Rand McNally GPS RVND 7725-LM

A lot of good comments on the Rand Mc RVND 7725-LM. We are seasoned RV's and I have been using GPS devices for field work years before the current travel units became available about a decade ago. I also used Geographic Information Systems so I am very familiar with how this stuff is programmed and how it works. We have had several travel-GPS units (Garmin & Tom Tom also two NavTech installed as factory units in our cars) over the years.

We did a fair amount of reading and then decided to take a chance on the Rand Mc RVND 7725-LM for our Class A. We picked up on at Camper's World near Akron, OH when we passed near while on a trip to Maine (from Ohio)two weeks ago.

Since I did not want to take the time to read the manual (it is on-line anyway) before trying make our first hook-up for the night I just plugged it in and let it run alongside our Tom Tom 1535 Via. Both units gave the same info for the rest of the day on our trip to our stop. OK - so far.

But over the next two weeks traveling to and from Maine we used the GPS daily. The large screen is easy to see and as claimed is relatively free or glare and wash out. But we also experienced some rather less than stellar service by the RVND 7725-LM. In general it gave acceptable guidance but certainly NOT impressive given its price and we uncovered what seemed to be some FLAWS in its logic too.

The main flaw was the RVND 7725-LM's apparent "inflexibility" on routing. Leaving a small town in western Maine (Bethel) on our trip back to southwest Ohio I programmed in the address our first stop on the eastern edge of Pennsylvania (Matamoras, just off I-84)-- it was obvious to me just glancing at the paper maps that the SIMPLEST route was to get over to I-91 S and take it south to Hartford, CT and then take I-84 W right to our stop.

But, regardless, the route option I gave it (i.e., shortest or fastest)the RVND 7725-LM insisted that we needed to get off I-91 at Springfield, MA and take I-90 W (a toll road) up to Albany, NY and then turn south meeting up with I-84 just before the PA boarder.

This made no sense (in fact this route by Map Quest is some 23 miles FURTHER) and obviously involved more intersections so we ignored the RVND 7725-LM for this leg and drove past Springfield to hook up with I-84 in Hartford. You would think that would be the end of it? Yes? But with the RVND 7725-LM, NO! It tried for for over two hours or about 100 miles to get us to turn at nearly every exit! I'm not making this up! Finally we stopped for diesel on I-84 and when we resumed the RVND 7725-LM made one more attempt to turn us around and then gave up and showed us the ONLY logical route -- the one we were on. This is more than annoying and also absurd GPS routing logic.

The RVND 7725-LM did the the same thing the very next day -- insisting on a route it picked for about 50 miles -- again the GPS had in fact picked a less favorable, and LONGER, route. When if finally gave up it showed that we were actually 66 miles from our destination instead of 123!! That is less than useless -- it is actually a hindrance in my opinion.

I intend to call Rand Mc about this and I they don't have a really good reason or can tell me where I made mistake in the use of the unit I think we'll try to dump this thing. The routing logic seems at this point at least to be juvenile at best --counter productive at worst.

The manual (on line pdf) is 59 pages long and I was impressed with its presentation -- there are indeed a lot of great features but do they work? In our first 1800 mile of use the RVND 7725-LM showed us a total 2 (count'em) Pilot truck stops, both in Ohio but in no other state. Pity because Pilot, Luv and Flying J are the places we prefer. None of the other two brands of truck stop showed up at all -- why? We had checked "all RV services" in the options. It did show us all of the Walmarts and hundreds of restaurants -- as if we cared.

ALSO, I had "curve warning" turned on and it warned about even the most trivial of curves -- I don't mind the over cautious approach. But just when I started to rely on the warnings the RVND 7725-LM totally missed (like silence) several really sharp, serious curves -- ones that I really would liked to have known about driving 12 ton, 55 ft long vehicle. What sense does that make?

The RVND 7725-LM only has spotty knowledge of the speed limits along the two lane roadways -- it often insisted that I was speeding (I had speed warning set to on)for more then a mile outside of the town limits and long after the postedlimit was back to 55 mph. Not helpful and annoying too.

So at this point I say the RVND 7725-LM is better than no GPS. But if these problems we experienced are not the exception (or our own fault) then it is NOT worth the money. I will follow up after my talk with Rand Mc.

P.S. down home's comment above is a good one the RVND 7725-LM is often totally silent when pulling out of a lot or RV park!!! Not helpful either.

goldviper wrote:
I have the 7720 and love it. The 7725 is identical to the 7720, it just has been rebadged for Good Sam. I have used my 7720 alot and it has never lead me astray. I know a couple of other RV'ers that have them and have had no issues. I would buy it again.
Les

One glaring note. If you are pulling out of a lot or fairground and so on you don't know which way to turn until you've made a turn. It will tell you to make a uturn or you choose the right direction by accident.

I love the new fuel mpg feature. When you fill up, enter the gals use, and it automatically calculates accurate mpg based on miles driven between last fill up and it keeps a log that can be downloaded and kept in a spreadsheet. In addition it keeps all the data on the unit so you can keep track of your mpg over time.

I also have a 7720 and think its a great unit. I've used it for over 10,000 miles of travel and its done as advertized. I also have 2 Garmins that I use on short trips but in the RV i prefer the 7720.

We have the RM 7720LM and used it on our recent trip to Alaska in our B+, worked great after we got used to the different operation vs our old Garmin Nuvi 350.
I normally plan and navigate via Delorme Streets and Trips on my Netbook, but the B+ is just too tight for it's use.

Glad we didn't get one! The No Go for us was that Mexico maps weren't available. We have been quite happy with the Garmin Mexico maps.

As a slightly off topic note, our Garmin Nuvi 2450 with the Europe map added (via a sim) worked well (not flawlessly, but well) in both Ireland and the Algarge in Portugal a few weeks ago.

We have a 7710 and DW loves it.. We have two Garmin, 7200 street pilot, and a 660.. It did take her some time to get use to it.. Mike Mathews..

Yes ! Always take the time to review the routes that the GPS has laid out for you.
Too many times we found out too late there was a mistake in the routing that could have been corrected if examined prior to departing.

I looked at the Rand McNally unit and passed.

I ultimately purchased a Garmin RV 760LMT (Lifetime Maps & Traffic)

Garmin RV 760LMT

Wow, was I surprised at what a inferior product the Garmin actually proved out to be. The first unit I had - the screen locked up! I also found their "software suite" cumbersome. It requires you to download 3 different files for 3 different programs to update and trip plan on the unit!

Disappointed with the freezing screen of Garmin, while I waited for a replacement I purchased a TomTom VIA 1605M (Lifetime Maps and Traffic (Traffic requires the purchase of a "radio enabled" car charger)

TomTom VIA 1605M

I've had the opportunity to run each unit, side by side in comparison and I found that the Garmin missed my height requirement for my RV more than twice (not something that you want to find out at the last minute!!!) Scary! I was in my truck, running both in identical "RV Modes" too! TomTom allows you to program for up to 5 different types of RV's, which is nice. Not so on the Garmin.

The TomTom has something called "GPS QuickFix" and Map Share Technology. The QuickFix file (which can be downloaded on a daily basis if you choose to) tells your GPS where to look for the satellites or where to get a "fix" on as many as possible.

The MapShare is the beauty of TomTom. It allows customers to submit map changes to TomTom (using the interface on the actual unit). Once verified by TomTom, you can download this file (usually on a once a week basis) Trust me when I tell you that this is the present and future of GPS units. Why should you have to wait 3 months to get an update to a map with ever changing roads (detours, temporary closings, etc) when you can get map updates every week PLUS the 4 times a year map updates!!

So, for almost $200.00 less ($399.99 for the Garmin and $206.95 for the TomTom) I much prefer the TomTom for it's ease of use, the Live Traffic, the GPS QuickFix and the MapShare abilities.

Here is a nice holder for the TomTom:

Universal Dashboard Mount

That's my 2 cents,

WoodGlue

Cbones wrote:
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.(snip, snip)

Wow. Thanks for posting. That's a bucket-full of pretty neat features. I especially like this one: "States to Avoid allows you to route around states or provinces." For, um, "political reasons," there are certain states where the most prominent leaders give me the creeps and so it's important to make sure I never enter their jurisdictions. I guess there's enough of us that we've been recognized with our own routing options! Woo hoo.

Seriously, I've been looking at the Rand-McNally app for the wifey-poo's iPad. I'm going to compare this really impressive list of features to the app and see if it's time to bite the bullet.

Thanks again,
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