Rand McNally or Magellan gps

saaboo wrote:
Looking for the best gps out there please give me your opion, both say they have better faster maps,improved routing,lane guidance and junction views .
When your driving in California exspecialy Laos angeles, you better know where your going and what lane to be in??

All the readings I have done on the subject tell me to chose between Garmin and Rand McNally. Magellan has terrible customer service.

I'm a Garmin man.

Garmin here as well...multiple GPS receivers over the years.

We got the Magellan 1700 because of the large screen that could take aux video inputs. We have extra cameras on the trailer that I can switch on to show on the large screen when needed. The GPS itself drives my wife crazy, since it's a relatively slow computer that takes a while to search. It actually works fine, but you need to be patient for it to catch up to what you want sometimes. So, if GPS only is what you want, don't get that one. I've had good luck with Garmin and some Tom Toms in other vehicles.

Neither, Garmin here!

We use Delorme Street Atlas in the big rig. In the toad we use a Garmin. It has flaws, but we get by with it. We use the Rand McNally in the little motorhome we bought to take to Alaska. I really like it. Unfortunately, we cannot use it in the toad, because it has a 7-inch screen and takes up too much space. But it was great on the Alaska trip. It has more of a learning curve but it has many features I like better than the Garmin.

Dale

Never owned a Rand but I hated the Magellan. After many software updates, map updates, I finally just chucked it and went back to a Garmin. However, every brand and unit I have ever owned has taken me places I did not want to go.

We purchased the Rand McNally RV GPS for the I-pad mini. It does require cell data capability to function otherwise a GPS antenna must be purchased too, they’re pretty inexpensive actually. It does a fairly good job but entering an address was a PITA for me. The Mrs. recently found better ways to do it, so I let her handle it. So far it has worked well and routes you according to RV type, rig length, height, width, and weight along with route preferences. The $99.99 price tag was a bit shocking for an app though. So far I give it a thumbs up.

I was given a Magellan RV9365L-LM for Christmas a couple of years ago and it works fairly well. Coming from a Garmin it has been a bit of a let down as it can get lost pretty easily and it must be restarted to find itself again. Some of that problem isn't the unit's fault as the traffic patterns around DFW, SA, Houston and Austin are changing faster than the map updates.

I bought the Magellan and hated it. Took it back to Camping World and got the Rand McNally. Love it.

My best RV buddy loves the Magellan for use in his 40's Monaco.

I have an older smaller Garmin with live traffic which we use alongside the Rand for traffic information and follow its directions when it tells us to detour for traffic.

The choice of a GPS is largely which interface you like.

One of the best features of Garmin in my opinion is their live traffic updates. Beats Rand hand down. Don't know about Magellan or Tom-Tom.

All the GPS manufacturers use basically the same data from the states for routing and road suitability. Rand and Magellan do small updates frequently which is a very good thing in my opinion. Their system is designed to update things like low clearance, bridge weight limits, POI, speed limits frequently.

Garmin requires a 2 GB map update a couple times a year to update such info in one massive update.

Regardless - never ever completely trust a GPS to guide you. They are ADVISORY - not mandatory. You need to know where you are going.

In my experience Rand and Garmin both offer good lane directions for upcoming freeway intersections. Don't have experience enough with Magellan or Tom-Tom to know about them, but suspect it is the same.