Would you buy the Rand 720 or upgrade to the newer 730?

There is a difference between upgrading and buying one.

If I didn't have a Truck GPS and was looking at the Rand McNally units.
I would buy the 730.


I have the 720 now, there's no way I would upgrade to the 730.

 

I'd buy the newer one.

Prob a bigger tax write off.

I'd look for the one that doesn't automatically recalculate traffic and put you into car mode.

Calculating.
Calculating.
Calculating.

Really hate that feature on garmin and not being able to disable it. Sure you can use trip planner but its so inconvenient. Have to press stuff xD

 

Neither. I would buy something that is updated on a reasonable time frame.

Consider "smart truck route" for smart phones. $100 for a 3-year subscription, updates released daily instead of >1 year like RM. Google traffic & satellite images are included and no extra fee (traffic costs extra with RM & satellite view not available).

Why pay for hardware RM is just going to render obsolete in 2 years?


Two examples of popular roads not currently supported on the RM 720:

TX 130 (~2 years old)
US 24 between Fort Wayne & Toledo (~2 years old)

RM has pieces of them (or old sections), but not the current completed version so it doesn't route you on them & even tries to route you off them once you're on...

 

Rand macnally lets lets you set it for manual recalculate.

i have the 720...as long as you keep it updated it works great...

rand mcnally actually gave me another 720 for free.. i had the old 710 and had purchased the lifetime updates chip..after 3 years using it 24/7 it crashed so i got the 720 to replace it. Figured 3 years service was pretty good. While i was registering the 720 by phone the guy asked what happened to my 710 i had registered. When i told him he said they would replace it for free since i had purchased the update chip. Now i got a spare 720..

 

rand mcnally no longer does the annual updates. They release them as soon as they come out now.

the smart phone apps will get you in trouble..i have tried them

 

They don't update the maps as they come out -- that's the problem. Your map database was released in August 2013. They've been sitting on their latest map database since at least February due to a "business decision." The just released 730 has the new maps by the way.

The "updates" you get every couple weeks are for construction zones.

 

More ~ 2 year old road improvements not currently supported on the 720:

CA65 bypass around Lincoln, CA
CA86 bypass around Brawly, CA

 

About 3 months ago or so mine did a huge map update.. took quite a long time even on my dsl service at home.

 

Typo? Us65 in Cali?
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Route_65