Rand McNally intelliRoute TND 500

Well, I just took mine into another Pilot to show them what was going on with my unit and the manager opened up another box for me like you suggested... Same issue. license expired. I kept the one I originally bought for now. I will keep it and try to update it as soon as I get home. I forgot to get the serial of the unit he opened for me, but it also was a T5B model.

 

Thanks for that....

Mark

 

So do i understand correctly, it's best to update as soon as i open the box and install the upddates, before using?
Wife informed me at Xmas, she ordered me one.
Thanks inadvance.

 

That's what I was told. The only issue is if you have or use a MAC.
Then it's a rather complicated procedure. Any XP or Windows 7 box with a USB port should find/see and work with the TND 500.

When you connect it up to an XP machine you will see 2 drives that end up being mounted. In the one drive is an install program (See direction card in the box) - you run that program..It installs the "DOCK" and then when you run update within the DOCK, it will update the DOCK - then I connected the TND and updated it next.

Entire process took only a few minutes. However, I use MAC, so I had to get the upgrade file from Mark and using an SD card, was able to 'flash' my unit. Mac is not natively supported. Many software companies don't realize that the entire world doesn't run on Windows....so this isn't something totally unexpected. I am going to get this to work under VMWare Fusion, if it kills me. ..Boot camp and windows works fine by the way...I just prefer virtualization and don't want to have to reboot to run a windows application.

 

I couldn’t agree with you more. It is probably beyond the limits of technology to ever produce a "true" truck specific GPS device that will ever be good enough to be relied upon totally by professional drivers. Hence, that means that in reality these devices will always remain in effect car GPS devices enhanced with truck specific features.

In other words, by promoting that those products are "truck specific" when in reality they are not and at the same time creating that illusion in the minds of some professional truck drivers, the various GPS manufacturers have been so far very successful in getting away with charging premium prices those products.

Now, is that a good marketing and advertising ploy? Yes, from the standpoint of the various GPS manufacturers and also vendors who retail those devices, such as you, it is a very good marketing and advertising ploy.

However, from the perspective of professional truck drivers, who are required to always verify that the roads they travel on are legal for 18-wheelers, it is a genuine rip off since as you readily admit yourself because of a myriad of reasons those devices aren’t capable of providing "true" truck specific routing.

Thus, the professional truck drivers that purchase those products will inevitably end up getting short changed since in the end they will still have to manually confirm the routes that they intend to travel on are legal for 18-wheelers, exactly like they would also have to do if they were using an alternative GPS solution that doesn’t falsely claim to be something that it is not and also doesn’t charge a premium price.

Now, if those so-called truck specific GPS devices were actually capable of doing what they falsely advertise and claim to do, that is "true" truck specific routing, then it would be a very different story, but as we both agree for a myriad of reasons it is very unlikely a "true" truck specific GPS device capable of doing "true" truck routing good enough to be relied upon will ever be produced.

Further, that sort of very deceptive and false marketing and advertising creates the false illusion in the minds of some people that there are really two kinds of GPS devices, those that are truck specific and those that are not, when the fact of the matter is the real and only difference between the two products is the premium price being charged for the "truck specific" moniker and the few truck specific features you get that at least at this point are still very buggy and no way justifies the premium prices being charged.

Besides the false illusion created, it will also inevitably create a false sense of security in the minds of some professional truck driver, as many of those professional truck drivers will unfortunately assume that they can trust and rely upon those devices, since after all according to the marketing and advertising campaign, those devices are "truck specific" or so they thought, and in the hands of newbie drivers those devices could possibly make them traveling time bombs.

In any event, what really concerns me the most about those so-called truck specific GPS devices is the fact that every time you enter a weigh station, rest area, truck stop, etc. those devices will automatically recalculate the route, which inevitably will be several times each day, and because those so-called "truck specific" GPS devices are incapable of providing "true" truck specific routing, they could easily route you down roads that are not legal for 18-wheelers since those recalculated routes could possibly change each time they get recalculated depending upon where you are relative to your final destination, and that my friend makes it literally impossible for professional truck drivers to meet their requirement of always verifying the roads they intend to travel on are legal for 18-wheelers.

Hence, not only are those so-called truck specific GPS devices rip offs because they can’t do what they falsely claim to do and are extremely overpriced, but they also make it impossible for professional drivers to fulfill the requirements of their job. Indeed, if I were the vice president of safety for some truck company, because of that reason alone I would outlaw and ban the use of those so-called truck specific devices in our company.

There is that false illusion being promoted once again. Actually, whether you use the two above mentioned products, which both sell for a small fraction of the premium price being charged for those so-called truck specific GPS devices, or whether you use one of those premium priced so-called truck specific GPS devices instead, either way you will still have to manually verify the roads you plan to travel on are legal for 18-wheelers because those so-called truck specific GPS devices like the above mentioned products are incapable of doing "true" truck specific routing. Otherwise, you will be failing to do your job. Thus, the premium prices being charged for those so-called truck specific GPS devices are clearly not worth it.

Not only that but I have also seen professional truck drivers that use those above mentioned solutions with add on products that do the same thing as the so-called truck specific GPS devices. However, I must admit that I don’t know how much those add-on products cost, but still I can’t imagine them costing anywhere near as much as the premium price being charged for those so-called truck specific GPS devices.

 

Well, I got mine on sale. I made one test run with it just taking the truck in to be serviced over the weekend. It's a lot less detailed than the 465t, I have them running side by side now. The view from .2 miles out shows almost nothing while the 465t is still showing side streets and even the exact bends rivers take. Not that we'll be driving on any rivers, hopefully.

The TND won't store my home location properly, it dumps me out on the nearby highway. It also has my street named wrong. It took longer to notice I'd turned the wrong way than the 465t and took longer to recalculate once it did notice. However, it decided to go the way I wanted to go on the first recalculate whereas the 465t kept telling me to turn around and go the way it wanted for about 7 miles.

The POI's seem to be much better on the TND, but still incomplete. I tried the tell rand function to add in a truck stop I park the trailer at sometimes and I noticed how bad the keyboard is. The screen registers the clicks, makes the sound, recolors the button, and then does nothing. I tried 6 times to get the tiny spacebar to work then gave up and ran the rest of the message together after much backspacing and annoyance. Since the screen, which is higher quality than other other units I've had, seems to register fine, it seems to be more bugs in the software.

The TND has a bigger screen but the space has been wasted by making everything on it that much bigger. Being able to scale the icons to preference would help out a lot. The only way to see your current speed is by opening the turn list which covers most of the map. If the button for the turn list was the bar across the top, like the 465t, then you'd have space where that button was to put a speed readout.

I like the way you don't have to drag something across the screen to move the map around, just click off center and the map scrolls in that direction. It's not much help if 90% of the map is totally blank. It really need the zoom levels fixed and more detail available farther out. Like a normal atlas.

Anyway, first impressions. Between the two units I think I almost have one complete gps unit. I don't regret buying the TND and I look forwards to seeing how Rand continues to improve on their unit. That's more than I expect from Garmin at this point. Their unit is just goofy.

 

when you are in a route and on the map page...click the upper right where arrival time/time remaining/speed are located without opening the turn-by-turn list.

Thanks,
mark

 

Looks like I won't make it home till next weekend to try and get my gps working. I have tried two different units, both T5B models and both have had the same issue of expired map license. Do you think if I can find a pilot that has a T5C model, it might work without needing to be updated first?

 

Ah ha. Thanks. I'd be nice if it showed the arrival time and the speed at the same time though. That bottom bar seems underutilized. More display options for it would be good.

Just playing around, there doesn't seem to be any way to enter the road where I used to live. Having multiple ways to enter a state highway instead of one seemingly random one would help. I know that's a problem on most units.