Rand McNally GPS
I posted about the Rand McNally RV GPS available at Camping World in a previous post. I have used the unit on a cross country solo trip since then and here is my review on the unit’s performance.
The first trip was in my Tahoe from Tampa, FL to Orlando FL. I make this trip about a dozen times a year for business. I have a Verizon mifi unit that I use in my RV, so I put that in the car and logged the GPS unit to the internet.
The unit routed from my house to I-4 via the same back roads that I would normally take. I encountered very heavy rains on the way to Orlando (I-4 traffic was traveling about 35-40 MPH!). You can display weather on the unit and “Precipitation and Intensity” is one of the available selections. This seemed to accurately portray the weather. I’ll give it an A+ for this feature.
When I got to the outskirts of Orlando around 4:00 PM the unit routed me around Orlando via toll roads with little traffic. It took me right to my destination. This is a route I had not done before so I was impressed. On my return trip the next day at 2:00 PM the unit routed me via the route I normally use. I figure the unit was using its predictive traffic feature to route via the toll road the day before and the shorter route the next day. If this is true I will grade the unit giving it an A.
I packed up the RV the next day and the following day I left Tampa for Yuma AZ in my RV towing my Honda. I was traveling solo, except for my dog who managed to stay in bed for almost the entire trip. I make this trip 4 times a year but I still rely on my GPS unit for enroute information. It is a 36 hour trip and you get to use all of the features – if for no other reason but to fight boredom on the road.
It routed me the same way I normally travel – to no surprise (I-75 to I-10 to I-12 – I-10 to I-8). The hard parts are Houston, San Antonio and El Paso as traffic is heavy and driving a 55 ft rig solo gets your attention.
When in the vicinity of San Antonio it routed me via bypass to Austin and then back to the Interstate. I have had several people tell me this is a better route. I think it is a toss up, but I cannot fault the GPS as I would have been in San Antonio at the beginning of rush hour traffic. I missed that so I am happy. I will give a grade of B+.
I ran into some heavy rain and winds north of San Antonio and the unit was very valuable to me in showing where the heavy rains and 20 MPH + winds were occurring. I give it a grade of A+ for this.
I stayed in Buckhorn Lake Resort in Kerrville TX. The GPS located this campground when I was 268 miles out. It provided me with the phone number and I dialed using hands free and made a reservation while on the road. It found all of my camp sites on the 4 day trip. The campground search is very good as you can get all commercial campgrounds, National, State or county parks. It will give you details of the campgrounds and supposedly pictures or videos of the park but I never saw any of these at any of my chosen campgrounds as they were not available. I give this unit an A+ for this feature.
The day I left Kerrville headed west to Ft. Stockton – the GPS unit told me to get on I-10 East. I reprogrammed the unit for Ft. Stockton but it once agin tried to get me to go I-10 east. This is a serious flaw as I should be going west bound. The unit worked well once on the road but… I give the unit a big F- for this!
One of the amazing things I liked about this unit was the fuel capability. I always stopped at Truck Travel centers for my diesel fuel stops. I am towing and cannot back up so I don’t want to get trapped, as a result, I paid higher amounts for diesel. This unit gives you the ability (if connected to internet) to get fuel prices along your route. It takes a few minutes (5 – 10 minutes) but it does give pretty accurate figures. I found prices can vary as much as .46 a gallon at the same exit! There are many “mom and pop” truck stops that do have discount fuel and I was able to find and use these for most of the trip using the unit. I saved several dolasr on this trip from this feature. It gets a big A+ for this feature.
Another fuel feature is logging fuel stop information. After refueling, you press the add fuel button, it has the date, location and last odometer setting. It usually has the name of the station. You add the gallons and the total amount it calculates price per gallon and MPG it then save the data. You then get a report of how much you spent in fuel by quarter or year. I like this feature – I give it an A+.
It has a virtual dashboard screen that you can call up at any time. The unit has a speed limit warning. You can set the value to what ever you desire – the default is 5MPH over the speed limit. You get an audible “speed warning” if you are traveling over 5 MPH the speed limit. On the Tahoe trip it drove me nuts; in the RV I loved it! The speed limit is pretty accurate except in construction areas. I drive around 66 MPH so I don’t get the speed warning much, except when going down a hill or a sudden change in speed limit – like when approaching a border patrol station. It has the current milepost data and is almost dead on with the mileposts on the highway. I‘ll give this feature a B.
I used some of the weather features when in the Arizona deserts – such as temperature, humidity. Not sure why any of this is useful but it made for some nice color displays. Overall grade is C.
You can purchase a traffic antenna for about $80. This is supposed to give you live traffic information. I purchased the unit and it worked well on day one. I never got it to work on the rest of the trip as it kept telling me it was a premier web service. Why then did I have to buy an antenna? Overall grade F-!
The virtual dash has three trip settings. I set one when I left Tampa as it would give me total miles traveled. I reset setting 2 every day so I knew how far I traveled that day, and setting 3 was used at each refuel stop so I knew how far since last fill up. Nice feature but the odometer setting seems to be not right. I t has me as traveled about 1600 for the total trip but I know it is about 2275 miles. I don’t trust the numbers – so I give it a grade of D.
I loved the feature that allows you to locate rest areas along your route. The system also included east bound rest areas – not something I care about when traveling west bound. It also identified Wal-Mart and other areas to park so nice feature. Overall grade of A.
Due to pilot error, I made a wrong turn while in the Austin TX area. I was in heavy traffic and I was trying to figure out how to turn around. The GPS successfully got me in the right direction using only right turns - it was a 3.2 mile round about - but I will gladly take it given the heacy traffic. I give this capability a grade of A.
These are my findings – your mileage may vary. Hope the review helps.
The first trip was in my Tahoe from Tampa, FL to Orlando FL. I make this trip about a dozen times a year for business. I have a Verizon mifi unit that I use in my RV, so I put that in the car and logged the GPS unit to the internet.
The unit routed from my house to I-4 via the same back roads that I would normally take. I encountered very heavy rains on the way to Orlando (I-4 traffic was traveling about 35-40 MPH!). You can display weather on the unit and “Precipitation and Intensity” is one of the available selections. This seemed to accurately portray the weather. I’ll give it an A+ for this feature.
When I got to the outskirts of Orlando around 4:00 PM the unit routed me around Orlando via toll roads with little traffic. It took me right to my destination. This is a route I had not done before so I was impressed. On my return trip the next day at 2:00 PM the unit routed me via the route I normally use. I figure the unit was using its predictive traffic feature to route via the toll road the day before and the shorter route the next day. If this is true I will grade the unit giving it an A.
I packed up the RV the next day and the following day I left Tampa for Yuma AZ in my RV towing my Honda. I was traveling solo, except for my dog who managed to stay in bed for almost the entire trip. I make this trip 4 times a year but I still rely on my GPS unit for enroute information. It is a 36 hour trip and you get to use all of the features – if for no other reason but to fight boredom on the road.
It routed me the same way I normally travel – to no surprise (I-75 to I-10 to I-12 – I-10 to I-8). The hard parts are Houston, San Antonio and El Paso as traffic is heavy and driving a 55 ft rig solo gets your attention.
When in the vicinity of San Antonio it routed me via bypass to Austin and then back to the Interstate. I have had several people tell me this is a better route. I think it is a toss up, but I cannot fault the GPS as I would have been in San Antonio at the beginning of rush hour traffic. I missed that so I am happy. I will give a grade of B+.
I ran into some heavy rain and winds north of San Antonio and the unit was very valuable to me in showing where the heavy rains and 20 MPH + winds were occurring. I give it a grade of A+ for this.
I stayed in Buckhorn Lake Resort in Kerrville TX. The GPS located this campground when I was 268 miles out. It provided me with the phone number and I dialed using hands free and made a reservation while on the road. It found all of my camp sites on the 4 day trip. The campground search is very good as you can get all commercial campgrounds, National, State or county parks. It will give you details of the campgrounds and supposedly pictures or videos of the park but I never saw any of these at any of my chosen campgrounds as they were not available. I give this unit an A+ for this feature.
The day I left Kerrville headed west to Ft. Stockton – the GPS unit told me to get on I-10 East. I reprogrammed the unit for Ft. Stockton but it once agin tried to get me to go I-10 east. This is a serious flaw as I should be going west bound. The unit worked well once on the road but… I give the unit a big F- for this!
One of the amazing things I liked about this unit was the fuel capability. I always stopped at Truck Travel centers for my diesel fuel stops. I am towing and cannot back up so I don’t want to get trapped, as a result, I paid higher amounts for diesel. This unit gives you the ability (if connected to internet) to get fuel prices along your route. It takes a few minutes (5 – 10 minutes) but it does give pretty accurate figures. I found prices can vary as much as .46 a gallon at the same exit! There are many “mom and pop” truck stops that do have discount fuel and I was able to find and use these for most of the trip using the unit. I saved several dolasr on this trip from this feature. It gets a big A+ for this feature.
Another fuel feature is logging fuel stop information. After refueling, you press the add fuel button, it has the date, location and last odometer setting. It usually has the name of the station. You add the gallons and the total amount it calculates price per gallon and MPG it then save the data. You then get a report of how much you spent in fuel by quarter or year. I like this feature – I give it an A+.
It has a virtual dashboard screen that you can call up at any time. The unit has a speed limit warning. You can set the value to what ever you desire – the default is 5MPH over the speed limit. You get an audible “speed warning” if you are traveling over 5 MPH the speed limit. On the Tahoe trip it drove me nuts; in the RV I loved it! The speed limit is pretty accurate except in construction areas. I drive around 66 MPH so I don’t get the speed warning much, except when going down a hill or a sudden change in speed limit – like when approaching a border patrol station. It has the current milepost data and is almost dead on with the mileposts on the highway. I‘ll give this feature a B.
I used some of the weather features when in the Arizona deserts – such as temperature, humidity. Not sure why any of this is useful but it made for some nice color displays. Overall grade is C.
You can purchase a traffic antenna for about $80. This is supposed to give you live traffic information. I purchased the unit and it worked well on day one. I never got it to work on the rest of the trip as it kept telling me it was a premier web service. Why then did I have to buy an antenna? Overall grade F-!
The virtual dash has three trip settings. I set one when I left Tampa as it would give me total miles traveled. I reset setting 2 every day so I knew how far I traveled that day, and setting 3 was used at each refuel stop so I knew how far since last fill up. Nice feature but the odometer setting seems to be not right. I t has me as traveled about 1600 for the total trip but I know it is about 2275 miles. I don’t trust the numbers – so I give it a grade of D.
I loved the feature that allows you to locate rest areas along your route. The system also included east bound rest areas – not something I care about when traveling west bound. It also identified Wal-Mart and other areas to park so nice feature. Overall grade of A.
Due to pilot error, I made a wrong turn while in the Austin TX area. I was in heavy traffic and I was trying to figure out how to turn around. The GPS successfully got me in the right direction using only right turns - it was a 3.2 mile round about - but I will gladly take it given the heacy traffic. I give this capability a grade of A.
These are my findings – your mileage may vary. Hope the review helps.
