Garmin or Rand McNally GPS

[Jim1eddoc]

Wife finally said "maybe a GPS would be good" (after 30+ yrs of RVing) so I'm seeking guidance and input. I seem to be looking at the Garmin RV 760LM or the Rand McNally 7730 because they provide both car and RV mapping & directions as well as "life time" map updating.

Would welcome thoughts and comments prior to purchase.
Jim

[flifisher]

I had an older Garmin Nuvi that did not come with lifetime, free updates. It worked well, but I could not see spending another $80.00 on an older unit. (Especially the newer ones)
I purchased the Randy McNally/Good Sam 7725. Not sure about the Garmin RV760, but it looks like it very similar. I know that the 7725 works with the Good Sam Trip Planner on the web site and you can down load your finished, saved trip to the unit from your pc. You can also make changes as need on the road if you have wi fi. After awhile, you'll want to turn the volume down as "speed warning and curve ahead" warnings can become annoying. So far the unit has meet my expectations.

[Pass42]

We too have a Rand...the 5510 (smaller one) I like that you can program your vehicle length, weight, height, etc into the unit....it won't take you anywhere you can't go... My Garmin (car model Nuvi) isn't programmable that way and will take us where we can't or shouldn't go........

[Desert_Captain]

We have been very happy with our Rand Mc\Nally 7720. Feature rich and user friendly our RM is very accurate. The 7" touch screen is easy to read in any light and comes with lots of useful features such as internet interface (real time weather over laid on the map screen). Nothing wrong with the Garmin line but bang for the buck the RM is hard to beat.

:C

[zman-az]

As mentioned no brand is going to be perfect and you will get some wrong information. I have Two garmins and one Rand McNally. I definitely prefer the Garmin but the rand also has some neat things too.

[Colo_Native]

I have both and both have screwed up once in awhile always check maps or google too.

[n7bsn]

I've used a number of brands and every brand can lead you astray. Never, ever put 100% trust in your GPS, use your head.

That being said, our current Garmin is having power issues and I expect that by next springs travels we will have a Garmin RV-760

[xctraveler]

I am a Garmin fan so that would be my recommendation 🙂 It depends on what you get used to. The Garmin has a lot of material that is useful for RVs. To the best of my knowledge the only lack is low clearance information. The reality is that most clearances that are less then 13'6" are clearly marked far enough in advance to take an alternate route.

The problem with Trucker/RV routing is that it takes the most direct and the least interesting route from point a to point b. From our standpoint that misses the whole point of traveling the roads of the US. Anyone can plot a route with maximum use of Interstates, the GPS just wakes you up to take the next exit. We avoid Interstates where ever possible so we want a GPS that caters to that desire. I know how to make the Garmin develop a route we will enjoy.

Features you may or may not want. Traffic, we don't have it because I can get the traffic info I need from Google Maps and from Waze on my phone. Points of interest (POI) Bread crumb - our current Garmin leaves a trail where we have been. Very nice as in the current locale the roads have been changed and the database has not been updated, the blue line shows me I am in the actual route I want even though Garmin database has no road there. Also when backroading with no real destination the track gives me a way to retrace my route.

[Grandpere]

Go with the Garmin, ours has never led us astray and most of the search and rescue people in western MT use Garmin because none of the others are as accurate.