Suppport Thread for the TND 500, TND 700 or future Rand McNally products.

Actually, you didn't rant at all my friend.

Check this out - I agree with 100% of your post.

All I can do is expound for a sec:

ETA - from a technology standpoint, there are several ways that these guys can do this. The simplest is to calculate "as the crow flies" and update it every "X" number of seconds. This will naturally be very inaccurate, especially in the first half of any trip, but is very easy from a programming standpoint. In my opinion, this method is nearly useless to the end user for predicting arrival times.

Another way is to look at the "types" of roads on the route AFTER it has been calculated and make an "educated ETA guess" initially based an average speed on each of those different roads TIMES the miles on each and then tweak it along the way as you make stops or speed up/slow down. Personally I currently find this method to be the most accurate as related to the programming required for it, but that could all change tomorrow as someone figures out an even better way I suppose.

A third way is to use one of the above methods and actually "learn" your driving characteristics. A leading brand is doing this now in the car units. It learns your specific habits and is able to calculate routes and ETA's based on how you actually drive. Currently the TND has a pretty neat trip statistics screen that shows you your average speed (and lots more,) but I do not think that number is currently integrated into the ETA equation. But even if it was, I still believe that it would need to break it down by type of road on the route ahead and not just your overall average.

To clarify my statement about the Rand update, I was elated to see them put in the ETA adjustment feature as a response to an ETA calculation limitation in the software. I agree that there is further work to be done to make this particular aspect more accurate for them but was glad that they listened and made a modification to help without having to rewrite the entire algorithm. At this time, I would rather see them do that and spend the more heavy programming resources on a couple of other aspects (like route and detour calculation speed, road labeling when zoomed out, and viewing multi-leg routes) and then come back to this afterward (since there is a finite number of plates to spin.)

Not being able to view the entire route in a multi-leg. I agree entirely. Though many users only go from "point A to point B" there is still a significant enough need for making the software view subsequent legs and "entire trip" both in terms of on-the-map, ETA calculation, total trip miles, and turn-by-turn popout. Fortunately I know that they agree with you too and have continued to show that they follow up.

Overall the 1573 update was rather enormous from a programming standpoint. Not only are there numerous new features (that require a ton of internal code) but they also tweaked an enormous amount of route decisions that it makes (based largely on feedback from this forum and other actual driver feedback.) AND they did it without compromising the processing speed - in fact it got faster at most tasks with 1573. Kudos to them in that regard as far as we're concerned from a testing and usability point of view.

Now if only they could get my PS3 to use a universal remote...

 

Both.
I was venting my frustrations with this unit. It seems to me that rushed out to the market before it was ready for it.
I just hope RN coders can resolve these MAJOR flaws in the next update so people like me won't be selling their units which are, IN PART, useless as they are right now.
Multi-leg issues should be THE utmost priority.
Then they should look at why is it routing me 10 miles PAST the exit with the truck stop I wanted to take break at and then turns me around and have me driving BACK to it for no apparent reason.
Fortunately, I know this piece of road so I was able to notice it and correct it. But if this happened on the road I wasn't that familiar with, it'd get me really mad.
U-turns are set to "ALLOW".

ETA calculations and other things I can live with.
I went from simple (and horrible) Co-Pilot about 7 years ago, through garmin's smart phone software version and then 465T to TND. They all have bugs and quirks. And they all use somewhat outdatted (or plain screwed up) map data so there is not much choice.
I'm happy to hear RN guys are working on it based on feedback from us and that might be just the thing which will keep me from selling it and going back to 465t which I'm not overly excited about either.



I have other ideas how to improve this unit so it would be THE best, THE ultimate tool for truckers (which it has POTENTIAL for) but until the major issues are remedied, it'd be moot point.

 

THANK you!
We are on same page I see.

 

Very insightful post. Thanks much. Be very interesting to be a fly on the wall in a RM developer's meeting.

Mark.

 

I too will volunteer as everyone whom I've erver worked for or remotely knows me, will tell folks that I'm way too picky. It's either right or its dead wrong. There is no grey matter in between. Especially when it comes to directons. Nothing is more frusterating than to get some sloppy directions especially when one has a time critical schedual to keep. And with today's way of life, everyone is moving faster than they did just 10 years ago. Everything is a rush rush way of life and all it takes is just one little piece of information as not being correct and the entire planning and getting something done has just been tossed out the window.

To me, if you are going to do something, do it right the first time or don't do it at all. For none of us have the luxury nor the time to play with baby games.

 

hi mark new to this hope it;s right
bought my tnd 500 when 1st came out have been pretty happy with but
on the filtering of truck stops works great on my truck an my destination,
but does not work on my route or end of day. i have sent this in on tell rand an called it in but still doesn't work. i like auto zoom but it zooms out to far when going down hwy or interstate an can not adjust it.
my unit seems to b a little slower since update,may just b me. i was thinking like u on how to adjust the eta,every driver has different driving habits an could set eta to his driving speed. also earlier u were going to post what the different colors on the map were for different roads. if u posted it i missed it. thxs

 

Huge dissapointment today. Programmed route from Wal-Mart DC in baytown, tx to Flying J on I10 x 789. The route took me onto a weight restricted road.
It didn't warn me beforehand but just as I completed the right turn, it started yelling at me to make a U-turn because the road is weight restricted!
If it knew about the weight restriction, why the h*ll did it route me there???
My 465T was telling me to make left turn but TND was saying turn right.
Then, BOTH units were shouting to make a U-turn and to get the h*ll outta there.
I wanted to give the TND a chance but it failed terribly.
Such a failure makes it in my eyes totally unreliable because what if it will route me onto a road with 10'4' bridge and no way to turn around???

My 465T requires a million taps to set up a route but has easy and fast way how to check it out and THIS kind of bad routing never happened yet. I have it for over a year. I have TND a week and only with great luck I didn't get a fat ticket today.

This is a deal-breaker. I want my money back. And since Love's return policy is non-existent, I'll have to request my money from Rand.

If anyone wants it, pm me please.

 

I can post my detailed route besause guess what. 465T has breadcrumbs. Hooohoo.

Baytown, tx E Greenwood St >r.t. Hwy1405 > r.t FM 565 (weight restricted) > l.t. FM 3180 > I-10 W > x789.
I ignored it wanting me to get on Hwy 99 (from FM565) which is a toll road.

I tried to re-create the same scenario on 465T and I'm trying to force it to route me through there. It absolutely refuses to do so. I've got two via points on that road (FM 565). It's trying to take me 17 miles around to get from one via to the other one even though they are approximately 1 mile apart from each other.

I'm extremely... (what term would I use to avoid ban for bad language on this forum for grown ups?) ...upset with TND. This has nothing to do with map data. You cannot blame NavTech for it. The unit KNEW the road is weight restricted. It just didn't give a ####.

If you think it's off-topic here, I'll post it somewhere else. Maybe in a thread where people asking for help to decide which unit to get.
This should help them.

 

You can plan your route and set it up to follow your qualcomm on Streets & Trips and then transfer it to the 465T. I was forced to go that route while waiting to get my TND back up and running. It is much easier to set up that way than the TND is with having to add via points at various sections of road to get it to route according to the qualcomm.
My TND routed me down a weight restricted road yesterday too. Same as yours, it waited until I was on that road to *warn* me about it. It also lagged at one point half a mile behind where I was. Yes, they all have problems, but they also have great features. I wouldn't be driving without one. Just don't depend on it.