Ok, let's talk "GPS" units

[legryz]

We use a 8" Dell laptop and DeLorme Street Atlas software with a GPS antenna mounted on the roof. As others you can zoom in and out but it also lets you move anywhere on the map at any zoom level. It has a lot of nice features that we like.

[FIRE UP]

Well Folks,
I most certainly want to thank all of you for contributing your expertise, experience, and knowledge of GPS units and how you feel about them. We do have a bit of experience with GPS units and, I'm not loyal to any particular brand. As I stated earlier, I just want one that WORKS! Yes, we've had one or two that lead us into a dead end or, it didn't even recognize the freeway we were on at the time, was even a road at all. It thought we were in the middle of a field some place.

Just like others have posted, some of them may show you a completely illogical route to get to some place as, if you have experience in the area, you know way better ways to get to a certain point.

But in un-certain areas, that's why you have a GPS, to guide you through them to get you where you want to go. But, if they guide you into a farmers field, or in a completely different area than where you need to go, you just have to work with that situation at the time.

So, we'll take into account all that's been suggested and, see what we come up with. Again, I thank all of you very much.
Scott

[Alphuse]

Originally Posted by FIRE UP

Ladies and Gents,
Our Magellan Roadmate has been going into epileptic fits lately. It operates, then seizes up, then, won't respond to touch screen requests and more. It's only about 2 years old but, it was a refurbished one when we purchased it. It's a life time map one and, has been up dated a couple of times since we purchased it. But, we can no longer trust it. We've had to re-set it numerous times, just to get it started. So, IT'S OUT!

Now, we're in the search for a new one. We don't need a NASA Space shuttle quality unit. Just one that WORKS! They make them really complicated now days and, we just need one that will help us get from point A to point B. Sometimes, we MAY want to program a route but, most of the time, it's simply looking up an address for something or some place we're headed to.

I did a search but, as usual, it came up with a zillion threads that had the word or, letters "GPS" some place in them and, none were specifically about GPS units and, characteristics. We used to have Streets and Trips way back when and I thought it was a neat program but, it's been out of production for quite a while.

So, we're looking for a 7" one that has the least amount of "complaints". One other issue. On the Magellan that's going bad on us, when taken off the dash and un-plugged, it's battery life is around, oh, about FIVE MINUTES, PLUS OR MINUS!! That sucks because, if the wife is trying to find something or some place, she's got to kneel in front of the dash to program the unit to find what we're looking for.

So, we need one that has good reserve battery power. I thank you for your suggestions a head of time.
Scott

I use Waze on my I phone which is free I also use the I phone as a hot spot so I can use the Waze on my I pad a much larger screen. The waze app updates itself shows any traffic congestion and police alone with accidents.

[1ciderdog]

I've had three Garmins and now have a RandMcNally 7720. Both brands were or are good but I found it to be a new learning experience when switching from Garmin to RandMcNally. If I had known there was a new learning curve I'd stayed with Garmin - I'm thinking the commands, info displaced would have been similar but I may be incorrect.

[Frutza]

Ok, I have the Rand 7730, I like that it has lots of campgrounds listed.
It has lots of warnings you can turn on or off,
It saved me once, already, we got off 80 in Illinois because of traffic, I didn't have a route set, but I started a left turn and this thing went crazy, Height violation, over and over, low and behold, right in front of me a 10' 10" bridge, all beat up from other hits, then the fun of trying to back up.
But in Pennsylvania there were a lot of 9 ton limit roads, there were big trucks all over the place, but the GPS didn't like it, so I told it we were under 9 tons.
It does a lot, but once you have it set, then you just have to put your A's and B's in.

[bigben]

Rand McNally 7720 get my vote. I owned a 7730 for a few minutes - battery life was horrible compared to the 7720. Now back to the 7720, great trip planning, easy upload of custom POIs, route info (gas prices, weather overlays, traffic, etc), incredible info about locations (longitude, latitude, altitude, etc), on the fly changes, rerouting and on and on and on. I have used lots of other types (smart phones, tablets, laptops) but the 7' 7720 is the best (IMO) out there.

My RM 7720 standalone GPS is an important, essential system needed for safely operating our motorhome as the TPMS.

Just my thoughts based on 20,000 miles in the last year + of traveling.

[gemini5362]

RAnd has just offered a new GPS for Rv's. They took their tablet that they sell for trucks and replaced the truck software with RV software. It has a lot of good built in features. Dash camera, Place to hook up backup camera. ( if you use it on your toad for instance) One of the best features is the Tablet portion. It is a regular android tablet. One of the Apps is the regular Rand Mcnally Road Atlas. You can go to the Atlas and select the state you are in and get a regular road map. The Atlas is stored on the Unit so you do not need to have wifi to get the atlast. I believe if I remember right that it has an RV level feature. works with wifi. Maybe a few more features that I am forgetting. AS a tablet you can download APS on it. I have a kindle ap on mine that i use.

Negatives that I see are . It does not do bluetooth with your cell phone yet. It has blue tooth but the software is not installed to do that.

It is an LCD tablet which means the light from it is polarized. IF you wear polarized sun glasses you wont be able to see the picture. The easy cure for that is when you wear sunglasses if you need to see the GPS function turn the tablet 90 degrees. Rand has not modified the software yet to allow it to change like a regular tablet does but you can see the GPS and follow along with it. and of course the voice tells you when to turn.

One great feature is the mounting bracket. It has the regular mounting bracket that attaches to your window with a vacuum cup. But the mounting of the GPS to the bracket is with a rare earth magnet. Just mount the mounting bracket stick the GPS next to it and it just latches to the mount. Way ahead of any other mounting bracket I have ever seen.

I really like mine. As far as routings go. It is about the same as some of the other Rand Units. Sometimes the routes are a bit different. Like I said earlier if you have any doubts about the routeing just pull up the atlas and look at it.

[HoleInOne]

Originally Posted by Alphuse

I use Waze on my I phone which is free I also use the I phone as a hot spot so I can use the Waze on my I pad a much larger screen. The waze app updates itself shows any traffic congestion and police alone with accidents.

Two problems with waze:
1) You need cell service. Some areas can be tricky for that.
2} Burns up a lot of data.
Other than that I like the app.

[PDR John]

Originally Posted by gemini5362

RAnd has just offered a new GPS for Rv's. They took their tablet that they sell for trucks and replaced the truck software with RV software. It has a lot of good built in features. Dash camera, Place to hook up backup camera. ( if you use it on your toad for instance) One of the best features is the Tablet portion. It is a regular android tablet. One of the Apps is the regular Rand Mcnally Road Atlas. You can go to the Atlas and select the state you are in and get a regular road map. The Atlas is stored on the Unit so you do not need to have wifi to get the atlast. I believe if I remember right that it has an RV level feature. works with wifi. Maybe a few more features that I am forgetting. AS a tablet you can download APS on it. I have a kindle ap on mine that i use.

Negatives that I see are . It does not do bluetooth with your cell phone yet. It has blue tooth but the software is not installed to do that.

It is an LCD tablet which means the light from it is polarized. IF you wear polarized sun glasses you wont be able to see the picture. The easy cure for that is when you wear sunglasses if you need to see the GPS function turn the tablet 90 degrees. Rand has not modified the software yet to allow it to change like a regular tablet does but you can see the GPS and follow along with it. and of course the voice tells you when to turn.

One great feature is the mounting bracket. It has the regular mounting bracket that attaches to your window with a vacuum cup. But the mounting of the GPS to the bracket is with a rare earth magnet. Just mount the mounting bracket stick the GPS next to it and it just latches to the mount. Way ahead of any other mounting bracket I have ever seen.

I really like mine. As far as routings go. It is about the same as some of the other Rand Units. Sometimes the routes are a bit different. Like I said earlier if you have any doubts about the routeing just pull up the atlas and look at it.

I just saw this and was curious about it.

How is the magnetic mount? Very firm or soft?

Can you put in a larger SD card?

[SrFox]

I have used the Sygic App on my 7 inch tablet for years (available both Android and Apple).
It is free but you have a one time fee of about $50 for all North American apps.
I works offline and I have used it all over the USA, Mexico and Canada.
Best I have found.

Note: The best accuracy in a city with street numbers is Google Maps though. We switch to that when we are within a few miles of of our destination.

[gemini5362]

Originally Posted by PDR John

I just saw this and was curious about it.

How is the magnetic mount? Very firm or soft?

Can you put in a larger SD card?

Yes you can put in an SD card It might be an actual Micro SD I have to go look but you can put a storage card in it.

The magnet is a rare earth magnet and it works very well. I have not had the tablet come loose from the holder yet.

[michealwhela]

We have the 760 and like it. I do find the trip planning a bit "clunky" and less intuitive than some of the apps I have on my iPad. I do like the road and weather warnings as well as the traffic alerts when in the urban areas.