Thinking About Buying a Rand McNally TND 730 - SAVE YOUR MONEY!

To each their own... Maybe that is why RM is holding #1 on the market....

 

Been a loyal and advocate for copilot since I went solo. But the past two days it has routed me to ####### places and made me think I had Qualcomm's Navigo app running. Think in gonna bite the pillow and get a unit. But these problems people have make me second guess

 

Do you know of any product in the world that is 100% trouble free? Yes, some people have issues, but they might be user issues, bad downloads on Wi-Fi, or manufacture issues. If a manufacture issue, then RM will honor their warranty so long as you have not dropped it or run it over in the truck.

If you decide to get an RM, then their is a support thread if you have questions or concerns,

 

number one in which market?

The nav unit market?

I thought Garmin had a 45% market share among all the nav unit companies, so isn't that still number one?

 

I think he means the truck specific GPS market.

Remember that Garmin not only makes car and truck GPS’s but also ones for sports, marine, aircraft as well as wrist watch and kid tracking GPS’s.

 

I just use it for how many miles got left. I run same route every single week. They all run you
Jacked routes sometimes. Garmin has done it to me as well as rand and that smart truck route app. Copilot has its days. But I like that it's fast.

 

Lol. Everyone thinks they are the best because they are ones who had the maps on truck stop shelves. Amazon reviews as well as many pages on here of people ready to smash their units. All the truck gps units and apps screw up. But rands cheap Chinese units for sure have enough people pissed off at them.

But your right to each their own

 

Amazon reviews... - I don't put much faith in the reviews posted there. We had one lady give us a 1 star because it would not route to her house. Found out that the area she lived in was restricted to trucks, not by RM, but the local/state govt. So why blame RM for this? Most people don't really know how to do a good in depth review. They don't understand the logistics of Maps and the reasons why you don't go on certain routes, the restrictions posed by States and the National Highway Act restricting STAA vehicles. All in all, you get personal reviews, not professional.

All the units screw up? - You have owned every RM Unit their is or you just basing your comment to what you read? If you have or had an RM unit, I have not seen any posts by you to the support thread which by the way was created when the first RM unit hit the market in 2009. So you jump on here stating as such.

Many Pages - Again, the support thread.. How many other GPS Manufactures are on TTR to assist any time of the day or night to include weekends to help the drivers on the road? Many times it is user issues, but those are resolved within a short amount of time. For example, Map updates on a Tablet, High Speed internet is highly suggested, but some use truck stop Wi-Fi for a 3.9gb download. Files get corrupted and with a new download the issue is resolved. Does RM get blamed for this? The Support Thread is simply that. I have run the Support Thread on TTR since 2009, constantly, day in/day out, working with customers at all hours on any given day. Does not mean we have 8 years of issues, it means that YOU the driver has had 8 years of someone here to support YOU the driver. Don't see that on any other support threads. In fact if you Google any product you will see a lot of forum's and threads good/bad on any product. Simply because it is here on TTR supporting the drivers when they need assistance is a big PLUS to any driver at 2am on Sunday morning asking for assistance.

RM does not buy cheap Chinese units. If you have ever looked at anything you buy most everything is made overseas. The unit is priced by component to give you the most for the money and keep the cost down. If you think they are cheap, then by all means create your own company and produce tens of thousands of a product and see where you need to keep the costs down.

And the MCRA's are a different side of the business. The map databases are not compatible.

 

Calm down. Some people like milk some do not. I didn't bash rand I just stated what I read the rand forms and YouTube videos and I have owned the 720. Wasn't for me. Bought the garmin 760. Wasn't impressed but enjoyed it over the rand as my personal preference. July I got the smaller tablet and it reminded me of a budget tablet you buy of Amazon. It wasn't as fast as the 600$ Samsung tablet I owned nor fluid. So I swapped it out for the 730. I liked the 730 way better than the smaller tablet and the 720. But it wasn't enough like for me to keep it so I returned it as well for the garmin 770. Glass display was nice but the routes it was giving me i went ahead and returned it. I just feel for the cost of them should work better so I bought a iPad Pro and downloaded copilot since I used to have it on android.

That being said a top line tablet android or apple and a solid app just out performs a gps unit. In my opinion. If rand comes out with a 740 or a top notch tablet I'm willing to give it a try as well.


Hopefully one day they just release the software to App Store or google play so people with a top notch tablet can take advantage vs a lower spec one.

I don't post in the form Or call rand McNally and complain about a product I personally didn't enjoy. That's why you get a 30 day refund. As time goes on they update and improve I'll try again.

 

Just to show why I really don't pay attention to Amazon reviews. These are just a few of the lower star ratings. Again as support they give me nothing to go on. As far a YouTube, you have a few great reviewers, but it seems you have a phone and now you post to YouTube and you are the expert. I doubt if they are non-objective or non-biased, they simply bought it and now they are the experts. I always point anyone wanting a great review of all the Truck GPS's to look at DieselBoss and his reviews. He knows his products and is very honest in the pro's and con's of them all.

3 stars - Have to have a Hotspot to get Traffic. (nothing else, they rated 3 stars for a Hotspot??)
1 star - screen went blank after 32 days. (This is a power issue, usually the truck or cord).
1 star - have not had a month and not working (pretty packed with info here)
3 stars - was expecting a tablet version. Will not find best route (it is a TND not Tablet, and what route?)
1 star - sometime take over small road in town (again packed so full of info)
1 star - puts you on lower part of GW bridge and NY Parkways (HERE does not see the upper level, guess the driver forgot to actually read signs, and it does not put you on NY Parkways. NY is set for exactly what the NYC maps show for trucks.

Anyone that posts on TTR with their issues gets my rapt attention. I am in NC and I have worked for RM since 2010. I find many issues sometimes points back to the truck and causes the issues. Tire Pressure Monitors, CB's, Wiring harnesses, Dash Cams, other GPS's, etc. So sometimes it takes a few days to narrow down issues or it may take a few weeks depending on what the issue is.

I always say it takes about 3 weeks to really get to know the GPS. For example, did you know you can avoid an area or state? Do you know how to set temporary detours or find an POI within an certain distance with the map screen? They are feature packed, but most just plug it in and go. Not understanding the reason it will not route you a certain way, then the RM gets blamed and taken back when in fact it was giving you a legal truck route based upon what is set by the states.

Even after 9 years problems do pop up that have not been seen before. But most of the issues can be resolved in a short amount of time normally. I had one tester go thru five 730's and finally after FL got involved found out it was a bad wiring harness in the dash interfering with the GPS receiver. So, odd things do pop up. But, unless you post, I cannot help.

Mark