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

Discussion in 'Trucking Electronics, Gadgets and Software Forum' started by Mark Kling, Jul 7, 2014.

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  1. Everett

    Everett Crusty Shorts, What???

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    have u got the volume turned up , if so , may need a new speaker, they will redo the whole unit if 730 rnd if out of warranty for 100 bucks, but i run threw the updates threw it first
     
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  3. Everett

    Everett Crusty Shorts, What???

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    wouldnt it be nice the made a cordless gps and blue tooth gps u can run from your smartphone, hate all these power chords
     
  4. Dieselboss

    Dieselboss Technology Contributor

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    Huh?

    I guess I misinterpreted the sentence "anyone used the garmin dezl? wondering how it compares?" as asking about a different brand in the Rand support thread.

    We have both used every Rand model since the first TND500. Have I conducted a dB test? (dB being a precise measurement of sound under controlled, repeatable, environmentally modulated circumstances) No, I don't own a dB meter. And I can guess that no product support employee has dB data either.

    Since I don't own any of the newer Garmin models, even if this was a Garmin related thread, I couldn't comment on their volume. I pointed you to several threads where dozens of Garmin owners ARE commenting however, and they probably would respond there for you if you don't yell at them.

    As far as a Rand-to-Rand comparison I can tell you that in every day usage, the 720 and 730 when using the "Samantha" voice are the loudest of their line. Those have the largest speaker of all of the models at 3 watts. The 520 and 530 are next loudest at 2 watts. The to me, the tablets are the quietest. If you use any of the other voices, they are quieter because the sound modulator for Samantha seems to be definitely louder than the other female voice for instance.

    I have some drivers who come in that do not use the sound AT ALL because the yacking irritates them. I have others who are either hard of hearing, or their truck is very loud, or both. Sometimes they want to use the GPS (no matter what brand) in a "audio mode" where they rarely glance at the screen and they want the audio to be very loud. In those cases, I recommend an external speaker higher than 3 watts. I mount the $49 Riptide speaker just over their left shoulder behind them on the wall with a Ram arm as my personal favorite. Or on the left side of the dash near the windshield. But there are a zillion other wired and wireless speakers out there now as well. The other way is to plug in a $12 FM transmitter to the GPS and broadcast it nice and loud through the truck FM stereo.
     
  5. jspyderr

    jspyderr Bobtail Member

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    Diesel boss, sorry if you missed my first post or found it vague. TND 700 volume ok, don't remember the 710 but I imagine it was the same (sucks they no longer offer map updates). TND 720 volume great, actually advertised an "upgraded speaker" (terrible battery life, so when the cigarette lighter plug wiggles your done, pull it down look for reset button and a pin, don't wreck). Now with 2 different TND 730, from loves in different states, 50% less volume. $400 truck gps, should work well in trucks, without buying more speakers and having more power cords or stuff on the dash. It sounds like you or Mark do not know of any difference in speaker volume and RM does not have db levels that they are releasing to compare. So I should keep warranting units at loves until I find a good one. Problem is I have only a month to do that or exchange for something more expensive. Being gone for a week at a time doesn't give me many chances to take care of it. And if they truly are not as loud, im just wasting my and everyone else's time (much like restarting my truck to fix a flat).
     
    Last edited: Aug 27, 2016
  6. Dieselboss

    Dieselboss Technology Contributor

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    Which voice are you using? There are two female voices on mine and Samantha is about 30% louder than the other one. I put a 720 and a 730 side by side to test for your previous post question and they were about even using the same voice settings.

    But there is one more possibility. Rand has the ability to modify the volume in either the software or the firmware (I am not sure which.) It is possible that on some revision they toned down the volume on the 730 to reduce speaker burnout. My units are all "rev zero" so it may be that the current rev has been toned down. Only Mark or someone in engineering could answer that. They are limited somewhat by the laws of physics. They could put like a 5 watt speaker in there and the result would be a larger case, a LOT less battery life, and a higher price tag.

    However, none of them are designed to be run on battery for more than a few minutes. They are meant to be plugged in. Even my new Galaxy S6 phone only lasts about 1 hour on a full charge if I am navigating with it and have the volume all the way up. And it has half the amount of screen as a 7" GPS.

    You are obviously an "audio eccentric" type of user. Or maybe your truck is loud as well. Like I said, I have users that turn it down because it is too loud. If every one that you get is indeed quieter because of a revision change, then it won't matter how many you exchange. However there is one home-made way to make it louder that I have used without transmitting it to a Bluetooth speaker. (By they way, that can be done without any extra cords in the truck during the drive day, but the speaker does need to be recharged at night for the next day.) You can put a "reflector" about 3 inches behind the speaker. If they put the speaker on the front, then the noise would come right at you. But with it on the back it is going away from you and needs to bounce off the windshield or dash to come back at you. If you take a small cardboard cut, or plastic, whatever you can find, and put a little 3 inch tall wall behind the GPS, the sound will get considerably louder.

    In terms of the power cord, though this has been said here about 100 times, you should wrap the cord 2 times around the neck of the mount arm before plugging it into the GPS. And that goes for any brand. I have a every model they have ever made and none have a loose power socket because they never have strain on the cord there.
     
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  7. jspyderr

    jspyderr Bobtail Member

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    Diesel boss. I love your answer, so much information, thank you very much! I do appreciate your help and time spent on it.

    Yes, I use Samantha. It seems, I'm accustomed to a women telling me what to do and haven't tried another voice, since settling on her years ago.

    Your findings on 720 vs 730 is very interesting. I honestly wondered why others hadn't complained about speaker volume. And it sounds like at least initially they were the same. You could very well be correct, that they had speaker issues and toned them down to prevent further failure. Something Mark should be able to confirm or deny for us. If they have, I would also suspect further complaints to follow. Ironically, the speakers have never given me any problems at all on any unit we have owned previously.

    My issue with the older model battery life: Honestly I wouldn't care if they had no battery at all, that's not how I ever use a auto/truck gps. But that, I have found, is short sided on my part. You really need the battery to prevent voltage fluctuations and power drop outs from the cigarette lighter plug being jarred loose. With a decent battery, you have few minutes to plug it back before gps quits operating. When the battery fails (they certainly do, im guessing its the main failure of unit), a slight loss in connection causes the unit to lock up, freeze, die, ect. Yes, it does happen a lot on our rough highways. The springy parts on the side of the cigarette lighter plug could be stronger causing more friction and the part sticking out could be smaller reducing the effects of gravity on the plug. A power point adapter with a cord that allows you to put it on the dash (flat surface) seems to help it stay in, the weight of the cord is no longer pulling it down and wiggling it.

    Yes, I use the gps a great deal of the time as reminder not to miss a turn while day dreaming. This part I did not want to say because i didn't want to get sucked down a rabbit hole of blaming me or my truck. My truck is older and the cab is a bit loud. Which means the radio has to be turned up a little bit more and gps has to compete with both. That said, previous models did that just fine. Its almost like they designed it to work in a loud truck environment.

    I appreciate your suggestion of the reflector. It works much the same way on an ipad or iphone. Cup your hand around the back of ipad to make it louder or drop your iphone in a cup holder it helps quite a bit. I don't believe that is a route I want to take for various reasons in my truck environment.

    Your suggestion of wrapping the power cord is an extremely good one. They happily seem to have addressed that issue in the 730. There is a clip on both sides of the arm and it holds the cable extremely tight. The cable is also more robust, not sure the problem was ever really in the cabling itself, though its nice to see the effort.

    I did have another thought, not ideal but perhaps a work around while I try sort this out. I have a headphone input in my stereo. The stereo would have to be on aux but I could send the sound there. For most people that would probably not work as they probably listen to the radio. I listen to podcasts thru aux input all the time anyway. So I could get a long headphone cord and a 2 to 1 adapter and have both feeding into the radio. At first I thought this would not work as the radio had to be louder on the gps than on podcasts to hear (I tried this already, just one at a time). So I still would not hear the gps over the podcasts and my mind only thought to turn gps up, which I couldn't. But I could ofc turn the podcasts down and as long as I could turn the radio up enough it should work.

    Anyway, I find I'm still at the same question. Have they lowered the speaker volume on these new units (software/firmware revisions) or am I just getting bad units. Ball is still apparently in Mark Klings or RM court, if either will respond.

    Thx again for your help and effort with my issue.
     
    Last edited: Aug 27, 2016
  8. dodgeram440rt

    dodgeram440rt Heavy Load Member

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    Be patient with Mark. He is at the GATS truck show in Dallas and has limited wifi access at his hotel. He explained this a couple days ago. I'm sure once he gets back home, he will jump right back into answering everyone's questions.
     
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  9. Dieselboss

    Dieselboss Technology Contributor

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    Well, that is even better. You are correct. If you put a 2-1 input adapter into your stereo aux jack you will hear both the podcasts and the GPS thru the stereo. That should solve your audio issue right there without any extra power cords. Most drivers do not need to listen to the GPS when they know that the next 500 miles are highway. They tend to just turn it up when approaching where they need to get off the interstate. Unless they are a local route driver, 90% of their miles are on long stretches of interstate whereby they don't need directions.

    And your power cord/socket comment. We fight this across the industry ALL the time. Most trucks that pull into my shop are just like everyone reading this: They have 5 - 10 things to plug in and not enough sockets. So they use various splitters and direct wire tricks. And every socket gets loose in short order. Easily over 50% of the sockets and cords that I see are loose in one way or another if the truck or the device is even a year old. There are things you can do, but it involves some in-cab engineering (I call it.) You can install a splitter as long as you budget the devices on that splitter to not exceed the circuit fuse. You can also direct wire another splitter to an unused circuit in the fuse panel. But in terms of cords, they always rattle out. I drove in NorCal on the interstate a few months ago and I though their roads were going to cause permanent neck damage. Trucks rattle - A LOT. Especially certain models and older rigs. You simply have to take a little time and secure your power connections via tape, zip-ties, whatever. If you do, then your plugs won't rattle out and cause lockups.
     
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  10. FlexinTarzan

    FlexinTarzan Medium Load Member

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    While one 730 was in shop for repairs I had to purchase another 730 and low and behold...the new unit is not as loud as my older 730 and glad I am not the only one to notice the toned down volume even though it is on max.... What is the FIX ? also the High contrast does not function on new unit ?
     
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  11. jspyderr

    jspyderr Bobtail Member

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    I don't know of any true fix for the gps. I have not gotten a response from Mark (out of town I hear) or RM (servers may have been down Friday). I'll post what they say. It couldn't hurt for you to try and get ahold of them too though.
     
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