Rand McNally intelliRoute TND 500

It will not route you on non-legal routes normally.
The only times I have caught it letting me on them is in some local areas where the local government put a weight limit in effect. I have told rand when I have found this several times.
It will reroute, but not in the way you are thinking. Or at least not to the degree you are thinking.
Normally if it does it then the reroute is minor, and when you get moving on the original route again it will pick up about where it was.
I had this same issue with Garmin, it would redo the route the same way, so did my TomTom. It is the nature of a GPS to look at where you are (or where it thinks you are) and find the fastest route. Many times this is not really the fastest route, on any GPS.
On the Truck ones this can be even more so, if it sees a restriction (real or imagined) on the road you want to take.
I have had several roads that I knew 100% I was legal for, but there was a spot on it that the database had wrong, so it would route you around it.
Even if the legal work around it could find was 90 miles out of the way.

I have used this unit extensively in the North East. It is pretty good. There are roads that need there restrictions changed in the database, but most are too restrictive in it. It has not sent me to a low clearance or anything like that yet. Granted I only have 20,000 miles on the unit so far, so we will see when I hit the 100,000 mark.

 

Karl, you are reading into the meanings a little too much,,

Let's say,,you missed your exit on the freeway,, the TND would sense you missed your exit and recalculate to the next legal exit to get you turned back around.

Navigation units are basically small computers with code written to "drive" the decsion making process of the TND, much like a computer. You have Hardware and Software bonding together.

No one navigation company can make the claim they are 100% bug proof..

The TND is a tool to be used in conjuction with all your other tools that you need in your business. If the TND recalculates, this does not mean to grab your MCRA.

Paragraph 5 referred to the Mapping updates..

The TND does not give the amount of parking,,,but you can get from the major travel centers a listing (small book) of all their travel centers, Pilot you will have to call. I would take the parking spaces listed with a grain of salt. I have seen 20 spots listed to actual get there and find 8.
But, I will mention to RM again about the amount of spots being listed.

RM does try hard along with the Beta Testers to make sure the TND is issue proof, but things do slip by. If a user finds a issue and contacts me via this forum or by E-mail, I work with that user to resolve the issue in a timely manner. I do not post my phone number on this forum, but many users have it now and they are always free to call. I will usually accept calls up to 9pm.. and I am always on this forum or E-Mail till about 11-mid.

My support for this forum and you the user is 7 days a week. I know the schedules you run.

If you wish a 3rd party review, contact Dieselboss (PST). He is very knowledgeable about all the TND's on the market.

Thanks,
Mark

 

will continue to use Delorme Street Atlas 2010 on lap top. Have been using them for 9-10 yrs now. Good product. Cost's $35.00. I have used Garmin before. Great product in that it will get you there but those kind of small 4-5 inch units are VERY limited in what they can do to help you. Not bad , I;m saying but soft ware supported mapping products are better....IMHO

So far my opinion.....there's not a a TRUCKER gps out there thats gonna do what they advertise. could be wrong. time will tell.

 

Navigation units are software supported. Coding and mapping are software. This can be updated via various methods. The TND can be updated via the internet while the driver is on the road. If I am correct you have to purchase a new CD to get your updates? And then they are mailed to your house?

You mention limitations. Do you own a navigation unit other that the one on your laptop? The navigation units have many resources that aid the driver in day to day decisions.

You use a laptop, mounted to the side of the driver’s seat. They are great in what they do, but you have to physically take your eyes off the road and look at the laptop. Whereas the dash mounted navigation units are in the driver’s line of sight. Less of a safety issue when you need your eyes on the road.

The TND is a very versatile navigation unit. It may not be 100% perfect and I can guarantee your software is not 100% perfect in all its routing. But, RM is working hard to find the little issues and get them corrected.

Thanks,
Mark

 

Is your BF's TND still not booting correctly? E-Mail at rmleadbetatester at gmail if he needs me to call him.

Thanks,
Mark

 

The navtech maps have a lot of errors in them too. Some really dumb errors that haven't been corrected for years. That doesn't help when all the gps units rely on them.

 

Yes Sir,,we agree,,,that is why the users input is so important. RM then can correct its Database for our users.

Mark

 

I have a few quick question about the TND
will people who buy this unit have to pay for another unit in lets say 2 years or so when features get updated or added or will it be a firmware update / software update.
can you add your own poi's to the unit from poi-factory where people have went through and made custom lists of places or even make your own poi's like newly opened truck stops
and a quick answer which is better the tnd 500 or the garman nuvi 465t

 

As a 465t owner, from what I can tell that's reported here, They're roughly equal. The garmin has a lot of weird bugs and errors (in routing and mapping, the software is pretty solid), the TND POI's sound like they're superior, but the garmin kicks the crap out of the TND for calculation speed. If you miss a turn with the garmin it will have your route recalculated before your trailer clears the intersection, every time. It also has the distance to POI's and points in history listed and updated every 0.1 mile as you're moving which the TND seems to have problems with.

I dunno really. The Rand team is working pretty hard on the unit whereas Garmin has been pretty quiet. It's a tossup at this point.

Like I said, a lot of the problems are in the maps provided by navtech too. All the gps units use these so they all end up with the same errors. Even google and mapquest use those maps with the same errors. Figure on nearly half of all known addresses not being where they are marked on the map. That's pretty sloppy work on navtech's part.

 

reposting again,,, 1st reply was lost...

hwydrifter - updates are done by software when you are shutdown and connected to an internet connection, thus ensuring you the most current updates while not at the house.

If you need to add an POI, you can save them by location into your address book.

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kajidono

quote - "but the garmin kicks the crap out of the TND for calculation speed. If you miss a turn with the garmin it will have your route recalculated before your trailer clears the intersection, every time. "

The TND re-calculates within .5 -1 sec of you deviating from your route.

quote - "Figure on nearly half of all known addresses not being where they are marked on the map."

I would narrow this down to less than 1% of an addresses being in the wrong spot. IF your unit is running about 1/2 being correct,, then that could be in your unit. I have not seen 50% of data locations being wrong. I find very few that are not where the TND says it is supposed to be.

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hwydrifter and kajidono - I would refer both of you to DieselBoss's website for a complete review of both units. He has taken an 3rd parties view and has posted the pros\cons of both.

Both units has their pros\cons. It depends on what you are looking for in a navigation unit.

Thanks,
Mark