Support Thread for the TND 500, TND 700 or future Rand McNally products. (part two)

if the route was right before I took the off ramp then SOULDN'T it be the same route when i get back on the same freeway.....?
the truck stop (pilot) was a via stop on the route

 

Then I will stay with this version if it ends up not locking up.. Its been nice to have the #### thing work right after a year of having it be a dead POS. It managed to go all the way thur Portland today and back without locking up once. I thought I was in a dream.

 

I am having issues with my 720 that I don't seem to be finding a solution for, but I thought I'd add an interesting bit or two here...

First, one issue I've noticed is that there are a great many places where the unit will say to keep to the left, when you're actually wanting to go straight. I've also noticed that changing options to check an alternate route, and reverting to previous settings will give a different route than originally given. Example. Changing SHORTEST to FASTEST, or ALLOW ALL to PREFER FREEWAYS to check an alternate configuration, then reverting to the original route settings given has given me a different route than I was given the first time. Basically, the original route is not always completely restored after reverting from the alternate, even though the settings were changed to the same as they were before.

Possible map issue that needs to be fixed...

Richmond, Virginia. VA Route 288 is a popular and efficient bypass to avoid Richmond city traffic to get to I-95 South from I-64 heading east into Richmond, but for some reason the 720 I own will not route this way on its own. Strangely, it will route to I-295 North to bypass city traffic going north to I-95. VA-288 is a four-lane divided highway, much like any interstate, and is an approved truck route, but the 720 does not route it unless recalculating if you drive onto VA 288 instead of its direction of I-64 to I-95. VA-288 runs from I-64E MM 177-ish to I-95 MM 69-ish, just below Bells Road. My unit will not route VA-288 from either direction. Perhaps map data for this road is insufficient? It is indeed a legal and safe truck route, per a Virginia State Trooper.

Side note... There are some things I have thought would be nice to have, if the instability has truly been cured.

1) Hovering display of remaining DOT drive and on-duty time, and for remaining time to destination / destination arrival time to appear in red or alternating red/white if it is more than DOT time available. Could help in changing plans when dealing with unexpected traffic jams and such.

2) When finding POIs near your current route, show distance from current route as well as distance from current location / destination.

3) Individual warning settings for different situations. (i.e., allow setting audio/visual for one setting as opposed to visual only for another, or audio only for another.

4) When address book entries appear on view, allow display of the entry's information near the thumbtack/icon. Could also help in planning 30-minute breaks if a favorite stop is unexpectedly near or along the planned route.

5) When route option settings force an inefficient or excessively long route, offer to suggest a more efficient one. Some of us have to change settings for one reason or another and forget.

6) Allow building a custom route by road. The detour function can work pretty well, but sometimes it just doesn't quite result in the route I am looking for. And there are times when one toll road is allowable, but not another. One example is that on a particular run, I tend to favor US-6 over US-20 between Portage IN and Ashley IN. Both dump on I-69, but I have found US-6 to be a much easier drive for a number of reasons, and while I am allowed the minor toll as I-80 gives way to I-94, the 80-90 is out of the question. Therefore, it would be nice to be able to build a custom route road-by-road, and save as a preferred route, as opposed to simply marking a trail on the map.

 

When will this update be available?

 

I have found many instances of this type of behaviour all across the country and believe the problem is that taking the 288 south to the 95 is a few miles longer than staying on the 64 to the 95 south so the unit will not route that way. You really need to plan some trips ahead esp if you decide to take a bypass that is longer in miles. There have been many times that I had taken a different route and the unit wanted me to turn around and go back until such time as the mileage differential was eliminated.
Sometimes the routing just gets pretty wacky but other brands of GPS are no better, just the nature of the beast LOL

 

I have found my preferred cheat method to be to pick a point of interest in a town along the road I want it to take, add as via, then simply skip to next stop a couple miles before it directs me off route. Helps to prevent me from tricking myself into going a route I didn't want to.

Like you said, takes a little extra planning/babysitting. That's why I think it would be nice to be able to build a custom route by road or be able to swap out portions of the selected route for specific alternate roads.

Maybe a mobile wifi could help this with a traffic detour? Trouble with that is, traffic detours usually do me no good because they don't present themselves until it's too late.The detour function usually will find what you want, albeit after tossing a couple alternates, but if it doesn't, you have to get creative.

Here's an idea... how about being able to record a trail for permanent "avoid if possible"? Could be handy for marking commonly congested areas.