Rand McNally for Ipad

[wingtrike]

If anyone is using this app for the iPad, I would like to know how reliable the software is. The good, bad, and ugly would be appreciated.
HAGD,
Alex

[Jafundy]

Last year it would not work on my iPad. Had to force a refund. May have improved since then.

[RRGuy]

I had the Rand McNally 7200. It fell off my dash and cracked the glass and would not work. I then found the iPad version and purchased ($99) and down loaded it. It works just as good and the same as hardware version. Kind of unweiedly and harder to understand, but bigger screen. My wife holds the iPad and programs it. It is more handy and is always available when have iPad. I have just applied a free update with no problems. I can sit in my recliner at home or anywhere and search for campgrounds or whatever.

John Abbott, 2004 39' Winnebago Journey

[Papa_Jim]

We've just starting using it. For us it's been a bit of a steep learning curve, but maybe that's because we're over 30!

It's sure handy to be able to find a campground, or restaurant, or fuel, etc. on the road as you're traveling.

A few days ago, we used it to find a restaurant near us on our route. It showed us that there was a Wendy's. We followed the instructions, and when we arrived at the destination, we couldn't find the Wendy's. So we kept driving. The app quickly adjusted, and led us around and brought us back to Wendy's again. This time we found a place to park, and went to eat.

Jim

[Statgeek]

I've been using it for a year and like it. They have ups and downs, and my new rv has a TomTom built into the radio, but I still prefer the iPad RM App.

[BobGed]

I have been using mine since last July. Works great and I love the big very clear and bright screen.

[Papa_Jim]

I forgot to mention. What we don't like about the Garmins and the Tom Toms is they keep saying 'Make a U-Turn'. Are you kidding me? I'm running 65' long, and you want me to do a U-turn? In city traffic?

The Randy McNally app doesn't do that to us.

Jim

[sdennislee]

I've been using it for over a year now. I really like it.

The only difference between the iPad version and the RVND GPS unit is the iPad app doesn't have the Tell Rand feature.

The bigger screen is a real plus.

[wingtrike]

Thanks to all of you who replied. Still haven't decided if I am going to get a new GPS or just this software for the iPad.

[Statgeek]

Originally Posted by sdennislee

The bigger screen is a real plus.

I totally agree! I mount my iPad to my driver's side window with a suction cup mount so that the iPad doesn't block ANY of my vision (It sits nicely in front of the corner between my windshield and driver's side window), and it is forward enough that it doesn't restrict my ability to open the driver's window either.

I usually use the feature that splits the screen so that the left half looks like the traditional GPS map with an icon representing my coach as it travels along the road, and the right-half of the screen shows the turn list. That enables me to plan ahead for lane changes. On a typical (smaller) GPS screen, I think that view would be too compressed, but I don't have any direct experience with that.

I can Bluetooth my iPad to my RV's stereo if I want to for the turn-by-turn, but I find that with my DP, the iPad's integrated speakers are plenty loud enough. This was NOT the case in my previous Gas Class A. In that RV, I used a rechargeable Bluetooth auxiliary speaker that amplified the sound and could be placed closer to my ears.

[gmpartsvet]

We've used 5 different apps for out ipad and our laptop before that. They all have their plusses and minuses depending on the user. We have been using the Rand Mcnally app for the last year and are happy with it. The large touch screen is easy to use even while driving once you get used to it. It mounts easilly (I use a Ram suction cup mount to a flat area on the dash). It's easy to toggle views (3D or 2D) and change the information section to show eta, elevation, miles, etc. and the location bar to show the road you are on, next intersection, or city you are in. The new update shows you two routes you can choose between. It's never messed us up yet. I also find the volume ample.

As far as the minuses, I haven't been able to figure out how to get the avoid feature to work. We live north of Chicago and everytime we want to travel east, it routes us through downtown Chicago, even though I have set every expressway in the city to avoid. This causes me to insert a via to bypass the city. A via is treated like a stop, so your eta, etc. is to your via, not your destination. You can only preview your directions to your next stop, so you don't know exactly how you will be routed after that other than looking at a map overview.

One other similar product is the copilot app. It has its own set of plusses and minuses but you may want to check it out. It is also much cheaper that the rand mcnally app.

[donie]

FWIW, we found and installed theat on our ipad.
IMHO, it was a waste of money for the fact that it never worked right fronm the time we installed it.
We have been using on older GPS that was updated.

[Statgeek]

Originally Posted by gmpartsvet

As far as the minuses, I haven't been able to figure out how to get the avoid feature to work. We live north of Chicago and everytime we want to travel east, it routes us through downtown Chicago, even though I have set every expressway in the city to avoid. This causes me to insert a via to bypass the city...

I have this EXACT same complaint except I to avoid Houston, not Chicago. This is the flaw to their software currently, but I remain satisfied otherwise, and I'm hopeful that they will fix this in a future update.

[Nxkharra]

I have been using it for a year now.. We like it but need to be aware of the road using paper map also. It brought us from Canada to US forcing us to go through custom going from Montreal to Niagra. We intended to stay in Canada.