Best GPS System

Rand McNally 528881469 7-inch Intelliroute TND 700 Truck GPS

$499.99

User Reviews about Rand McNally 528881469 7-inch Intelliroute TND 700 Truck GPS

Well, what can I say. I've had this unit in my truck for about four days now. Prior to that I had a Garmin 755T non-truck GPS. One of my favorite features in that unit was the ability to plan a route by determining mileage using the stop or via feature. What I would do is using a map I would route myself several different ways forcing the unit by putting in stops or vias at different locations along the route, otherwise, like most GPS 's, it determines what it thinks is the best route. I could add up to 10 Via's or stop points for each route and then based on mileage and other factors determine which is the best route to take. Multiple stops and the ability to route was the most important reason for having the Garmin. However it was not truck specific. And considering I am now hauling strictly hazmat I wanted something that would take that into consideration. After perusing various forums, review sites, and word-of-mouth my choices boiled down to the Garmin 465T or the RAND McNally Intelliroute TND 700. Even though it was quite a bit more than the Garmin I chose the TND 700 for several reasons. The main one being the extra screen size, and its ability to coordinate with the RAND McNally truck atlas and also its ease of updating.

Now on to my first impression of the TND 700. It seems to be an aesthetically pleasing and durably built unit. The first thing I noticed was it's very slow to boot compared to my old Garmin. Whether this is unique to the TND 700 or is common amongst all truck specific gps units I cannot tell, but it's really not that big of a deal. The second thing I noticed was the overwhelming wealth of information put forth. That might explain why the manual (available via the TND dock) is well over 100 pages long..... There is somewhat of a learning curve with this unit. The next thing I noticed was the complexity of entering routes. As previously mentioned I like to force it into my preferred routing by the use of stops or vias. That was a big no go with this unit. While you can enter multiple stops or vias it is nowhere near as user-friendly as my old Garmin. Furthermore there is no way you can determine total mileage on the route that you have chosen, as I could with the Garmin. Totally flummoxed by what appeared to be an omission of one of the best routing tools a trucker could have I went online and verified through an expert source connected with RAND McNally that no, that feature was a couple updates down the line and was not available at this point. Unbelievable. Also forcing the unit to follow a specific route can be very challenging. For a unit of this price, and feature laden, I find this totally unacceptable. I am still mulling over selling this unit and buying the Garmin 465T. I really do like this GPS, the screen is magnificent, and the volume is awesome.

Another thing I've noticed, which I do not think is unique to this unit, is some of the weird routing that it does. I've never owned a truck specific GPS before but after playing with this one for a couple of days I get the impression that what RAND MacNally (and the others that use Navteq) has done is take a plain old car specific Navteq map and a road atlas with truck restrictions and made notifications on the map. In most databases there is not a 100% thorough listing of every road in the country. What I mean is that this unit will route you down roads you don't belong on. Today while coming home it tried routing me on several 9 ton County roads. What that means is that a truck is limited to 73280 unless the road is posted at 10 tons. County roads do not have that restriction listed in the RAND McNally road atlas, so I believe that is why it is not listed..... Also unacceptable in a unit of this price and sold as truck specific. However I'd be willing to bet the other truck specific units are the same way as no one has ever done a truck specific version of NavTeq.

Another bone I have to pick is the POI's. Not only the truck specific ones but the others all seem to be somewhat outdated. I think the Garmin, at least the ones that I have used, are more current. It would also be nice if I could add my own POI's

To sum it up I will keep this unit a little longer to see if I can make it workable. If not I will go back to Garmin. I like the concept and I like the unit but at this point I'll have to say I am somewhat unimpressed.

Pluses:
Large screen
terrific images
outstanding volume

Cons:
inability to the German route mileage by multiple stops and vias
a somewhat outdated POI information.
Non-truck specific routings.
Cost. -- 1st impression

This is a great truck GPS. I've tried others and nothing seems to come close to the Rand McNally TND-700.

Excellent screen size and resolution. The audio is loud enough to be heard over road noise and the purr of my Kenworth/Cat engine. I've used it for the last 8,000 miles or so and it has only glitched once. Just restarted it and it picked up on my route right where it should have. The exit lane screen has been spot on every time and gives me plenty of time to get my rig into the appropriate lane safely. I also love the multi-stop route planning and use it a lot. Updated regularly, it has shown me all the construction zones and has a feature to allow me to detour around them. Creating Groups and storing locations in them is a breeze so I can separate warehouse from store locations, etc.

I'm running an HP Pavilion laptop with Windows 7 OS for the dock and update. The USB port DOES charge the GPS, at least with my laptop, despite the warning in a previous review. Even if it didn't, the supplied 12-volt and AC chargers take care of getting the battery up to speed.

My complaints are relatively minor:

Battery life when it is unplugged isn't great. However, since I use it plugged in in the cab 95% of the time, it doesn't create too much of a problem.

The announcement of state borders coming up is nice but it doesn't tell you (or show you on the map display) what state you are in and/or going into. Again, a minor issue because I know where I am but all my other GPS units had this feature. For $500 smackers, I don't expect this kind of slip-up.

There is a Micro SD slot on the unit and I bought a card for it. Unfortunately, the manual has absolutely no information on using it. The only reference is on the page showing the physical features of the unit, showing the position of the slot. Annoying.

Clean up the minor issues and this unit rates a solid 5.

Rand McNally 528881469 7-inch Intelliroute TND 700 Truck GPS

-- Great Unit!

Well as one of the first to get this I figured I'd give a review. The screen is great. It's pretty clear and seems tough enough not to need a screen protector. The plastic that was on the screen out-of-the-box left glue residue which was a pain to remove. It comes with a stylus that works great but navigating around with your finger is easy and works just fine. I usually just have to tap it with the back of my finger. When you get it, charge it for a few hours before you use it at all. I'm not sure if my over sized good laptop even was charging it. So use the wall outlet. It comes with nice cables for both wall outlet and 12 volt, as well as a good usb cable. The supplied mount is excellent and easy to use. No tools required. The screen part snaps into another flat part on the mount and you have to make sure it's clicked in all the way or it will drop out.. AFTER IT IS FULLY CHARGED, plug it in the pc and get your first free lifetime update. The software loads fine and tries to start up each time you use the computer. I stopped that and made a shortcut to start it myself. There are no options I saw to disable it from auto starting... I used ccleaner/tools/startup to disable it. The program DOES use a lot of resources when running, but you only need to update once in a while.
My first drive with it was Tampa to El Paso. It saves my height, width, weight and hazmat class. I was hauling hazmat. It gave a killer route that would have saved time but I had to alter it for the company fuel stops and routes. It tells you everything you need to know. Where travel centers are and what they have, scales and weigh stations and much more which can all be symbols on the map if you wish. YAY now i don't have to buy an iphone. Some stuff in the manual says parts are for future use so I'm guessing the updates are going to give even more. You can manually adjust the zoom. The automatic screen zooming works great. One time it was dark and cloudy with a cool looking sky and I looked at my screen and saw the exact same thing as I approached a ramp. You can save all your addresses and stops and put notes in them for phone numbers and gate codes etc. Then make groups (folders) for your addresses so you can find them even quicker. I sat there for 9 hours like a jerk and typed in all the company terminals and drop yards. It was fun. I'm saving each new stop now with notes too.
Once the GPS kinda got confused and mixed up my current rout with a completed one. It may have been my fault but I don't think so. I just restarted it real quick and it worked fine again.
I also used it in my car. It's easy to switch between truck and car mode. I drive a medium large car and the 7 inch unit was a bit to big and did obstruct my view a little.
The voice is fine and easy to adjust. The thing is nice and it works good. The traffic and road updates for life. I don't have to use internet or buy a netbook (with gps) and software... I'm happy I got it. I don't get lost anymore.
I like the TND 700. I'd just like to tell Rand Mcnally that since we spent as much on this as for a laptop, please make this the best and keep updates and innovations coming to us for the next few years at least. I'm kinda expecting you to make the software on the unit and on the TND DOCK (pc software) a bit better. I'd also like to be able to set up routes INTERSTATE to INTERSTATE to INTERSTATE to FINAL in order to comply with company route solutions. Sometimes we can't take all those better routes the unit suggests. You can make this worthy of five stars with just a little more effort. Well, I gotta haul A$$. Joe -- really nice truck GPS