Which GPS

brobox wrote:
Personally experience that has not been posted yet. I have the older Garmin 7200 in the MH that is now outdated. I am waiting for the new Garmin RV 760 to be released in the next couple of weeks and I will purchase one and here is the biggest reason.

My neighbor bought the Rand McNally 7720, however any additional POI's that we tried to load takes about 10 minutes before a single POI from the POI Factory will load on the 7720. That killed the 7720 for me as I have 22,000 custom POI's on an SD card for my Garmin's that I do not want to give up.

Owning an outdated GPS, I have been able to keep it up to date with the custom POI's I use and the 7720 will not allow me to do that as easily as a Garmin. JMO.

I too am between the Garmin RV 760 and the Rand McNally 7720/7725.
I like what I saw at a 7725 demonstration at the GoodSams Rally.
However, I've been using my old Garmin Street Pilot 2730 or 30, I'm not sure.But I've never found any GPS that could match what it does..... except truly navigate for RVs specifically.
Problem is, as I get older, the screen gets smaller and smaller, and the Garmin trip planning software (Base Camp) is to darn complicated.
Bottom line is I need a bigger screen/ user friendly RV GPS.
This topic got a bit distracted with that "sale" someone saw for the Garmin.
Have many found that the Rand McNally actually navigates RVs better then the Garmins?

neoflyer wrote:
Read about the Good Sam GPS in the latest "Highways" magazine so checked it out at Camping World. Saw the Magellan RV9165T-LM. Seemed to have the same features particular to RV's but with free lifetime updates.

Does anyone have an opinion with reasons for which one to choose?

I bought the Rand Mcnally and returned it. After I set all the specs of my RV into the unit, it routed my RV onto a highway that had a 7'10" height restriction for all vehicles. Useless since it does that! I am waiting for the Garmin RV model to be released for sale at the end of this month - or I will buy a Garmin Dezi (which I tried the same routing on and it knew to send me around that highway!)

TimfmCT wrote:

brobox wrote:
Personally experience that has not been posted yet. I have the older Garmin 7200 in the MH that is now outdated. I am waiting for the new Garmin RV 760 to be released in the next couple of weeks and I will purchase one and here is the biggest reason.

My neighbor bought the Rand McNally 7720, however any additional POI's that we tried to load takes about 10 minutes before a single POI from the POI Factory will load on the 7720. That killed the 7720 for me as I have 22,000 custom POI's on an SD card for my Garmin's that I do not want to give up.

Owning an outdated GPS, I have been able to keep it up to date with the custom POI's I use and the 7720 will not allow me to do that as easily as a Garmin. JMO.

I too am between the Garmin RV 760 and the Rand McNally 7720/7725.
I like what I saw at a 7725 demonstration at the GoodSams Rally.
However, I've been using my old Garmin Street Pilot 2730 or 30, I'm not sure.But I've never found any GPS that could match what it does..... except truly navigate for RVs specifically.
Problem is, as I get older, the screen gets smaller and smaller, and the Garmin trip planning software (Base Camp) is to darn complicated.
Bottom line is I need a bigger screen/ user friendly RV GPS.
This topic got a bit distracted with that "sale" someone saw for the Garmin.
Have many found that the Rand McNally actually navigates RVs better then the Garmins?

You can plan routes for any Garmin using the free Tyre software (just google and download) which uses Google maps and lets you put in as many waypoints as you want for your trip. It downloads the route into the Garmin by connecting with a Garmin attached to your PC. Simple and easy to use with a screen as large as your pc monitor to use for planning. (Tyre also works with TomTom.)

1775 wrote:

TimfmCT wrote:

brobox wrote:
Personally experience that has not been posted yet. I have the older Garmin 7200 in the MH that is now outdated. I am waiting for the new Garmin RV 760 to be released in the next couple of weeks and I will purchase one and here is the biggest reason.

My neighbor bought the Rand McNally 7720, however any additional POI's that we tried to load takes about 10 minutes before a single POI from the POI Factory will load on the 7720. That killed the 7720 for me as I have 22,000 custom POI's on an SD card for my Garmin's that I do not want to give up.

Owning an outdated GPS, I have been able to keep it up to date with the custom POI's I use and the 7720 will not allow me to do that as easily as a Garmin. JMO.

I too am between the Garmin RV 760 and the Rand McNally 7720/7725.
I like what I saw at a 7725 demonstration at the GoodSams Rally.
However, I've been using my old Garmin Street Pilot 2730 or 30, I'm not sure.But I've never found any GPS that could match what it does..... except truly navigate for RVs specifically.
Problem is, as I get older, the screen gets smaller and smaller, and the Garmin trip planning software (Base Camp) is to darn complicated.
Bottom line is I need a bigger screen/ user friendly RV GPS.
This topic got a bit distracted with that "sale" someone saw for the Garmin.
Have many found that the Rand McNally actually navigates RVs better then the Garmins?

You can plan routes for any Garmin using the free Tyre software (just google and download) which uses Google maps and lets you put in as many waypoints as you want for your trip. It downloads the route into the Garmin by connecting with a Garmin attached to your PC. Simple and easy to use with a screen as large as your pc monitor to use for planning. (Tyre also works with TomTom.)

Good point, I also read the Garmin now has the software to plan trips from your PC to the GPS. BaseCamp Another nice feature of the 760

Another complaint that my neighbor has with his RM 7720 is the notification of the POI's You will be passing a selected POI (RV Park) and the 7720 announces it as you are driving by it. He now wishes he would have waited for the Garmin.

1775 wrote:

TimfmCT wrote:

brobox wrote:
Personally experience that has not been posted yet. I have the older Garmin 7200 in the MH that is now outdated. I am waiting for the new Garmin RV 760 to be released in the next couple of weeks and I will purchase one and here is the biggest reason.

My neighbor bought the Rand McNally 7720, however any additional POI's that we tried to load takes about 10 minutes before a single POI from the POI Factory will load on the 7720. That killed the 7720 for me as I have 22,000 custom POI's on an SD card for my Garmin's that I do not want to give up.

Owning an outdated GPS, I have been able to keep it up to date with the custom POI's I use and the 7720 will not allow me to do that as easily as a Garmin. JMO.

I too am between the Garmin RV 760 and the Rand McNally 7720/7725.
I like what I saw at a 7725 demonstration at the GoodSams Rally.
However, I've been using my old Garmin Street Pilot 2730 or 30, I'm not sure.But I've never found any GPS that could match what it does..... except truly navigate for RVs specifically.
Problem is, as I get older, the screen gets smaller and smaller, and the Garmin trip planning software (Base Camp) is to darn complicated.
Bottom line is I need a bigger screen/ user friendly RV GPS.
This topic got a bit distracted with that "sale" someone saw for the Garmin.
Have many found that the Rand McNally actually navigates RVs better then the Garmins?

You can plan routes for any Garmin using the free Tyre software (just google and download) which uses Google maps and lets you put in as many waypoints as you want for your trip. It downloads the route into the Garmin by connecting with a Garmin attached to your PC. Simple and easy to use with a screen as large as your pc monitor to use for planning. (Tyre also works with TomTom.)

Thanks for that info. I've downloaded Tyre. Now I have to try it.

I have a Magellan, lifetime maps. Haven't seen an update in quite awhile, and when I did, it didn't even have the new I-69 in Indiana included. Incredible. And my eight year old subdivision isn't on it, either.

I get better map info off my phone. Every single map app has both of the previously mentioned updates shown.

When you're comparing a Garmin, Magellan or Rand McNally all three of those companies get their maps from the same third party source, NAVTEQ. The only difference in the maps between those three companies is going to be how current they are based on their map update policies. Garmin updates maps quarterly. Magellan updates maps every 6 months and Rand McNally updates maps once per year. Each company does put their special touches on top of the map data. For example Garmin has photo real graphics for freeway interchanges while Rand McNally has a database of construction and dangerous curves and other things that they build on top as well.

Completely counter to the frequency of map updates, I find in my personal opinion that the amount of features that the GPS has is exactly the opposite order. The Rand McNally devices are loaded with features followed by the Magellan, with Garmin having the least amount of customized features. As an example, Garmin units technically have a feature that tells you when you are exceeding the speed limit. It does this by turning the speed limit graphic on the screen red when you exceed the speed limit by 1 mile per hour and it does this silently. In my opinion that is completely useless. The rand McNally allows you to set the threshold by which you are interested in knowing that you have exceeded the speed limit and when you do it gives you a voice alert that says speed warning. There are many examples of this but whether those things are important to you or not is a personal decision.

From a usability perspective and how refined the products look my opinion is that the order is the same as the map updates with Garmin being the best, followed by Magellan and then Rand McNally. The selection of the GPS is all about trade offs and compromises and your personal needs. That is why we have choice.

pawatt wrote:

neoflyer wrote:
Read about the Good Sam GPS in the latest "Highways" magazine so checked it out at Camping World. Saw the Magellan RV9165T-LM. Seemed to have the same features particular to RV's but with free lifetime updates.

Does anyone have an opinion with reasons for which one to choose?

My Good Sam GPS arrived yesterday, Looks good so far, will be leaving camping today. Should know more soon.

It worked perfectly on our 1st trial, easy to program and many improvements over the older version we had. The real test will be a 5000 mile trip we have coming up in August.

Heck,I still use my Bionic for my GPS and a paper map. So far using the basic navigation,not VZ Navigator, it has never steered me wrong and has always gotten me to where I've wanted to go with enuff warning for turns and off ramps. In fact the last trip thru L.A.,it kept me in the correct lanes all the way. Just need a bigger screen and louder volume.

Bigdog wrote:
Heck,I still use my Bionic for my GPS and a paper map. So far using the basic navigation,not VZ Navigator, it has never steered me wrong and has always gotten me to where I've wanted to go with enuff warning for turns and off ramps. In fact the last trip thru L.A.,it kept me in the correct lanes all the way. Just need a bigger screen and louder volume.

Just what this thread is all about.....new 7 inch large screen GPS's with larger speakers.