Rand McNally TripMaker® RVND™ 7710: What’s up Ahead?
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- 7” GPS device designed specifically for the RVer and camper
- Website: Rand McNally
- Cost: $399.99
by Chris Guld, www.geeksontour.tv
We received our evaluation unit of the RVND 7710 in early September and used it to navigate from the New Jersey Shore to Ohio, and then south to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. There is a lot to this device and our review will be in a series of articles. The first things I want to tell you about are the special features that none of our other devices can give us.
Next Exit Information
I know several people who swear by their ‘Next Exit’ book which gives all the amenities to be found at every Exit on America’s Interstate Highways. Although that sounds like a great tool to have, we refuse to have any more books in our RV. The Rand McNally TripMaker® RVND™ 7710 now offers a similar set of information available at your fingertips as you drive down the road. Here’s how it works. During navigation, there is an icon on the screen that represents the Exit amenities – actually it’s a square of 4 icons: Food, Fuel, Lodging, and All. Touch that with your finger, or the provided stylus, and you’ll see a list of the upcoming exits.
 Just touch the Exit info button and a list of upcoming Exits appears with the number of Gas, Food, and Lodging amenities |
Now you touch the Exit you want to see and you’ll get the detail of those amenities. If there are more than will fit on one screen, you will see up and down arrows to the right so you can scroll thru the rest of the possibilities. You can always touch the Back icon in the upper right to return to your navigation screen.
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If you decide to go to any of these places, you can touch the one you want, then touch ‘Add as Via’ and the RVND will route you there.
It’s Not Perfect
We used this feature when we needed to find a grocery store traveling through South Carolina. Using the Exit details feature, we found an IGA at exit 27. I touched the IGA listing and then the ‘’Add as Via’ button, and it dutifully told us – in it’s rich, loud voice – to turn off when we got to the appropriate exit. Then it told us to turn left and go a couple blocks. So far, so good. But then it told us that we would find our destination on the left and told us to turn. We still couldn’t see the IGA but could tell that there was some kind of shopping center set back off the street if we took the specified left turn. No IGA in this shopping center. What do we do now? We navigated thru the shopping center parking lot to the other side where we could take a right on the road back to the highway and, what should appear in front of us but an IGA! So, the GPS directions were real close, but not quite right. We actually finds this happens a lot with all of our GPS devices – it gets the ‘on the left’ or ‘on the right’ backwards at the final destination. Usually, it’s no big deal. By the time we’re ‘at your destination’ we can see it and don’t mind that the GPS says ‘on the left’ when we can see it ‘on the right.’ But, in this case, the direction was given before we could see the sign. We almost missed it altogether.
Alerts for Upcoming Items
I like to take pictures of the ‘Welcome’ sign whenever we cross a state line. I throw a bit of a fit when I see a State sign go by and I don’t have my camera ready. So, one of my very favorite features of the Rand McNally TripMaker® RVND™ 7710 is that it alerts you when you are about to cross a State line or a Time Zone. It does this with spoken words as well as a special screen that displays.
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It also has a warning when you are near an ‘Offbeat Tourist Attraction,’ or ‘Historical Marker.’ These are custom POIs (Points of Interest) and can be managed in the Preferences screen. First it announces that you are near an Offbeat Tourist Attraction. If you’re interested, you touch the notice and get more detail. Then, if you want to go there, you can touch the option to “Route to Here.”
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If you don’t want the warnings for State Lines and Offbeat Tourist Attractions, you can turn those off, or change the warning distance if I like. You find them in the Custom POIs and it’s there you can set the warning options.
There is a lot to learn about this unit. Stay tuned next week for another article on using the Rand McNally TripMaker® RVND™ 7710.
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Sounds great – but why can’t I just get the software and run it on my 7″ Android or my smartphone, or my netbook, or my …
Lyn,
What software?
NO.. I tried and it said “wrong code”. I know that I was correct and I double checked to assure myself that I was entyered correctly. I will not respnd to your blog until you have the captcha code oked prior to submitting a response. I spent, no, wasted several minutes only to be denied. Never again.
Howdy Chris,
Are you sure you’re female?? With all of the gadgets you have you’re more Like
Greg White!!! Okay, so you’re a very small “Greg White”!!! AND VERY FEMALE!!!
Sounds like a good piece of apparatus to have with you.. Thanx, for the intro;
looking forward to the ‘rest of the story’!!!!!!!!!
Smooth roads, A WARM WINTER & lotz of FUN!!!!!!!!! Just stay away from Nick..
He’ll bring rain & cold…
I purchased one of these as soon as Camping World had them early this summer. I played with programing a trip from Mineral Wells, TX to Forest City, IA after 2 days trying to enter this trip with multiple stops with no luck I called Rand McNally tech service. The first tech said I could not plan my own route because the computer knew the best route, period. This included about 40 miles of winding Farm to Market 2-lane road (which was shorter miles) rather than interstate. The second tech spent over 1 hour trying to enter my desired route and via point and finally gave up. I took it back to Camping World for a full refund (clerk said second one for that day). I went back to my old GPS program, updated it, and am happy. I use and have used for 7+ years Co-Pilot.
It is set up for RVs and lots less expensive. I run it on a small netbook (computer) but it is also available in several smart phone versions.
I ordered mine on 10/01/2011 from Camping World, got a notice the next day it would not be available until 10/31/2011. No other communications. I am still waiting for mine. It sure would be nice to get updated information on the delivery and/or availibility sometime! Bad customer service in my mind….
What amazes me is that you get to do all this – pressing buttons – reading screens etc. etc. while driving a 40′ Motorhome. Great if you have someone in the passenger seat but not everyone does !!
I got the 5″ model and have been most pleased with it to give me an input for length and height for pulling a 39′ 5er. I had a Garmin before which didn’t show the street details in sufficient detail but the Rand does. So far I only have positve notes for it.
I HAVE HAD MINE FOR ABOUT TWO MONTHS AND WITHOUT A DOUBT, THIS IS THE BEST GPS THAT WE HAVE OWNED. WE HAVE HAD A TWO GARMANS AND ONE NO NAME GPS. THE RAND UNIT IS MORE UP TO DATE AND EASIER TO USE THAN ANY OF THE OTHER THREE.
DAN BOWMAN
I purchased Allstays Camp and RV ap for both my Droid (in my purse) and Ipad for front seat co-pilot navigating. Droid is on Verizon and I do have many dead spots around the US, am still learning the Ipad ap.
Put that with the Rand product and it is great, I need that for size limitations.
Texas Jan
No need to raise your voice Dam!
I still use The Next Exit but the version that is on my iPad2. Agree with Chris Guld on no more books.I do not need another GPS.
We are new to the ‘GPS world”. In fact for the many years we relied on maps, I was surprised when my husband wanted a GPS when we upgraded our Class A to a newer Class A. But, what the heck, I like stuff like this, and in fact am the one that knows more about programming it. However, I have found that my MapPoint 2010 (will upgrade later) and Trailer Life Campground Navigator software (pc only) – both of which will interface with the GPS do a great job. I set our preferences on MapPoint (secondary roads for the most part), check the Campground Navigator for places available in our destination areas and once I have our whole route, with rest stops, end for the day stops etc set I load it in to the GPS. (I do these in advance, naturally, I am already laying out 3 planned trips for 2012 on my laptop, which I can tweak when the time is closer then upload.)
I was attracted to the Rand McNally GPS when I first read about it, but too many customer support issues. If we ever decide to buy it, it will be after it has been ‘road tested’ more. Meanwhile while it may sound somewhat complex to others, my combination of software and devices work for me.
I also have the 5* model. Bought it on line from the Rand web site. I belong to FMCA and got a $50 discount on my unit. I travel cross country Mich to Arizona and back again and prefer US highways of my own choosing to the Interstate. I found I can map my own trip on the unit simply by adding different cities or towns on the roads I want to travel, as stops to final destination. I have to look at a map one time to do that but I can live with that. Besides, makes me feel useful helping high tech equipment find the way!!
I have been looking for a new GPS for a while now, my old Garmin 660 is more for cars than MH’s. I like the concept behind the Randy Mcnally GPS, however, everything I have read about it has been horror stories. I would like to give them a year or two to get the bugs out, except I do not think I can wait a year to purchase a new GPS since I plan to drive from Florida to Alaska beginning in February of next year. I will probably purchase the newest Garmin designed for big trucks and RV’s. Garmin has been doing this long enough they know how to get it right, they just do not include all the additional bells and whistles for camper’s.
Magellan has a great 7-inch RV/Truck product that has been out now for a while:
http://www.magellangps.com/Products/RoadMate-RV-Truck
Is there a way to have the TripMaker speak each turn? Like it does for speed warnings and etc. We have only used it once and I didn’t hear it speak when we were suppose to make a turn. We just received ours and we are still trying to figure it out. Thanks for your help.
I still have not seen a better system than the one I have . I have a Garmin 7′ Street Pilot. I use Map Source Software supplied by Garmin to plan all my routes. I plot all my routes on the PC making any necessary change in the map route so it is exactly using the route that I want , No Suprizes . Then I download the Route into the Garmin knowing that I can 100% rely on the route that I have ploted. I would NEVER rely 100% ON ANY gps that does its own routing. You just don’t want to make a bad turn driving a 38′ MH pulling a tow vehicle.
I use this in conjunction with Campground Navigator to locate my campground and then transfer that location to my route.
I have owned this new 7710 for some time now. Worst decision I ever made. It has sent me through tight residential areas , wrong turns, rather then recalculate a route from where you are it will try to send you miles out of your way. I am very disappointed at this time. Rand McNally needs to get their act together or refund the owners for their paper weight !
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Rand McNally TripMaker® RVND 7710: What’s up Ahead?…