Rand Mcnally 710

Rand Sales people? Interesting since they do not make store calls. You probably talked to DAS or store personal WHOM are not employed by Rand McNally.

I am still waiting on the Pilot store number whom you said that has high returns. With this store number Rand can most certainly gather the correct information.

I can post all day here, but with details we can get to the gist of the matter. If you did all these returns, then simply give me the information of what stores.

Rand wants to make sure the product out there for the Professional Driver is working like it was intended too.

Thanks for supplying the information in a timely manner.

If you did in fact talk to an Official Rand Salesperson, do you have a name?

Thanks,
Mark

 

So, why did you have to return them? And what happened with Customer support?

Thanks,
Mark

 

I bought my Rand710 at The Louiseville truck show last April (2011). It has been returned to Rand twice and needs to go back a third time. First thing I want to say is that I do believe the software is the best out there for truck GPS's. I love the mile markers being displayed and the specific routing for hazmat (although it only works with bulk hm, as I found some highways and tunnels do permit smaller quantities and Rand doesn't ask the quantity of each hm product. Also I take responsibility for that-that's why I have the endorsement) The POI's and "quick POI's" have come in so handy for me that I cannot tell you how nice that feature is, great to have in a pinch! Letting me decide how much overspped is overspeed and how far ahead of time to advise me of toll booths and scales...I could go on.
My problem is that it does freeze up on me and it does have an electrical issue with the AC plug in in the truck. I only go home a few times a month and basically, my truck is a second home. I drive OTR LTL and depend on my GPS to get me from one stop to another on a daily basis. It will freeze up and then turns off and will not come back on. Usually, I program it on a "multi stop trip" when I have 6 or 7 stops in a day and when it works it makes my day go by SO MUCH QUICKER! But, when it fails....ARGH! The charge light is always RED and eventhough the on screen indicator says it's charged the red light is still on, so I'm not sure which to trust. To get a good charge I need to be sitting still. Once I am moving it doesn't charge well or at all. Once it goes off I am back to my faithful Garmin (with alot less features but always works)which seems to like two lane roads and scenic drives no matter how I program it! My Rand died on me yesterday and after charging on my 10 hour break it did turn back on, but that seems to be a crap shoot and can go either way (sometimes it will turn on and sometimes it doesn't).

I have not had any problems with customer service or returning the product. They get it right back to me and are always curtious. Ideally, never having to speak to customer service would be best, but they have never been a problem and have offered advice to see if it helped. They have told me that the electrical issue isn't a big issue (which seems to be incorrect with other Rand users I have talked to as well) Comparing my Garmin cord and plug to the Rand I can see that the Garmin charger is built tough! The cord is twice as thick and the plug is straight in and much larger. I think that simple difference may be what is causing the issue.
And funny that it's mentioned earlier-but, when I got my unit back this time there was no voice! This is the first time I have had this problem! My average speed and uphill/downhill speed does not work either and when I tell it I am taking a 10 hour break it doesn't go back to 11 and 14 like it used to (I just do it manually now)
...So, the Rand has to go back...again. 3rd time in 8 months is not good! I asked last time I called if there was anyway I could extend the warranty and they said no. I know that I will have to buy another GPS next year or pay every few months to have it fixed. I wish there was another GPS out there with all of these great features...I will miss them once it's dead for good. I am wondering-is it worth it to deal with this and then know I will be paying for fixes after the warranty? Probably not. I will buy another one once I hear that they are working better. Talking to other drivers I hear that they are having problems too, but like the program...too bad.

To other drivers wondering what GPS to buy? My first advice is review them everywhere! The Rand McNally 710 is a great product with problems you should be aware of before you buy. I know other GPS's that I wouldn't touch based upon what other drivers have said and some that I am looking at for 2012. In my opinion your GPS should last longer than a few months or even a year or it's just not worth buying to begin with. Also, always have two in your truck! Our jobs and safety rating are only going to get more important and these days having a GPS in your truck is almost a neccessity to keep your record clean.

If you have read my whole speel-thank you! I hope that I have listed all of my pros and cons fairly.

 

i have a cobra 7500 platinum and was thinking of getting a rand because of the weird quirks it has.
sorry to hear there is no perfect gps
i hope they get the bugs worked outof these things

 

Me too Hoss

 

Did they not offer to send you the New DC cord? Your freezing if probably due to low voltage - battery not getting a full charge and trying to run a HD Screen at the same time.

Voice, do you hear a tap when you touch the screen or is the sound just dead?

The other items in the software not working. That probably can be resolved by some file deletions and letting the Dock rebuild it. PM me for details.

Thanks,
Mark

 

Yesterday for about 60 miles on 15 N through PA & NY the on screen "Red Truck" rode about an inch to the right from the pictured highway lane. Did the hills interupt the signal or is this a sign of more glitches to come?

 

I read this post and just had to say something lol. I got my Rmcnally 710 3 months ag, its popped of the winshield cause didnt have it secured, been dropped and it still workd great, not sure what i would do with out it.

 

When this happens -

The satellite receiver it on the top of the unit midcenter.

Main screen/preferences/device/GPS Data - on bottom right is used/seen. If you have less than 4 used you may have drift off your physical location. The more you use the more you will be on your physical location. About once every 3-4 months the government will reposition the satellites and you may lose signal. Wait a few hours and you should be fine.

DOP - should be < 2, most times will be < 1. If you see 60 or 100 then you are not tracking correctly.

Sometimes if you tilt the GPS a little more towards the horizontal instead of totally vertical you will pick up a better signal if you are in the NE or mountains.

Thanks,
Mark

 

dude... you need to let it go. first off i don't believe you. if i spent 500 bucks on a peice of crap the last thing i would do is buy anouther one. i don't care what the company promissed me. secondly...you had all your imformation on it so you had to? again i would suck it up and reprogram a differnt brand rather than waste anouther 500 bucks. you had to program the first one... or did it come with all your information already in it? and thirdly(is that a word?...lol) i've read the companies profile and product information... they experience a 3% product failure with all 710's sold in north america... well within industrie standards. and no i don't work for rand. i just did my homework before choosing a gps. if the unit does fail me the last thing i'm going to do is invest in a few more of them. the truth is if you look around you can find stories like yours about every product ever made. i've looked around and out of the 50,000 units sold in north america i've found about 15 different people who have complained about total unit failure. 5O,000 divided by 3% equals 1,600 units that will fail... you were part of the 3%... we're all very sory...get over it. all of the other complaints i read about were people that didn't think the unit performed the way they expected it to...FAILED TO READ THE MANUAL AND UNDERSTAND HOW GPS'S WORK. the will experience problems with any gps they use until they finally read a manual.