Rand McNally intelliRoute TND 500

We both know that there is some incorrect data in the mapping database, which comes from a major mapping company.

Even though the sign may be on the side of the road the TND does not know that. It only "sees" what is in the mapping database in the TND.

The sign may be posted, and it may show a weight, but what really is the road rated for in the mapping database?

What I am trying to get at is if you find a ramp\road where something is not agreeing, then funnel that information to this forum, and you know that Rand will verify the ramp\road to what is in the database to what is supposed to be there according to that state's DOT.

The folks at Rand do a truly outstanding job in verifing the information that is posted here. Sometimes within the hour. If the database is incorrect then they correct it on the spot or if it takes more work then they put in a quailty control bug.

The pop-up screen brightness is on the "bug" list of things to correct. I am sorry if bothers you each time it pops up. Try running with 4-5 TND's on the dash and having to go through the same thing.

Rand is close to pushing the next candidate for the production version to the next step. This means that hopefully within the next few weeks you will have a new version. Will the screen pop-up brightness be fixed, sadly, no, but other options have been put in place. The brightness is still on the list.

This next version will knock your socks off. A lot of upgrades to existing features and new features are added. Will they all be to your liking - probably not. I know you will find faults in these too. When we put a feature out, it has to meet the functionallity that will meet the needs of the general users. Rand has tried in many cases to put in settings so you can make the TND more to your wants and desires.

I hope you trust Rand and the Beta Team enough to know that many man-hours are put in to find all issues and to make sure all the buttons fuction as they are supposed to.

kajidono - I want you to know that you are one person that I would love to have on my Beta Team, but that said, I find you very useful as a user. You speak your mind, you let me know when something does not work right or when a feature totally falls on it's face. I trust your honesty. But, after 121 pages, can I ask you to give me your information with less drama? I truly know how you feel about issues you find. I have gone through more issue in 2 years in testing this TND than you will every know. I know that if I ask you to become a Beta Tester, you would be sorely missed on this thread as becoming a Beta Tester would limit your input to the Cons on this thread.

I find your input to be what a thread needs, a lot of new users read this thread and make a buying decsion based upon what is said on this thread. You put a fresh light on all the Cons.

You know I will follow every lead and comment posted here. This also goes to all the others whom have posted Cons also. This gives me more insight to things that the Beta team may not know about.

In case of new users to this forum, I monitor this thread 7 days a week. my normal workday is from 8am to about mid each day to include weekends. If you find a issue with your unit and cannot PM me, then E-mail me at rmleadbetatester at gmail. If I cannot resolve your issue via E-mail or phone then I will route you to Tech Support for possible unit replacement. Meaning, I will send an E-mail to Tech Support and they will contact you within usually that day. If you are from Canada, I have been known to spend hours on the phone for technical assistance.

Thanks again to everyone for all your input(s) to this thread.

Without each and everyone of you, this product could not be where it is today.

If you find a feature that you are not sure about how it works, then post that question here and I will give you more details on how a feature works with examples.

Thanks,
Mark

 

I am not going in this in detail, but if you get a E-mail from Tech Support and you are clueless as to why, then let me know in an E-mail.

rmleadbetatester at gmail.

Thanks,
Mark

 

You know, I do appreciate that they do that, but honestly, that should have been done by them before they dumped it on the unit for us to do for them for free. They get paid to do this, I don't. I don't mind helping out, but I don't like doing someone else's job for them.

I don't really care about the brightness. Not one single person has spoken up to say that they find the popups useful in any way. I hate them. At least 2 other people have said they also hate them. I can assume that Rand has heard the same sentiment from other places. Fixing the brightness does nothing. Remove the useless annoying "feature," please.

When I said the routing sucks, I didn't mean because of the restrictions. That's a separate issue. It sucks. It will not find the shortest route, it will not find the fastest route, it doesn't work right 90% of the time.

 

I had the unit out on the road playing with it a little today. I had set it up to give an audible and visual alert when speeding more than 2 miles over the posted limit. I got the visual alert but never could get it to give an audible alert. What do I need to do?

 

in 1472 version... when you go over your variable speed setting, the speed limit sign should turn red. their is no audio alert in this version.

Thanks,
Mark

 

They can remove the flag on 119 in KY near South Williamsonville.
The road was redone a few years ago. It is now a divided road actually, though they do not need to really mess with the map at this point, since the road follows the old one.
But have them check that section with the state. It is also not highlighted as a staa route in the map book, but was good road all the way to WV now. Allot of trucks on it and a great short cut. Though a little hilly.

I have been ready to throw my unit out the window a few times since I got it in OCT.
I think only the support on this board has kept me with the unit.
As a new consumer buying the unit from a truck stop and not seeing this site, I would have returned it within days. And I am sure that 75% of the people that buy it are probably doing so, or just not using it.
Since they do not know about the bugs with settings and other things. These issues have gotten this unit a bad reputation that it may never over come. We will just have to wait as we see the updates come out and see.
I would love to be able to tell people what a great unit this is, and how I would not leave home without it.
At this point I cannot. The routing bugs are still there and no via points make it hard to say that to people. All I can tell them is how great the support is and how great I think the product will probably be in the future.
I have high hopes. But I was a tester for several games that came out before they were ready due to pressure from gamers, and pressure from company's to make money asap on the products.
Every one of them crashed and burned without reaching there full potential because consumers got a bad taste in there mouths the first taste, and never came back.

 

Just for you... Rand and I spend most of the day looking at your favorite item - the weight violation pop-up.

It has been changed now in the code to only show in a certain parameter.

Will it make you happy... prob for about 10 minutes, before you find a new item to dog me about...LOL..

Thanks,
Mark

 

I could probably deal with the thing being there if they absolutely can't remove it for some reason if the thing popped up once and then dismissed itself after about 5 seconds leaving the smaller warning at the bottom. And that means once for the entire stretch of road, cause if it pops at every flag, it'll never go away. Then I could at least see where it's telling me to turn and not risk taking my attention off the road and running over some kid on a bike just because I was trying to poke at the close button.

 

Mark I've found a few other things:

1) In Quebec the unit constantly gives you "state border ahead" and "crossing state border". It can happen 10 times in a minute, and will continue happening until you leave the province.

2) The "drastically wrong mileage to destination" bug seems to occur mostly in the morning, coming out of sleep mode, while you're off any route. For example, in the middle of a truck stop. You need to be off route in order for it to happen. If it "snaps" you onto a route it won't happen.

3) Found a lot more Canadian mapping bugs, I'll give details later. Routes incorrectly through Yorkton, sk (avoids the truck route and routes you onto the 9 ton route) and just goes nuts in Dauphin, Mb.

 

Quebec, RM knows about, we found part of the problem, but am working on completely fixing it.

Wrong mileage - good info.. I will pass to my testers to see if they duplicate...

bad routing,,,,if you could,, E-Mail it to me at

rmleadbetatester at gmail.

This way I can get it to the right department faster. I will send the results back to you after they research.

Thanks a bunch.
Mark