Rand McNally GPS RVND 7725-LM

Just an update for those who are still fans of the RM7720, the big update has quietly been released. Allow yourself plenty of time to do it. It could take hours on a slow connection.

Release notes for Version 3.55.2834
(To see current release number on your RVND,
Select Preferences, About)


Note: We continue to thank all of you who have submitted feedback
using the “Tell Rand” feature in our products. Thanks too, to all our driver beta testers for all their work.

Product usage tips:

· To enable WiFi access to hotspots, select Preferences from the Main Menu, and hit WiFi at the bottom right of the General tab.

· If you would like to use your phone, tablet or laptop to access the internet for the 7720, you will need 2 things.
o A phone, tablet or laptop with WiFi that has the ability to set up its own hotspot. (Some devices have WiFi to access hot spots, but not the ability to create one.)
o A data plan, with the hotspot option. (Some devices come with a data plan, but the hotspot option has to be turned on, sometimes at extra cost.)

· You can download POI lists from places like POI Factory.com, and load them to your unit. You can then select how you want to see them and be told about them. There are 2 types - “Alerts”, and “General POI’s”. Alerts are for things like Red Light Cameras - something you want to be alerted about directly along your route. General POI’s are for items you want to be told about that could be 10 miles away from you in any direction, and you would like to see them on the map or be notified about them when you are in the vicinity. These are loaded using the Dock.

· There are a number of ways you can tune routing to your liking in Preferences, Route.
o Select Freeways, for several options regarding your preference for freeways vs. smaller roads.
o Fastest Route vs. Shortest Route can be combined with options from Select Freeways for flexible options. For example, you can select Shortest, and Avoid Small Roads
o States to Avoid allows you to route around states or provinces.
o Avoid List shows the list of road segments you have selected on the map to permanently avoid. If you browse to any place on the map, zoom and place the center crosshairs over a road segment, you are given several options, such as Route To, Set Origin, or Avoid. (Note that if you select a road segment on an active route, the option will be Detour, which means it will be avoided while this route is active, rather than permanently.)
o Fast Recalc, when turned on, allows the unit to recalculate the route more quickly if you go off route, by routing to a midpoint on your active route, rather than routing all the way to your destination. It will do this twice, then do a full recalc all the way to your destination the 3rd time. This is most useful in cases where you have a long route (hundreds of miles), and you are currently driving in a local area with many streets close together. If you miss a turn, you will have a recalculated route in half the time so that you won’t miss the next turn.


Updates in this release:

· The Tips and FAQ have been replaced with a “?” icon on the top of many screens.

· Route Preferences have been enhanced with 3 new settings:
o Turn Announcements
§ This controls the three voice prompts for upcoming turns. Note that not all three are used in all cases depending on the distance to the turn.
o Turn View Distance
§ Set the distance at which the map will automatically zoom into a close up view of your upcoming turn. Note that if you are in 3D map view, with Auto Zoom on, this is not needed, so it is turned off.
o Junction View Distance
§ This allows you to set the distance that the junction view screen appears from a freeway split, or exit.
· Fuel Log has been enhanced to allow entry of odometer information to calculate fuel economy. The nearest fuel station is also prefilled, but can be overridden.

· Warnings have been enhanced
o Warning display size can be set to either full display or status bar only. Note that serious warnings such as height and weight will always appear full display.
o Engine Brake warnings have been added
o Narrow road warnings have been added
o Speed warning has been enhanced to allow the entry of a fixed speed if desired.

· The Quick Planner now allows entry of any 2 cities or towns in the North America, instead of just major cities.

· Connected Services have been enhanced (requires internet access via WiFi hotspot from your smartphone or other access point):
o Live Fuel Prices are now available as a standard no-cost feature
o Local Search is now available as a standard no-cost feature. Keyword searches must be entered in English.
o Traffic Everywhere is available for $19.99/year. No extra hardware is required, since it uses the WiFi hotspot on from your Smartphone or other access point. This shows traffic wherever you are, even on major roads in rural areas.

· Compare Routes has been added. This allows you to see a primary and alternate route and compare them.

· Good Sam campgrounds and ratings have been added. This combines the previous Woodall’s and Trailer Life information. Over 500 campgrounds added.

· Destination Address Entry has been enhanced to allow entry of the house number first, which can reduce the number of keystrokes needed to find your destination. You can switch between House Number first and Street first by just tapping the button. Whichever method you last used will be presented the next time.

· Address Book and Multi-stop Trip lists have been changed to a single column, to allow longer names.

· A full road map update has been provided for the US and Canada, including updated RV restrictions, speed limits, and propane restrictions.

· Thousands of TellRand customer corrections have been researched and applied to the database. This includes such things as vertical clearances, weight restrictions, and RV prohibited roads.

· Warning messages based on the direction of travel has been significantly improved.

· Updated Roadway Emergency phone numbers and RV trailer length guidelines per state/province.

· Updated Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club store data, including overnight parking. 195 Wal-Mart & Sam’s Club locations and 14 Distribution Centers have been added.

· Added new Best Of The Road (BOTR 2012) finalists and winners.

· Rest Areas and RV Parking information has been updated and approximately 160 additional rest areas have been added.

· Added new Roadside Attraction data under Rand McNally Editor’s Picks to allow users to find thousands of interesting and curious things to see along their route or destination. This includes movie locations, scenic views, historically significant locations and other curiosities that may be of interest when on the road.

· Added Camping World locations to RV Dealers and Repairs.

· Added approximately 2,000 RV Dump locations and improved positional accuracy.

· Updated RV friendly travel centers.

· Long term construction projects continue to be updated monthly.

· WiFi connection to smartphones has been improved. Some issues with iPhones have been corrected.

tohare wrote:
rexabbot,
I like your idea, but have a question. Does the ipad work off satellite or cell towers? Will the app work in stand alone mode? We have traveled some places where there is no cell service, and have been places with satellite problems.

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I have an Android Tablet, DW has an IPad. Both have great GPS navigation apps. But you can't drive and use them at the same time. We use them before leaving to help plan routes and DW uses hers while I drive. But its the nice big 7" Magellan that is right in front of me that I rely on the most. Its simple to use and never fails me. After dinner we use the tablets plus a truck route atlas to pick or verify our route for the next day. Once on the road the Magellan is primary and iPad is backup. And all the devices work off sattelite gps.

I preview my road trips first with the rand/mcnally truck atlas purchased at a pilot truck stop. GPS devices chose routes that are shortest or theoretically fastest but are blind to traffic volumes in cities, etc. The trucker atlas gives me alternate routes around major suburban areas. And if a semi can drive it so can an rv. After picking a route I load my 7 inch magellan with the cities and rv parks along the chosen route. Basicall I force the GPS to follow my preferred route instead of relying on it to chose my route. I also review the planned route on the good sam trip router to confirm times and distances. For me the best part of gps is the alerts about turns and lane choices and the constant eta and distance to destination info. Also, if all else fails, I let DW review my choices on her Ipad. Advice I am famous for ignoring, haha.

G.Lewis wrote:
In the latest Good Sam Highways magazine, May-July 2013 a new GPS is reviewed. It is produced by Rand McNally for Camper World. I was wondering if anyone has one and their comments on it.

I have one & am very happy with it so far, Much improved over the older version.

Garmins are great but most use Navteq for services and they do make mistakes. I check my routing on the reg maps. Just did 7500 miles with our latest Nuvi and had only 5 minor errors. Can't wait to get the RV one. We have an older 750 and a 2555 LTM . Love the live traffic, especially around DC. I had read the reviews on the Rand one so stayed clear.

I have the RVND 5510 (same unit but smaller) and it's awful. I will never buy a rand product again. On my second one after the first one plain died. It has prozen more times than I can count and in nice places like the baltimore beltway. It can't even find a large rv park in VA beach. Took me down the wrong road etc. Customer service does not speak english. The list goes on. I ordered a Garmin yesterday.

The RVND 7710 is about as useful as a flat tire.

The Rand 7720/7725 is supposed to have updated software from the 7710/7715 (which has a rep for freezing, crashing and just plain dying).

It's too early to know if the 7720/7725 fixes the problems the 7710/7715 had.

Just as it's too early to know how good the Garmin RV-760 is, other then it's based on the Dezl-760, with does have a reasonable rep

I looked at these when I was driving professinally, but decided to just keep going with my Tom Tom VIA 1535. Works decent enough. I just plan for the fastest route when towing and it stays on larger roads. I don't need it most of the time until I get close to where I am going, and it if wants a different route, tough.

I was in North Beach picking up steel that needed to go to South Naples, figured I'd go across 41. Well it weaved me though down town Maimi, which didn't make me happy. It was the traffic that bothered me, which would have done the same if I was dead heading. I am always looking for signs and whatnot so I know where not to go and other possible routes. 27K pounds and 56' of truck and trailer on small side streets is managable, but its the traffic thats killer.

The thing with the RV and Commerical GPS is its supposed to watch for bridges and weight restrictions, but they can be wrong, and from the reviews I read, they're wrong a lot. So spend 4 times as much on one, and still have to rely on your common sense, yeah no thanks.

"Over the years I have used many GPS on Land and on the Water incl. Copilot,NavStar etc. The Rand McNally 7720/7725 is one of best priced and Functional Unit on the Market today. Rand Mc Nally is one of the Oldest Map makers in the Country and produces a no nonsense and accurate GPS for RV's."

You are not really serious??? This is one of the worst GPS's to come to market. The speaker is garbled and the screen does not like sunlight. Rand has a history of bringing products to market that are flawed. My advice would be to stay away from the Rand and o with the Garmin 760.
Moisheh