ironpony
Professional Pot-Stirrer
Frozen duck carcases at 10 paces.I think you should challenge each other to a duel.
Frozen duck carcases at 10 paces.I think you should challenge each other to a duel.
Maybe Mythbusters can loan you that cannon they used to shoot frozen turkeys at that airplane windshield.Frozen duck carcases at 10 paces.
That was a NASA deal... the those two dorks glommed onto it.Maybe Mythbusters can loan you that cannon they used to shoot frozen turkeys at that airplane windshield.
Well, my review of the Rand Mcnally TND 740 began yesterday evening, and ended this afternoon.
Stopped in at Dow Chemical in Freeport this morning to make my delivery. Go inside to watch the safety video because my card expired a few years ago. Come back about an hour later, and the unit is no longer on the map screen (just like the previous night). This time, it is on some dark screen that has options for updates, GPS repair, and something else. I click the x to get out of that screen, and nothing. Click it again, and the whole screen flickers, third time, it actually left that screen.
Get unloaded, go to leave and set my destination for Fort Smith, AR. It decides to save me a few miles and route me straight through the woods, through an area that flat out sucks to drive through. I figured this would be a good opportunity to see how it recalculates a new route when I ignore this one's desire to send me over to 59. I reach Houston and turn up 45. GPS is freaking out, tries to put me on 10 to get me over to 59. I ignore it, and continue up 45. it then tries to get me onto 610 to take me over to 59. Ignore it and continue on, it tries to put me on the beltway to get me over there. Still ignore it, and it tries to start u-turning me at exits.
Continue on further, and it has me exiting about 20 miles up the road to cut across over to 59. Ignore that, and a few other options, and by the time I am in Huntsville, it tries to send me across highway 19. I'm laughing at this point as I take Exit 118 and swing into the Peelot. From the Peelot, it wants be to go back down to highway 19 to get back over to 59, lol. Take GPS from window, put it back in the box, grab receipt, and into the store I go.
Hand the box and receipt to the clerk, and exchange it for the Garmin DEZL 580. Thought about the 770, but after putting the RM 7 inch screen up in my windshield, decided to just stick with a 5 inch screen.
Unbox, plug it in, and low and behold, it picks the correct route. I get to the Dallas area, and low and behold, it doesn't have the speed limits all screwed up.
Call me crazy, but I bet if I get on the Dallas North Tollway now, this GPS won't try to drag me into residential areas because it thinks there is a low bridge on the tollway.
One last thing, the Garmin with the little 5 inch screen is easier to view than that 7 inch RM was.
Looking to buy an antique map made of paper? Rand McNally is the place to go. Looking to buy an actual quality GPS? Go with Garmin, the people who know how to actually build a quality GPS.
Maybe your second one was also made on a Friday. Or worse...Monday morning. Before the coffee kicked in.I've gone thru 2 of the RM GPS systems over the course of my driving and have come to the conclusion they are garbage for routing & so called live traffic updates. It amazes me that RM, the king of road maps has so much incorrect crap on their GPS systems. Both I've owned were their top of the line at the time of purchase & just a waste of money, in my opinion.
Speed limits are incorrect all over the place, so why bother even song them. My company can tell when I've gone 5 mph over the speed limit in any given area, but RM can't get posted limits right for some reason.
Routing is a joke. Both GPS systems I owned had a mind of their own. It'll route you over the river and thru the woods instead of just staying on the interstate for 3 more exits and your destination is a quarter mile off that exit.
God forbid you pull off into a rest area a matter of feet off the highway because it'll completely change it's route once you pull back into the highway to get rolling again.
I deliver to a lot of Sam's Club locations, but it can't find certain stores when you type in the address, yet those particular Sam's clubs are listed as the same exact address in their Wal-Mart/Sam's quick stop icon...super annoying..
It'll direct you into a facility then once you take that same road out of there, it'll blare that you're now on a truck restricted road..what gives, RM?
Dealing with their customer service is a joke..you'll get a different answer from each person who tries to assist you. Sending the unit in for repair takes an act of congress, I swear. Then they tell you they require a signature at the time of delivery to receive the fixed unit. That's bs because it'll just get left on your porch without a signature requirement.
I honestly thought my original RM GPS was just a "Friday afternoon" GPS I just happened to get with quirks, so that's why I bought another one from them about 5 years later, but to no avail, the new one sucks just as bad too.
Went back to Garmin and now I no longer drink heavily...
I've gone thru 2 of the RM GPS systems over the course of my driving and have come to the conclusion they are garbage for routing & so called live traffic updates. It amazes me that RM, the king of road maps has so much incorrect crap on their GPS systems. Both I've owned were their top of the line at the time of purchase & just a waste of money, in my opinion.
Speed limits are incorrect all over the place, so why bother even song them. My company can tell when I've gone 5 mph over the speed limit in any given area, but RM can't get posted limits right for some reason.
Routing is a joke. Both GPS systems I owned had a mind of their own. It'll route you over the river and thru the woods instead of just staying on the interstate for 3 more exits and your destination is a quarter mile off that exit.
God forbid you pull off into a rest area a matter of feet off the highway because it'll completely change it's route once you pull back into the highway to get rolling again.
I deliver to a lot of Sam's Club locations, but it can't find certain stores when you type in the address, yet those particular Sam's clubs are listed as the same exact address in their Wal-Mart/Sam's quick stop icon...super annoying..
It'll direct you into a facility then once you take that same road out of there, it'll blare that you're now on a truck restricted road..what gives, RM?
Dealing with their customer service is a joke..you'll get a different answer from each person who tries to assist you. Sending the unit in for repair takes an act of congress, I swear. Then they tell you they require a signature at the time of delivery to receive the fixed unit. That's bs because it'll just get left on your porch without a signature requirement.
I honestly thought my original RM GPS was just a "Friday afternoon" GPS I just happened to get with quirks, so that's why I bought another one from them about 5 years later, but to no avail, the new one sucks just as bad too.
Went back to Garmin and now I no longer drink heavily...
Just use an atlas and maps. It's not that hardOne of RMs beta testers had a thread over at TTR, and had a few things that might shed some light on some of this....
That is part of the road database. It's only as good as the reporting by local authorities when they change speed limits. If Podunkville changes the speed limit on Main St, but doesn't report it like they're supposed to, it's not going to be reflected in the database purchased by either RM or Garmin. Even if they do report it, there's going to be a time lag until it gets entered in the 3rd party road database, then it has to be included in a map update by the GPS vendor, and then you have to get around to tearing yourself away from whatever distraction you're involved in during your 10s to actually download a GPS update.
That's influenced by the settings that you've selected. It sounds very much like you chose "shortest route." The "fastest time" setting will usually keep you on the interstate.
That can be a couple of things... it's usually either the road database shows a back way out of them that only rest area employees use that is incorrectly identified as a general use road, or when you get back on the road a recalculation in shortest route mode now reflects a slight change making a different routing a little shorter.
Another effect is a recalculation by the RM units after you exit an interstate to go to a truck stop for example. It will recalculate your routing based in the turn you made via some secondary roads back to the interstate. It's because that's the shortest or fastest way back to the preferred route using the turn you made instead of continuing on the current road to a legal (it thinks) U-turn. None of these guys will necessarily recognize all truck stops as an intermediate stop unless you specifically designate them as a destination.
If you're running a long, complex route, the routing algorithm sometimes may be constrained in the number of route choices it considers when you first enter the route. This can be a function of the time it takes to analyze the routing, limits programmed into the software or just how the routing algorithm is constructed. When you eliminate some of the problem by traveling a good portion of the route, a better solution may be selected during a recalculation - you simplified the problem by shortening the route.
The mailing address that is used as the physical store address by some carriers business directories is not always the same as the physical jurisdiction that a receiver is actually located in. That's a problem with either the carrier or Sam's Club. It's easy to get around this - use something like Google Maps - drop a pin on the entry into your receiver, and get the latitude and longitude coordinates - enter them in the GPS as the destination. Your GPS will route you right there.
3rd party road database problem. Garmin has the same problems. There's a new Kroger DC in Forrest Park GA. I have a Garmin Diezel that spazzes out because it still thinks it's an Army post housing area. RM works just fine there.
It helps if you know where you're going, and how you're going to get there in the first place. You can catch routing problems by knowing the general location and roads around your destination in the first place.
If you don't update these units frequently, new roads, changes to local conditions, etc aren't incorporated into their databases. Also, the routing is only as good as the information contained in those databases - both Garmin and RM purchase that data from 3rd parties.
Also, understanding how your choices in the various settings affects routing eliminates a lot of the problems associated with those units. Just because a GPS says to turn down a certain road doesn't mean that you have to or should.
On US60 near Cairo IL, my Garmin Diezel insists I should take a certain exit, while my RM routes me on US60 across the Mississippi River bridges. If I take the Garmin route, it will lead me to a truck restricted route to a ferry that won't accept a 18-wheeler...
That same Diezel unit totally spazzes out in certain rural towns when I use the RM routing. It will suggest I take roads that clearly no big truck should ever be on to get to a different road on the other side of said little town, because it's routing database is slightly different.
To get to the Grovesport OH DCs, both units want me to go via much longer (different) back routes into the area rather than the best direct route everyone uses that is truck legal from I270 via Alum Creek Rd. Both are just fine when I ignore them and take the best route that I just described.
These things are just tools that have clear limitations and weaknesses. Understanding those problems are part of using them that separates us as professional drivers from the wheel grippers that blindly follow their commands - and end up on the evening news or on YouTube after doing something incredibly stupid. Because the GPS told them to.
Yeah I've got one of them too. It was even printed in this century.Just use an atlas and maps. It's not that hard
What, you drive for Walmart now too? So many acronymsYeah I've got one of them too. It was even printed in this century.
If I want a reasonably accurate ETA, for example, using my RMCA, I have to stop, add up the mileage, and go from there.
I can get that from a keystroke or so on the GPS, and a little 4th grade arithmetic done in my head. Technology when used properly is a great timesaver.
But you have a point. If I was Truckin' in Cannuckistan - I wouldn't need a GPS or a calculator either. It's a lot easier when you can count the number of usable roads on one hand.
What, you drive for Walmart now too? So many acronyms
I'll use an atlas for trip planning. Maps for final in state/in city driving. Call the customer for directions.
All these people that rely on a gps makes me shake my head. When I was a rookie I relied on a gps more. Now I say pee up a rope, technology sucks.
But it is nice not to have to use a pay phone to make phone calls
This right here is why I wanted to throw the RM out the window. The way Garmin looks up addresses is far superior, as a minor mis-format in the address doesn't require using GPS coordinates.The mailing address that is used as the physical store address by some carriers business directories is not always the same as the physical jurisdiction that a receiver is actually located in. That's a problem with either the carrier or Sam's Club. It's easy to get around this - use something like Google Maps - drop a pin on the entry into your receiver, and get the latitude and longitude coordinates - enter them in the GPS as the destination. Your GPS will route you right there.
This right here is why I wanted to throw the RM out the window. The way Garmin looks up addresses is far superior, as a minor mis-format in the address doesn't require using GPS coordinates.
Mind you, as I've mentioned before, they are little more than toys and upcoming corner finders to me, so the routing is something I do on my own anyways.
I never have the voice on for that reason, they're always SO disapproving of my choice of routing!
Athough as @Mike noted, the RM hangs on to it's initial route entirely too long before adjusting to your new route.
Yep, but this is the world of post Mandated Monday... where everyone whines that, "I can't make no money no more because of that evil ELD!"I used a gps for upcoming turns like was said earlier. It’s a good tool to have (for upcoming turns) at night, early morning, rain and fog. I used an atlas for general planning, I’d call the customer and if I thought there might be an issue I’d pull up Google maps.
If you're running a long, complex route, the routing algorithm sometimes may be constrained in the number of route choices it considers when you first enter the route. This can be a function of the time it takes to analyze the routing, limits programmed into the software or just how the routing algorithm is constructed. When you eliminate some of the problem by traveling a good portion of the route, a better solution may be selected during a recalculation - you simplified the problem by shortening the route.
Just use an atlas and maps. It's not that hard
Yep, but this is the world of post Mandated Monday... where everyone whines that, "I can't make no money no more because of that evil ELD!"
Well gee whiz. I should have gone bust years ago then. I've been on elogs since 2010.
The real key is to be very efficient with your 11 and 14 hour clocks. If you want to push those limits now you need very accurate ETAs and accurate forecasts of where you will be when your time runs out. Pulling over on the shoulder of a limited access busy highway to futz with your map is dangerous, and pressures you to drive unsafely... while you watch your 14 evaporate.
Your GPS is a tool, and I certainly don't rely on it, especially for figuring out how I'm going to get somewhere. It's very handy for finding that poorly marked road, and reminding you that a route change is coming up. It's super for comparing different routes, and it'll do that kind of stuff faster than you can with a map. Need to quickly figure how a detour around a wreck will affect your trip? You'll get it done faster using a GPS.
It's really great for calculating an ETA or knowing within a mile where you'll be when time runs out.
It's the kind of tool that makes you more efficient than the competition. That's how you beat the next guy now.