Rand McNally TripMaker® RVND™ 7710: Multi-Stop Trips

We have been evaluating the Rand McNally TripMaker® RVND™ 7710. Our favorite feature of the device is all the ways it can inform you about sights and services that are coming up just ahead in your route. We wrote about this in our previous article ‘What’s Up Ahead.’ Today, my topic is Multi-Stop Trips. With most standalone GPS devices, you get directions to a single place. The trip starts from where you are. You are asking, ‘How do I get from here to that single place.’ The RVND is one of the devices that allow you to plan and save trips with multiple stops. When you reach one stop the device notes that you have arrived at your first destination. When you turn it on the next time, it is ready to pick up where you left off and guide you to the next stop. Here is a video that shows exactly how to create a multi-stop trip with the Rand McNally TripMaker® RVND™ 7710. Trouble watching this video? Try the Youtube version.  Read More →

Rand McNally TripMaker® RVND™ 7710: What’s up Ahead?

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... Read more

Rogue Wave by Wave WiFi

Review by Jim Guld www.geeksontour.com If you’re an RVer looking to improve your Internet connections, take a look at the Rogue Wave Wireless Bridge and Ethernet Converter.  I have been working with WiFi equipment almost since the beginning of the technology. I have an arsenal of devices, large and small, that I have collected over our years of RVing.  The Rogue Wave is the latest and I like it. The Purpose of the Rogue Wave Of the three ways to connect to high speed Internet on the road, WiFi, Satellite, and Cellular, WiFi can be the best. WiFi is available in many places and is reasonably priced and often free. WiFi was never designed to cover large areas or go long distances. It was made for small and home offices and Starbucks. Advances in technology and innovative designs can enable communication over much greater distances and over or through obstacles. The Rogue Wave is a device to extend the effective range of a WiFi Hotspot . It works exceptionally well and is easy to set up and use.  Here is a typical scenario for an Rver: You are in an RV park that advertises WiFi, but your computer cannot connect reliably to the Access Point. You can take your computer closer to the AP, and it works fine, but you want to work from the comfort of your own rig. The WiFi built into your laptop is not good enough. A better radio and a better antenna will give you a better connection. One solution might be a USB WiFi adapter. USB WiFi adapters require device drivers and... Read more

GPS Coordinates with Google Earth and Streets and Trips

This article is going to explore the different notation used for entering Latitude and Longitude coordinates to find places in Streets and Trips. Sometimes you may need to convert the coordinates you have to the format that Streets and Trips understands. This article will show you how to make the conversions using Google Earth. Question: My Garmin says N 36 degrees 37.458′ W 92 degrees 08.017′ The Garmin will get me right here to the entrance of this ranch. But when I try to put it in Streets & Trips 2011, I keep getting an error each time. I am trying to locate Cloud 9, Caulfield, MO. Cloud 9 Ranch is a membership park in the Ozarks and we are planning some events involving Geocaching. We want to be able to provide people with the correct coordinates for whatever device they are using. Decimal or Degrees Microsoft Streets and Trips recognizes two types of GPS Lat/Long notation: 1) Decimal or 2) Degrees/Minutes/Seconds. Decimal: 36.624300° -92.133617° Degrees/Minutes/Seconds: 36°37′27.48″N 92° 8′1.02″W To enter the coordinates into Streets and Trips, you click on the Tools menu, Find, and click the Lat/Long tab. You can enter the coordinates in either of the formats above, but Decimal is the simplest. You don’t need the degree symbol – in fact, if you do include the degree symbol, you’ll get an error. Just use numbers, decimal points and the minus sign to show a West longitude. No symbols, no spaces. Degrees... Read more

Which Internet Connection Works Better–Droid Smart Phone or Mi-Fi?

by Chris Guld of GeeksOnTour.com People have asked us this question and we give a stock answer because our personal experience has not pointed out a difference … until now.  The answer is a definite … “Yes!”  That’s right, Yes, sometimes the phone connects better and sometimes the Mi-Fi (mobile hostpot) connects better.  Using the Phone to Provide Internet to the Computer In case you don’t know what I’m talking about, we sometimes use our Droid Smartphone, with Verizon service, tethered to our computer to provide an Internet connection to our computer.  You can see more detail included in this ‘Gabbing with the Geeks’ video. Last week we were staying at the Thousand Trails park Kenisee Lakes in Northeast Ohio.  The Verizon signal wasn’t great, but it worked fine with our phones tethered to our computer.  Our mobile hotspot often couldn’t connect at all, and when it did it was abysmally slow.  So, our preferred method there was to use the phones. Using the Mobile Hotspot to Provide Internet to the Phone The most popular way to connect to the Internet on the road today is the ‘Mobile Hotspot’ – sometimes called a Mi-Fi.  Most major carriers offer them, Verizon, Sprint, AT&T.  Ours is a 4g Hotspot from Verizon.  This little device connects to the Internet and then broadcasts a Wi-Fi signal for up to 5 nearby devices to connect. We are currently in the Adirondacks of New York, and Verizon... Read more

Motorhome Rally in Vermont

  by Chris Guld of Geeks on Tour: Just a small part of the 550 coaches at NorthEast Area Rally in Essex Junction, VT in 2009 We’re on our way to Vermont for the FMCA NE Area Rally July 21 to 24, 2011.  We were there a couple of years ago and enjoyed the area (near Burlington) very much.  It’s on the shores of Lake Champlain and the rally even includes an optional buffet dinner cruise on the Lake. The FMCA NE Area Rally in Essex Junction, Vermont If you’re anywhere in the area, come join us!  We will be presenting 5 of our Geeks on Tour seminars plus our new hands-on class, “Picasa Photo Editing.’  The hands-on class requires pre-registration at the rally – all the others are free as part of the extensive Rally seminar schedule. For more details on our seminars at the rally, check out our Geeks on Tour Facebook Page.  For more details on the Rally, see the FMCA NEAR page. Here’s a video of Geeks on Tour being interviewed at the NE Area Rally in 2009 – notice the beautiful weather!  This year promises to be the same.  Read More →

Change your Time Zone!

Most computers do not have GPS built in, so, although they physically travel with us, their clock is still set to the previous time zone.  It’s very easy to change! I haven’t worn a watch in years.  I really like using my cell phone to tell me the time because it automatically adjusts to new time zones.  Since it is connected to a local cell tower, it knows the correct time – coming from that cell tower. I also depend on my computer’s clock.  I’m almost always sitting at my computer.  Any time I want to know what time of day it is, I simply glance at the lower right corner.  So, I want it to be correct. Windows Time and Date Settings   Just click right on the time in the very lower right corner of your screen and choose ‘Change Date and Time Settings.’  Then click on ‘Change Time Zone.’    Once you’ve chosen the correct time zone and clicked OK, your clock will be correct.  Why not Just Change the Time Yourself? Many people choose the ‘Change date and time …’ and just set the clock themselves.  I think they just don’t realize how much easier it is to set the time zone and let the computer set the time.  You can even use the Internet Time feature (see the 3d tab on the date and time dialog box)  which will synchronize your computer’s clock with an Internet clock that is guaranteed to be accurate.  However, it will only be accurate for you if your time zone is set correctly. ... Read more

Powering your tech devices on the road

We may still call them cigarette lighters, but we know they’re not used to light cigarettes. I’ve never smoked cigarettes, yet I want as many lighters in the car as I can get! Why? Because they’re power sources for our many electronic devices that we use while traveling down the road. The problem is that each device (GPS, MP3 player, cellphone etc.) needs its own adapter and we soon run out of cigarette lighters. We’ve found a simple and cheap way to make one cigarette lighter power two cellphones with this handy little USB car adapter. Many small electronic devices these days can get their power from a USB port. Simply plug this device into a lighter, and you now have two USB ports for the standard cables that come with cellphones today. We don’t even remember where we got ours, but you can google for ‘USB car charger’ and find dozens of options, all for under $10. Geeks on Tour is a membership website with hundreds of Tutorial Videos on topics of interest to travelers, such as managing digital photos with Picasa, Route-Planning with Streets and Trips, and sharing your travels with a website using Blogger. Members can view all of the videos in the Learning Library.  Read More →

3G vs 4G: The Tortoise and the Hare

We recently purchased a 4G mobile hotspot from Verizon.  It’s a tiny thing with magical powers.  With just one press of a button, it turns the immediate area around it into a Wi-Fi hotspot.  You can plug it into a power source, or it will run on batteries for about 4 hours. A similar device, called the Mi-Fi, has been around for a couple of years, but those are 3G only.  The 4G Mi-Fi is coming soon. What does 4G Mean? Without getting unnecessarily technical, we are talking about the technology that Cellular communications companies use to deliver wireless Internet connectivity. The ‘G’ stands for ‘Generation’ so 3G is third generation technology and 4G is fourth generation technology.  4G is better.  It’s faster and it goes farther.  That’s the good news.  The bad news is that it exists only in limited areas.  Below is Verizon’s coverage map, 4G is represented by the dark splotches, the red is 3G coverage, and the white is no coverage at all. How Fast is 4G? We live in our motorhome and happened to be staying in a friend’s driveway in Franklin, Tennessee, just south of Nashville.  It is a solid 4G area – and it was exciting to use our 4G connection.  Click a link – you’re there.  Watch a video all the way thru – no hesitations.  What a joy!  For those of you who like numbers, I ran a speed test using testmy.net and here’s the result: Read that as 9 1/2 Megabits/per second.  A really good 3G speed would be 500Kbps – that’s 500 Kilobits/second,... Read more

My On the Road Data Diet

How I Exceed My 5 Gigabyte Limit with Verizon This is not a good thing!  The point is to stay within your contract limits.  When you go over, there are extra charges.  Our contract allows 5 Gigabytes of data usage per month.  Check the image at right and you’ll see that we’ve used over 4 Gigabytes and we’re only on day 8 of 31!  Looks like I’ll have to go on a data diet for the rest of the month. What’s a Gigabyte? Data usage is simply Internet use as opposed to voice.  Voice plan usage from your cellular provider is measured in minutes, Internet/Data usage is measured in Megabytes/Gigabytes.  Data usage is also referred to as Downloading, Uploading, or Bandwidth.  Think of it like a stream of water going thru a hose, email and other text is just a trickle, video is a firehose.  You’re measured by how much data is going thru the connection – what you’re looking at, not the time you’re online. Each Gigabyte is roughly 1,000 Megabytes.  We teach people that 5 Gigabytes is usually plenty for a month of one person doing normal browsing, email reading and maybe some Youtube watching.  But, if you share that connection with multiple computers, or you watch a lot of video, then 5 Gigabytes won’t be nearly enough. Just to give you an idea, a large, high resolution picture that you view on the web may consume about 1 Megabyte.  You’d have to view 1,000 of those pictures to hit one Gigabyte of usage. ... Read more

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