New Rand McNally TND 85 (Huge Disappointment)

Let me start by stating that I have used Rand McNally alongside Garmin for over 10 years now. I currently have the RM TND 720 model and it has been great, not perfect but a B+ overall experience. I recently purchased the new TND 85 in hopes that it was an even greater improvement on my old 5-year-old device but it has been nothing but a huge disappointment and a waste of $500. I will list the few pros and the plethora of cons. I'm not here to bash the company as it is not my intention but I simply expected way more from a company that one may consider the defacto standard in truck navigation.

Pro's

• Much more natural-sounding voice navigation (very well done)
• Very responsive device (speed on par with mid-range Android tablets)
• Modern interface (nice polished look also a con though)
• Built-in camera(the device is not as stable as the older lighter device on the mount so the video is shaky unless you rest it on the dash)

Con's

• Navigation is absolutely horrible (u-turns on residential roads, often doesn't recognize off-ramps, doesn't recognize some roads, will take you miles out of route because of those failings despite having proper settings, rarely gives you alternate routes and when it does it will only be toll route versus no toll)
• Too expensive (iPad with truck navigation software is much more of a value)
• Very bulky/heavy (uncomfortable to use as a tablet, not as stable when mounted)
• Does not support the google store (can't install any google apps ie google maps, Gmail)
• Dock uses a dc charger instead of USB/USB-c (huge charger takes up car socket)
• It doesn’t show the county, only the city, and state (old device shows all 3)
• No "Go to Map" dedicated button (old device could go back to the map from any screen)
• Searching locations does not update the distance in real-time (old device updates distance)
• Very small text size and only the system font can be changed (nice large fonts on older device)
• POI's are very small and hard to see, often don't show at all (much larger on older device)
• Exit numbers are very small and often don’t show as well (again much larger on older device)
• It does not give the option to recalculate the route mid-trip
• Map colors are very dull and washed out making it difficult to distinguish roads (no contrast and you can't change the colors or contrast like you could on the older device)
• Limited color chooses for route color (old device had almost infinite colors)
• No change log (no idea what has been improved or fixed

Bugs

• Auto brightness not working( will blind you at night, have to manually adjust each time).
• Split-screen at night still shows bright day colors blinding you.
• Route screen dimmed difficult to see.
• Lane guidance shows for only a split second and doesn't show the distance
• When searching for truck stops/poi's near your destination it doesn't show the distance relative to the destination but instead it shows the distance from your current location. (old device shows how far away a truck stop is from your destination)
• Tell Rand constantly sends messages to my inbox once connected to the internet.
• I-81 in Virginia to Tennessee constantly says time zone change about 50 times (not exaggerating)
• Routing constantly suggests u-turn.
• Often places me on the side road or off-ramp.
• Mike marker doesn’t always update.
• Searching locations along a route only shows the map set to "north up," so the arrows point incorrectly to your heading and do not update as you move, very annoying( old device showed things relative to your heading. If you have passed a truck stop it will still show it as 20 miles or whatever away no matter how close you get.
• The app will randomly close itself back to the main screen
• The app will also close sometimes if it has to recalculate on the current route

Scores

• Device build (C-)
• UI (B)
• Navigation (F)

For comparison my old TND 720 Scores

• Device build (B+)
• UI (B+)
• Navigation (A-)

Closing thoughts

Overall, this device has failed my expectations, mainly because of the lost features from the old 5-year-old device I have and the absolutely horrible routing experience. Nearly all of this can be fixed with software updates and I have received only 2 minor updates in the last 5 months that have only added a couple of very minor things. Since I was unable to return the device I simply use it alongside my older device for comical purposes. I would not purchase again and would advise anyone to either wait or look somewhere else. I will update this post if anything majorly changes and I will also post a couple of pics showing some of the routing nonsense this thing gives you.

If anyone has something to add, let me know and I will do so. Thanks if you made it this far, lol.

U-Turn on residential road...


I'm just going 1 mile over there, lol


It doesn't recognize that upside down U exit...


2600 miles with no alternate route... this happens 95% of the time


Another U-turn at an intersection... impossible and illegal. -_-


It doesn't recognize an exit again... this happens about 70% of the time

 

Agreed, they simply needed to polish what they already had. I have reported all of the issues I have through the “Tell Rand” option but will also link them to this review.

 

Could you explain what you mean by waypoints? I googled around but couldn’t find anything other than saved points on a map, lol.