Rand McNally GPS for the Winnebago crowd
RVs need GPS love, too. The new RV-specific Rand McNally TripMaker RVND 5510 GPS will be right at home on the dashboard of a motor home.
Summer is coming. Thousands of lumbering behemoths will soon take to the roads, loaded with families or retirees. These RVs are misunderstood creatures. They may clog up the highways and decorate Wal-Mart parking lots, but they have needs just like other vehicles. RVs need GPS love, too.
Rand McNally is courting the RV community with a new GPS device designed just for them. The TripMaker RVND 5510 sports a name that's almost as long as an actual Winnebago. It comes stocked up with information that would make a regular car driver's head spin.
Routing isn't just routing on the 5510. The GPS also includes height and weight restrictions and turning preferences that are tuned to the type of RV you're driving. For example, you might not enjoy maneuvering your 42-foot-long motor home around a tight right corner into the Cracker Barrel parking lot. The 5510 will show you a left turn into your destination.
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There's also the perennial problem of where to park your wheeled house. The points of interest on this GPS are expanded to include RV campgrounds, dealers, repair providers, and travel centers with dump stations. I'm not exactly sure what an RV dump station is, but I don't think I want to find out.
A big vehicle requires a big GPS. The 5510 delivers, with a 5-inch wide-screen display. The charger comes with an extended length cable so it can reach across an enormous dashboard all the way to the plug. You can even set up the 5510 to give you speed limit warnings, though breaking the speed limit isn't really a problem for most RVs.
The TripMaker RVND 5510 comes out in June for $350. I would have to encourage RVers to consider making the investment. Anything that helps a land yacht be more nimble is A-OK in my book.