Suppport Thread for the TND 500, TND 700 or future Rand McNally products.

Still experiencing the US36 "bug" (I suppose). Is anyone else having this issue when attempting to route of Il through Mo and into Ks where the device apparently defaults to US36 instead of I70? This seems to be especially true when comming off I72 in IL.

Opps...please insert TND700 or 710 for "device" both did and are doing this.

Had it set to fastest the other day and the thing routed I35n out of Kansas City to US34 across Kansas-cannot understand this since a two lane highway is not as fast as an interstate (in most cases).

Mark-k7tkr

 

To Mattbnr:

If I understand your question correctly; input of directions: for PC Miller, I used the destination Zip Code, for the balance, I used the complete civic address. Other parms used were; truck only, truck length/weight/loaded, routes allowed/disallowed, avoid U-turns, dirt roads/tunnels, route: fastest then shortest.

As you pointed out and I agree, with the exception of PC Miller, none of the other solutions were truck tools. The point I'm making is that despite this glaring discrepancy, all the other solutions provided a better route than the TND; shortest/direct, and I might add were consistent in the results plus the results were all truck worthy.

So I return to my original problem, how does the TND510 calculate its route and if one is traveling in the correct direction and there are no restricting factors along the way, why does it continue to reroute to its original plan, that of a longer route and why do other non-truck units appear to provide a better solution route-wise? (I need to add that when using any non-truck unit, I consult a paper map for trucks to counter-verify. Now the question begs to be asked, if using paper maps, why use a GPS in the first place. Hey, you're right on that one. I over-plan my routing, I guess. But ####, I don't get into trouble. A GPS helps when distracted with others things like traffic, it's a reminder/prompter.) On the positive side, it's great on final approach: "Approaching destination in 900 ft on the right side".

I believe that how a road is defined could be the issue; winding road, speed limit definitions, etc., and there are probably hundreds of permutations used to define a route choice but I could be wrong there.

 

To K7tkr,

I had a similar "hicup" last week traveling from St. Louis MO to Detroit, MI. The unit would not use US-24 or I-69 without force from Indianapolis, even though this is the straightest and shortest route to Detroit. Instead, it wanted to route through Dayton OH through to I-75, a much longer and costly route fuel-wise. This is the kind of thing I've come to expect from the TND. Mine is the 510. I guess both the 710 and 510 share the same programming.

 

Rand TND's are FAR from perfect. Mine is constantly trying to route me a different way though I know is the better/quicker/shortest route. Some of the extra's are nice on the unit, but as for routing it certainly is not any better than any other GPS out there.

 

Thank you!

 

I am considering replacing my 700 with a 710. I have been very happy with the 700.

I have looked through this thread for an answer to the question I am about to ask and didn't find it. I suppose I may have simply missed it, but here goes.

Is there a way to transfer/copy my address book from the 700 to the 710 if I do decide to switch?

 

Mark answered that earlier do partial back up on ur 700 an then do a restore on ur 710 using tnd dock.

 

Does anyone know where to get an external antenna for the 710. I checked RM website and did not see it there. Can any gps antenna work?

Thanks,

 

They are pretty standard. You can get them at a lot of online places and sometimes at radio shack or Best Buy, etc. Just make sure you get the straight, round, "brass-looking" connector. See the picture I attached to this post. I've got them for $29 plus $5 shipping but they aren't up on my site yet, so that order would have to be phone in.

 

Can the 510/710 import custom poi's? I have a slew of personal ones(thousands) that I use on my garmin c550. I load up their poi loader program on my pc and it sticks them all on the gps under custom locations.

Can something similar be done for the TND models?

And how is the route calculation speed on the 510/710?

Also, one nice feature about the garmin is it will show you what cross street is next on the top of the screen when there is no route programmed in. If this is not a feature, plz consider it a suggestion. Thanks.