless the sun is glaring right on the screen, but there's really no way to fix that. I do have mine mounted on the dash instead of the windshield so it's out of the sun anyway.

The TND is actually a bit overly cautious as far as routing. It will take you farther out of route sometimes because it doesn't trust the smaller roads in between. That's probably better for a full height truck.

The POI's aren't totally accurate but they're the best ones I've seen on any unit. Not only can you find a fuel stop with it, which is all the 465t will tell you, but you can find one with parking, a shower, that takes comdata, etc. I wasted hours and hours just wandering around in the dark at the end of the day trying to find someplace to hide for the night before I got this thing.

With the big update coming out soon, it's all up in the air as to how good it really is. It has problems now, though nothing like worldnav (junk), but they've been working a long time on the update so it's probably got a lot of good stuff in it.

And no I haven't signed the NDA yet (because I'm the most procrastinating person I know) so I'm just speculating.

 

Have they said when they are going to update the unit? Haven't purchased a truck specific unit yet & would rather wait 'til after they are good to go.

 

The next update would not be on the TND's on the shelfs. You would have to buy the TND and then update via the TND Dock. Lead time between software releases and production runs of TND's do not go hand in hand per say.

If you wish to wait till the next version is released and then purchase the TND that is fine. But, it still would need updating.

Thanks,
Mark

 

ok well i just ordered the TND 500
i hope it will get me to various locations in California from toronto and back in one piece

 

As long as you bring your brain you'll be fine. No GPS is foolproof, they'll take you places you don't want to go that's why it's important for them to have more than just the main road your driving on displayed.

 

Rand it would be nice when you zoom in it would stay zoomed in.The reason i like zoomed in is you can see which way the road will curve mostly at night and when there is a lot of fog about do you think this is possible. Mark other wise im very happy with the 500 thx clint...

 

If you turn off the autozoom it'll stay where you put it.

 

Have a major problem with the unit only when in Quebec. As soon as we cross into Quebec, doesn't matter where we cross from, the unit starts making it's announcement that State Border Ahead, problem is, it won't stop saying it. It will continue saying it off and on the entire time we are in Quebec. This has happened every time we have gone to Quebec and is extremely irritating!

I've tried turning off the feature, but the only thing I can see that I can do is adjust the miles out that it makes the announcment. Maybe I am missing something?

Don't know if anyone else has this problem or if it is just our unit, but sure would like some help with this problem.
Thanks!

 

That little issue has been resolved. Next version it has been fixed... It turns out to be a font issue on how the information was gathered from the database.

Thanks,
Mark