Previously I promised Texasrvers I'd write a review on the Rand McNally's RVND 5510. On June 20 I purchased the GPS on the way out of town of our maiden trip in our 2011 Pleasureway plateau TS. We knew exactly where we were going so we didn't bother to set up the unit, thinking we'd use it on the way home and familiarize ourselves with the unit then.

The Plateau was WONDERFUL, the site was spectacular, but the trip itself was otherwise marred. Being newbies (oh man, this is embarrassing to admit) we didn't realize that the 110 current could not be obtained from the vehicle unless you had a shore source. So two days into the trip we decided that sleeping without our CPAPs would not be a good thing that third night, and we were going to head home early.

That's when we noticed we were one cat light in the vehicle. 9 hours later we found her. Since we were then going to get home at midnight, we didn't take time to set up the GPS.

Making matters worse, when we did get home we found a converter I had forgotten I had put in the glove box a week earlier. Ever since getting home, we've been clearing out the house for sale (and we're still not done.) So enough of the excuses....

Today I sat down and worked with the 5510 to see what I could learn. At first I started creating a word document, trying to describe its functionality (not easy without pictures), but just now, I came across a copy of the instructions on-line.

Believe me, this puppy has a lot of functionality. 147 pages worth. Including the 27, eight by ten color glossy pictures with the circle and arrows and descriptions on the back – OK, so they aren't 8X10, nor are the descriptions written on the back. Sorry, I had to throw in the Arlo Guthery thing.

(Sheese, the boy talks so much he's likely tuh get a sunburn tongue.)

So here's the document: http://www.switz111.bizland.com/gps/RVND5510.pdf

I especially got a kick out of the place where they warned you “Do not attach the mount to the air bag deployment zone” - I suppose if you want a backwards indelible monogram of 'Rand McNally' that are would be fine.

If you folks will consider this a down payment on my promise, I'll give you my opinions on the tool later.

BTW, we ordered some batteries for our CPAPs, and they were stolen off our porch after delivery. Who's makin, Ah say, who's making all the attacks on my person?

Now that I've had a chance to use the 5510, I have to tell you that one gets the distinct feeling that sometime in the not too distant future we won't have to look out the front wind shield to get where we are going......we'll just look at the GPS and drive.

Ok, so there are a few bugs they still will need to work out. Like our first destination was plotted to the wrong street . I later surmised that this was due to selecting the RV park by the icon provided (among the other 15,000,000 other points of Interest provided by Rand McNally) in stead of putting in the address, and it just so happened this RV park was closer to 16th Street than 8th, the later being the entrance street. (Hey, it IS a GPS unit.) The good news is there is a way to inform R McN of errors (so they do care.)

The misses was a little less than impressed with the voice quality. And, while she wears a hearing aid, I have to admit, it was somewhat scratchy. (I told her she was just jealous because I was the one that heard the voices. - That's a jo, ah say, that's a JOKE, son !) I haven't tried the other voice that's available.

I was impressed with the amount of data provided by the tool. I was able to help out newly made acquaintances we had wine with one evening. They were from Holland and wanted to know if there was a good place to stay close in to Victoria BC, as well as up by Tofino. Not only did we have the information, but we could provide phone numbers and map out their route in two minutes. (Otherwise, he coulda been busier than a centipede at a toe-counting contest.)

I don't know why a Mercedes Sprinter would not be equipped with kilometers per hour on the speedometer, but no worries....I just switched the 5510 to kilometers and it told us how fast we were going in kilometers while in Canada. As we zipped under bridges, the cross streets were indicated, even though they weren't germane to our travel plans. I'm not quite sure how it was able to detect our progress while we were in a tunnel (perhaps by our speed entering ?)

In the US (but not in Canada ), it not only told you how fast you were going, but it also told you of upcoming speed changes (you determine how far in advance). If you exceeded the speed limit (again you determine if you want this feature and by how much over the speed limit) it let you know by verbal warning - and not repeatedly which could have been annoying. I was impressed that they had up to date information on the road work being done, as well as temporary speed limit changes. How do they do that ?

I still haven't figured out how to get local traffic conditions as it mentioned in the brochure. Got caught at the Canadian US border for two hours - (I was doin a whole lotta choppin - but no chips were a flying.)

Other notable options were: to plan your route without U turns, which could be handy for you Diesel Pusher folks or those with fifth wheels; To avoid toll roads - hey that could get expensive on places like the Penn Turnpike where they charge by the Axle if you have a dingy; you can change map orientation so that North is always up, or 3D, or so that forward was always up (my directionally challenged misses likes this one the most);

With a click of an icon while traveling - you can see what's on the next exit - in case you want to find a Starbucks or someone had GOT to have dinner out; and if Fido ate a leather glove (that boy reminds me of Paul Revere’s ride – a little light in the belfry – heh heh) - no worries - you'll be able to see where all the vet hospitals are on the map as you drive along; or maybe the vehicle is acting like a dead horse – no get up and go – Well, all the local RV repair shops will be at hand .....and this is just to name a few of the things this tool can do.

I found the layout to be a little difficult at first, but logical once you start to use the various things the 5510 can do.

And, yes, you can Geocashe with it. Battery lasts almost two hours without having it plugged in. I'll continue to report if anyone's interested....(That boy's got a mouth like a cannon, always shooting it off! )

Wow, what a great write up. Thanks for taking so much time to do this. We were really considering getting one, but then some unexpected expenses came up, and the GPS sort of went to the back burner. However, we still think there will be one in our not-too-distant future. It certainly has a lot of information and does a lot of things. This sounds like a good system, and one we would like to have. So if anything else comes up about the unit--good or bad--please let us know. (BTW, loved your Arlo Guthrie reference.)

This is a bit late, but sorry to hear about your troubles with your maiden voyage. We all have stories about our newbie days. I was interested in your "one cat light" statement. How many do you travel with, and do you let them out of the vehicle? Where did you finally find her? We have 2 cats that we currently travel with, but they NEVER go outside when we are traveling. Course they are also strictly indoor cats here at home so that is no big change for them.

Your statement reminded me of an incident when we bought our first motorhome. Back then we had 3 cats, so we took all three of them out to the coach to let them get familiar with it. We just let them nose around while we were doing some cleaning. About an hour later we realized there were only 2 cats around, so we began looking for the 3rd one. We looked everywhere, but could not find him. After about 30 min we began to think he had gotten out somehow, even though we had not opened the door, so we began looking on the outside of the coach and around the outside of the house. Still no luck, so back inside we went. We spent about 4 hours going from "he's got to be in here somewhere because there is no way he can get out" to " he's not in here; he must have gotten out somehow." Finally we felt way up under the dash and touched just a bit of fur. That cat had wedged himself under the dash, all the way up to the top. We tried for about an hour to coax him out, but he wasn't moving, so we went inside the house hoping he would come out on his own--but no. After two hours we were really tired of his game so we scrunched ourselves down in the foot well and from there we could finally grab hold of a leg. He did not come out easily, but we finally pulled him out along with several wires. Did I mention he weighs 14 pounds? (and yes, we still have him.) After that we put chicken wire all underneath the dash so he cannot get up in there anymore, and fortunately we have not had any other major mishaps with any of the cats since then.

Well, that was a long story and not about GPS's at all, but since you have cats let me offer one bit of advice. If your RV has slides, ALWAYS be sure that you can see your cats and that they are out of the slide's way. We heard about a cat that got crushed in a slide because its owners did not realize it was in the way.

Thanks one more time for all the good info, and good luck with all your travel plans.

TX

Hi Tx,

Since you already travel with a laptop it is hard to beat Microsoft Streets and Trips 2011 version. There is a free mega poi download available at the Discovery Owners site. Cost is low--and at least for the mapping part it is "try before you buy".

Will do TX. Almost didn't keep the unit, was tempted to go with a less expensive GPS, but after comparing I figured I could justify the toy.



It's a long story. Wife was preping the pots and pans so they wouldn't rattle. One of our two, Chupee (short for Chalupa) decided the RV wasn't an extention of the house and walked out the door. Something we REALLY didn't expect. They are indoor girls with deck priviledges. We've taught them from when they were kittens that if they leave the deck, they are in the house for th rest of the day. The wife informed me as I arrived back from taking out the garbage that chupee was gone. I went around the back of the vehicle and got on hands an knees just in time to see her dancing on back two paws like she was going to jump up into the engine area. Now the Mercedes Sprinter DOESN'T have a whole lot of freeboard from running boards to pavement so I couldn't get a good look. Took us an hour or two to get the courage to drive the Sprinter up on the leveling blocks so I could see under the vehicle....no cat.

After opening her favorite food and calling her name for hours (she usually responds - a real chow oriented animal) we were about to leave her behind.....lots of tears, nashing of teeth and so on....then my wife spotted her eyes in the thicket....not a simple task as Chupee is all black and she was about 6 feet in. I tried to crawl in a 2X2 opening with roots for a floor and the animal backed up more.....the wife, with two replaced knees and a replaced hip got in and grabbed her.

Had a very similar experience to yours with a cat going behind a airconditioning unit in a 1962 Buick while I was traveling cross country with my mom in the same year. Took us two hours looking until we heard a meow.

No slides - just a class B, and the first destination is to drop off Lambie, our active thin girl, with parents in Vegas.

Putting house on market Monday, wife gets crown finished Wednesday, and we hope to leave Seattle by next Monday. CAN'T WAIT ! HOO-Hoo!

Hi Don,

You're right. We use Streets and Trips a lot when we are planning out an RV route. However, it is not convenient to take the laptop with us when we go on day trips. We discovered on our last big trip that eventhough I printed out maps from S&T we always managed to go somewhere that I had not printed out. A GPS would have come in very handy then. Also I did not know about the poi download. I'll look into that. Thanks for the info.

TX

Our Garmin Model 380 has everything you can think of and more. Can be moved from MH to Honda in seconds and has the Garmin bean bag stand that sets on dash. This is good in USA and Canada. In Canada you cannot have a GPS on the windshield. It will take you to anyplace you wish to go.

Sounds like just the unit we needed. do you know the frequency and cost of the map updates?

Chowhound, if you are refering to the McNally, sorry I don't know.

I noticed on the Rand McNally website that they wil be releasing the 7710 Rvnd unit on October 1, 2011. Other than having a 7" screen they did not elaborate as to any other bells and whistles. The suggested price was around $350.

I just returned from a trip to Woodland ,Oregon and was looking forward to use the RVND 5510. Unfortunately it could never find a satellite going and coming. While in Woodland I called tech support and got the royal run around. I did a check on Rand McNally's customer service reviews and read some unflattering reviews, so that did not leave me feeling good. Today I called again and got a hold of a more competent individual who determined that my unit had an antenna problem. He is shipping me out an RMA label so I can return my unit and get a new. I will now go back and use my Garmin until my RVND 5510 will show up at some point in the future.

Interesting. I haven't used an antenna yet. and haven't had a problem with accessing satellites. Usually, my unit is in full view of the sky though. Hope the replacement works as well as mine has been serving me. Stuff should just WORK !

One thing I have noticed is that the 5510 is not very accurate when judging short distances, and that may be a factor of the real time programming to the satellite and back vs the speed I'm approaching the intersection at which I need to turn (especially when I'm decelerating from highway speeds.)

I have had it lock up on me twice while I was computing to the next destination..... but like all of my other devices, this is quickly taken care of by shutting down and starting up again.

Other than that, I've been happy.

Just another $0.02 re: 5510. Just got a new one and used it for a multi stop 3 state trip. Unit worked very well. I especially like the construction ahead warnings and the lane to be in notices. Voice is loud enough to hear and screen is large enough to be useful. So far, I am pleased.