Rand McNally TND 700

Got him up and running Last Friday...

thanks

Mark

 

I've had the 700 for about 3 weeks. It's a pretty good unit. I like all the features and the routing. Haven't had any trouble yet with it finding an address which is a huge plus. Just have one issue as far as I can tell and that is once or twice a week it freezes up and I have to turn it off then back on but I think every unit with every brand does this cause there are alot of things these units are trying to process all at once especially in 3d view mode. All 3 of my tomtom's have froze up at times as wells as my garmin and a lowrance unit I've had before. Just like computers, everyone's computer has froze up from time to time and gps units are alot like a computer. But I'm sure this is something every gps manufacture works on to get fixed and I doubt any of them will have a true anti freeze fix. And I know some of you out there will respond and say your garmin or whatever manufacturer gps you have has never froze but before you post it remember, "don't jenks yourself!" I really like the POI's in the 700 and they have done a good job with them even with the truck stop POI's you can search for a fuel stop and filter results by what the truck stop has food wise or service wise and by even what fuel cards they accept which I really commend Rand McNally for that.

 

Ok, pulled the trigger and ordered a TND 700 from DieselBoss yesterday. Looking forward to putting it to work. The TND wouldn't have even made it onto my radar with out this forum. Turns out; it was the winner lol.

However, I am seriously disappointed in the nearly non-existent after markets accessories for this item. Can anybody tell me if the TND has a sister unit somewhere selling under another name so that I can purchase a dash mount, and maybe a hard wire kit for this thing? Mitac???????

I am guessing its just a 5volt unit, so I could splice and dice an additional power cord (if I can find one) or even a USB to 12v for hard wiring under the dash. I really shouldn't have to do this, this is all simple stuff that Rand McNally should have already provided as option to its customers.

Just too many wires laying on top of the dash already.

 

There is one important thing or feature I notice that is missing from the Rand Mcnally GPS is like a Breakdown feature, it really needs a feature to help you find a closeby truck repair shop or tire shop like the NTTS Breakdown directory. This or something like this would make this the absolute all around perfect truck GPS. A POI finder feature called Repair and Service or something of the kind to search and find whatever shop you are in need of service.

 

How is the Rand Mcnally 700 working out? A fellow driver has recommended RM to me as he said its had the most positive response from drivers. He is running PC Miler and looking to change

 

I'm loving my Rand McNally TND 700! I highly recommend it.

 

I like mine a lot too. She is doing better routing than I had hoped for. Although it occasionally wants to take me in a direction that makes zero sense. But, that's what double checking with a paper map is all about. Simple enough to avoid that situation, just double check it with a paper map!

The Timers feature is a huge disappointment. Too bad I cant just shut it off. Looks to me like its basically designed to keep track of one day, and one day only. Somebody may find that of value, but not me. I can generally keep track of the current day, its the previous 6 or 7 I have trouble with. I was hoping it was at least as good as a log book calculator, its not. Seems like they have started working on a really valuable feature, but went into production with only about 10% of what a trucker actually needs.

Logs feature is awesome (oddly named though?) I am hoping they will take this a few steps further and let user break down as a trip by trip option. This would be a much more user friendly feature. For now I will have to delete mileage for each trip before beginning a new one. Making the "review by year" feature useless. I am required to report miles at the end of every trip, not by month or by year.

I have noticed that for each state I run the IntelliRoute shows 4 less miles exactly than the odometer. I am guessing my odometer is off by one of two ways. Either my tires (nearing the end of their life) are now smaller in diameter, and this is where the discrepancy comes in, or I have a wacky vehicle speed sensor that's counting just a tad faster than it should. Either way, im pretty sure its my truck thats at fault, and not the GPS.

All in all, I love this thing. With only a single 4K mile trip under my belt with the IntelliRoute I dont ever want to be with out one again. I was apprehensive about getting something as big as a 7" screen, now I love it. The speakers are clear and adequate, touch screen feedback is very good. Too bad we cant refine (weed-out) a few more of the unneeded POI's, leaving only whats desired. CPU's could be much faster, with POI's turned on, it took more than 5 minutes to calculate an 1800 mile route. Oooops, dont miss a turn, and expect it to get ya back on route before the next exit, aint gonna happen. I learned to turn off the unnecessary features at critical routing times (leaving?entering a big city) and turn them back on when I have hundreds of miles to do nothing but drive.

Choose destination feature is awesome. Cant wait to see what future refinements they may come up with.

Manual map scrolling is a little ratchety and awkward, definitely room to improve. I would also like a faster way to zoom out to see the "big picture" of overall route. Also, seeing 6000 rest areas all over the US is of no use. Would be nice if once a 20-50 mile zoom level was reached POI automatically shut off. Cant see the forest for all the trees, ya know...

Never did get an answer to my hard wire question. Like I stated earlier, I have plenty of car chargers laying around my truck. Would be awesome if there was a factory made hard wire option from Rand McNally. If not, I will by a spare charger to slice and dice for hard wire purposes.

Most of my issues with this unit are minor, I really do love it and hope they continue to improve. Would buying a 2nd one strictly as a back up be excessive LOL I am seriously considering doing so...

 

Is it possible with the rand 500 or 700 to download routes from mapquest or google?

 

Why? The whole point of a GPS is that it already contains map data and calculates it's own routes.

 

The only down-side I have seen to the TND 700 so far is that when it logs state mileages it doesn't break them out between toll miles and free miles, which is needed for fuel taxes. Without this the state mileage logging is pretty useless.