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

I like having both. Google Maps is the bomb as far as I am concerned. I've been out here long enough to know what roads I should stay off and consult my Road Atlas if there's any doubt. But Google Maps has saved me many times with detours out of major traffic.

With the stand alone truck GPS I have further guidance when Google recommends a detour. And the real reason I have it is for another GPS locator. My phones sometimes lose my location occasionally, and sometimes at the worst of moments. The Rand GPS has not lost me yet. My WiFi is constantly running since I have unlimited Verizon.

 

Smart Truck Route is not Google maps... It uses the Microsoft satellite view and Google Earth if you click on it, but when in standard view, it looks just like a GPS.

Strange you loose your cell signal... In the last 28 days, on Verizon, I have lost signal all of one time in 13K miles, from Louisiana, to LA, to WA and OR, MT, ND, blah blah blah. The nice thing about the app is it keeps the entire route onboard once you create it, so while buildings and landscape blur, the highways and your vehicle icon are still there and moving along. Not sure how that works, but it does.

I have had my 520 lock up, loose signal, not turn on and take me on some crazy routes. This app doesn't do any of that, and I like the idea of total support. Emails are answered within hours and phone support is available and free.

I also like having the truck stops, weigh stations, traffic, road closeurs, buildings and all the other things right on the screen. The app updates almost every day. Probably the best feature is being able to view via Earth the receiver, see the driveway, tap the driveway and have the app route me right into it... No more guessing and turn around... How many places do we go where the mailing address is blocks away from the dock?? Can you say Coors, Golden, CO? Have fun on that mountain 2-lane looking down on the brewery! That's where the TND takes you!

 

BTW, you can get an 8" 4G tablet from Verizon right now for $19. That and the $1/week for the app makes the app the obvious choice. By the time you have spent enough to equal the cost of the TND, it'll be outdated...

 

I have 2 phones, an old Samsung Note 2 which I use mostly for audio books , podcasts, and Google Maps. It stays mounted on the windshield. It is connected to the Verizon hotspot I have running WiFi at all times. My other phone is a Nexus 5 which I use with Ting, a Sprint MVNO which is very low cost, the phone is paid for.
I don't lose cell signal, sometimes the GPS loses location on the Samsung which would be the device I would use if I got a truck route app. I don't mount the Nexus 5 because I don't like to have to unplug and dismount every time I get out of the truck.
Also I am listening to audio books, podcasts,music, etc on the Samsung. I simply do not want to run a truck route app on it. I use Google Maps on it for traffic and detours and the TND 530 is always on as well. So I never lose my location if one or the other craps out. These are two separate GPS locator chips running. One in the phone, the other in the TND.
If I ever want to get a truck route app I will consider the one you mention. But my setup is perfect for my situation.

I do not buy phones or tablets on contract. Talk about spending a lot of unnecessary money. The stand alone GPS will last me 10 years if it's never updated again. I don't need all the truck routing and information though it does come in handy and provide guidance in some situations. And Google Maps will always be updated and it is free. Or I can use any other number of apps. I like the stand alone because I don't have to mess with it. With my phone I might have an incoming call, want to go to a podcast or music, and have to unplug it every time I get out of the truck. I don't want to have to be constantly messing with it to change apps or screens.

 

Mark Kling... I am an IT consultant for a small trucking company that has purchased (5) TND-730LM's in the last 4 months. We are trying to establish a common address book to share amongst all the drivers and I was wondering if you could tell me the easiest way to modify the address book? I understand that I can backup one unit from within the Dock software and then restore that particular backup to the other units, but it wipes out the individual's info, preferences, history, etc.

1) Can I copy the address book file only from the one unit's Navi\User\ folder and paste it into the other unit's Navi\User folder?

2) If not, can I open the address book file from each unit using SQLite and make the changes directly to the database?

3) I assume I can make changes to a master copy of an Excel csv file and then upload it to each unit, but that would be very time consuming, especially as they prefer the locations grouped by State and vendor and it took forever to group them.

 

Does anybody use this service? Seems like a no brainer at $20/yr. I've got a TND520 I never use but now going from dedicated job to a P&D gig I'll need directions again. Only thing I'm curious about is the data usage it would require. Only way I could feed it would to to use my phone as a WiFi hotspot and I don't have unlimited data. I've got 3GB/month so it's not bad but not sure how much this thing would eat up. Anybody have any usage numbers that may help?

 

Thanks Mark, was going to ask there but figured that was more for problems.