Rand McNally RVND 7710 7-Inch GPS vs. Garmin

[cameronpatentla]

I recently ranted (!) about the Rand McNally GPS in the Infotainment System in our new Winnebago ERA 70X (the rant, in all its glory, is in our blog, too www.era70x.com)

Because I cannot depend on the built in GPS (which cost $1,500), I'm thinking about buying a standalone GPS. Interestingly, the Rand McNally 7710 GPS reviewed on Amazon has a lot of the same freezing up/latency/defects of the built in GPS (which, by the way is vended by Xite (2014 XSG2NA-X1 Infotainment System Family
with Rand McNally RV GPS).

I wonder if it is the Rand provided software to Xite that makes the unit so buggy and worthless. In any event, any input from users on the best Garmin, Magellan, TomTom, Rand (!), GPS units (for RV or otherwise) would be appreciated. Cheers, Mike era70x.com

[Seniorfirsttime]

I thought I replied a few days ago but it apparently didn't send. My question: We ordered the Rand Mcnally 7730LM a few days ago. Would you expand on the Garmin (good points) and RM failures. Are we going to be happy with the RM? Also, I had a thought after ordering the RM. Do these work well sitting under the long overhang of the cabin?

[Seniorfirsttime]

4A Song, I just purchased the Rand Mcnally RVND 7730LM but haven't received it yet. Maybe I should have read this first. Would you expand a little on the differences and do you think we will really be disappointed with the Rand?

[BroncosFan]

GPS tells 3.6 meter vehicle it can fit under 2.6 meter bridge

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-07-27/six-injured-when-roof-sheared-off-bus-in-northern-france/66493...

[PenMan]

wildtoad wrote:
They all sent me down roads to nowhere, told me to turn left when I knew the destination was on the right, and other curious quirks. I would never pay for a built in unit unless all updates were free forever, and I could do them myself.

x2. I have the Garmin for RVs and it really does some weird routing. You can do a search and see long previous post. I will only use it on the interstates as it does not do a good job routing on smaller highways or in city streets. It will get you lost. I'll have to say it worked much better before I downloaded the latest maps.

[az99]

I have the earlier Exite unit that does not have the Rand software in it. The GPS does not have the problems you described so it is likely the Rand software. The GPS in mine has some oddities but is no worse than a TomTom or Garmin for accuracy.
I do like the Exite for the other Infotainment functions.

[cameronpatentla]

4aSong wrote:
We have had both the Willie Nelly (Rand McNally) RVND7730LM and the Garmin 2797LMT and there is no comparison of the two, Garmin wins hands down, Quality, Reliability, Accuracy, More Features, etc, etc.

Thanks! I think that's the confirmation I need--based on real world head to head competition! Best, Mike www.era70x.com

[YC_1]

I just bought this

I broke my existing late model Rand by allowing it to fall of its mount and onto its face. I really liked it, warts and all. All gps's can lead you astray but for someone that drives a large diesel that prefers truck stop fuel stations and needs to be routed on favored roads it is really worth the 120 mile round trip we made to pick one up at Camping World. I was hoping to get the internet price and indeed got it. I would have paid the full price in any case since we are on the road and really need the features.

[4aSong]

We have had both the Willie Nelly (Rand McNally) RVND7730LM and the Garmin 2797LMT and there is no comparison of the two, Garmin wins hands down, Quality, Reliability, Accuracy, More Features, etc, etc.

[Us_out_West]

We've had our 7710 for years and have never seen a freeze up like the OP mentions. :h

Matter of fact never had any issues at all and the unit has all the features, and more, we wanted and with that...would buy another.

[BobKrogstie]

I've had my RVND 7735 LM for about a month and have not had any latency problems that you allude to in your blog rant. I use the Rand Dock software to stay up on software and map updates. Don't imagine that is possible with your in-dash unit. Sounds like Xite did a poor job of hardware provisioning and systems integration.

[wildtoad]

I've owned Garmin, Magellan, Tom Tom. Of the three, the Garmin has been the best, followed by the Tom Tom. The Magellan I had was awful. But... They all sent me down roads to nowhere, told me to turn left when I knew the destination was on the right, and other curious quirks. I would never pay for a built in unit unless all updates were free forever, and I could do them myself.

[RVJimofOregon]

sch911 wrote:
I have the Garmin RV 760LMT. Have had no such problems...

X2

[Second_Chance]

We have had the Garmin RV760LMT for about a year, now. I just spent some time on it today using the trip planner... a little cumbersome, but you can force the route to do things like go around DC and Baltimore (or even more off the beaten track, if you like).

[Trackrig]

My Garmin 760 works fine. The only "problem" I've had is I haven't been able to down load additional POI files into it, but I'm sure that's me and not the GPS.

Bill