Rand McNally 510,s 520..ect Be Careful

I wasn't defending anyone else. My reaction was formulated while reading your OP, and I only scanned the other replies to make sure the point I was making hadn't already been asked and answered.

You still haven't really addressed it, though. If you realized the RM510 was junk on your trip out to Calif---ya, why would you buy another RM GPS knowing they use the exact same maps and routing formulas across ALL of their devices? A different manufacturer MIGHT source the maps from the same place, or perhaps they get their info elsewhere (something to look into). They are sure to have a different routing formula, though, because they have different engineers writing the software.

At any rate, if the RM510 didn't work in your area, common sense would dictate not to expect the RM520 to do any better. It may have worked fine elsewhere...which if you were still elsewhere I could understand trading in on a newer RM device. However, once you discovered the RM510 was junk where you were wanting to use it, buying the RM520 was a waste of money.

 

In preferences/Routing you have settings and they are the same for both Car/Truck. You have a fastest or shortest setting.

You are not uploading Maps to the unit. You are filling out a form called a "TellRand." When you Dock it, it sends this information to the GIS department at RM. They in turn verify if the information needs to be acted on and if so will act accordingly. If it is a map issue they bulk them to HERE and the it is up to HERE to act upon that information. HERE is another company that is not associated with Rand. HERE is a Mapping database company.

I don't need a list of all the roads, give me a few examples. Since you do this daily you must run into one at least once a day.

"Layers" RM is not adding anything. If the road is missing in the HERE Database then RM will submit it to HERE for action. It can take up to a year or two for HERE to insert it in their map database.

The US and Canada has millions upon millions of roads. It is an huge task making sure all are in the Map Database. You have to remember, not too long ago around 2008 the stand alone GPS units entered the market. For HERE they just did not appear when the first road was made. Computers came into a common usage in the 80's. So the monumental task was undertaken to enter in the HERE map database all the information that was available at the time. They had to go to states to get this information. All was hand entered so this took time. Information is still verified and entered. So it is not uncommon for roads to have been missed.

Private roads - Unless they are part of the State road system they will not be in the database.

Security Gates - Not part of a road system.

Reservations - Unless the local Government reports to the State then it probably will not be in the map database.

Google Maps uses their cars to track and record, plus satellites. As I explained a few times this is strictly street views. If HERE wishes to use this data I am sure that they will have to pay a licensing fee for the use of the complete maps. After all this is business.

When you buy a unit, part of that cost is for the licensing fee to use the maps.

Google Maps would have to build a bigger database to entail all the parameters of the road systems, then it would take years for all this information to be entered.

I see one issue and one issue only in your writings. You are trying to find roads and they don't seem to be in the Maps. So give me a few examples so I can verify.

Mark

 

Those were YOUR WORDS, not mine or anybody else's. YOU said the 510 you were using at the time couldn't get it right. YOU said your family told you to throw the thing out the window. YOU said you had to rely upon your dad's phone instead of the 510 you were using at the time...and yet you STILL bought the 520 expecting it to somehow work in an area the 510 proved to be useless. Now you're upset that it doesn't work, even though you should have expected it to fail miserably based upon the incomplete maps and horrible routing the 510 was giving you out there. How it performed in Chicago is irrelevant, since you needed it to work in Calif---ya. You knew the 510 didn't work in Calif---ya, and yet you bought the 520 expecting it to work where the 510 did not. Same map source. Same routing formulas. Same results, as should have been expected.

 

Now now... let's ease off....

 

It does tell you are going the wrong way, just not in a BIG bold letter. If you are going the wrong direction than what it wants, it will recalculate 3 different times then redo the route based upon the direction you are going. The unit is not the tied to the gray matter, it simply determines your Lat/Long and then the direction you are going. It does not know you are going the wrong way. It simply sees you going in a different direction either by accident or on purpose.

#1 - I hope you are on a hands free phone since it is illegal in CA to use a phone while driving and also DOT Federal law for CDL A drivers to use a phone except hands free and then 1 button pushing.

It does not calculate distance in the manner you are thinking. It takes the Lat/Long and then determines distance. Mile Markers that show are in the Map Database.

Now if you had noticed on the screen, upper left is a turn arrow. It tells you the distance to the next turn.

I am still waiting on at least one street it does not show.

Now since you have an 520, what kind of SD Card are you using? Tell me what the Card has on it and if the speed of the Card has a "C" or an "U" around it. It should be a 8 gb or 16gb class 4-10, but not any of the Evo, Ultra, or Ultra Plus cards. The data cannot be read correctly by the 520 since the hardware is not set to read the higher type of SD Cards.

Mark

 

11 days now and you have not yet posted one road the TND could not find. You seem to go home every night, have time to talk to everyone on the phone. Could you carry a pen and paper next time you are out and run across a road the TND cannot find, write it down and then actually post it here?

 

Still waiting for at least one road???? Just one??

 

California is the worst state i'm guessing for probably ALL truck gps's.

Copilot didn't like that state much either.