Found this channel a bit ago and was going through your older vids. Great info. I was an over the road trucker (OTR) for several years and I highly recommend the RM Road atlas's. I personally used the trucker edition specifically for the height and weight restrictions. Plus it has the tandem settings, length restrictions, haz-mat routs etc. Plus being able to highlight my route was a big help too. I used this atlas in conjunction with a RM truckers GPS (and Google navigation) and would highly recommend that for larger RVers. It will route you with all the atlas information and steer you clear of low bridges and weight restrictions and such. Just program it with your specific information and all good. The RM GPS also gives many warnings when a low bridge is ahead. They also let you easily switch from truck to car settings too so when you unhook your car you can explore without those restrictions. After I stopped for a night I would pull out the atlas, get on Google maps and use both to plot my route. Using both kept me free from any trouble. One other tip for long trips: Use dry erase pens to list out your highway interchanges across the TOP of your windshield. You will never have to take your eyes off the road to double check what interchange exits you need to catch and you can easily mark through them (your finger will erase it) once you make them so you wont have to study where you are in your route. At the end of the day just erase it all. Yes, the GPS will tell you but sometimes, as we all know, they can be wrong. So easy to check. I always used redundancy to make sure I was heading the right way and it is much safer too.
After visiting some national parks, I kept seeing the National Geographic road atlas’ At the visitor centers. I’ve since come around to the idea of actually owning a road atlas, since I lose signal so often when going to national parks. I learned a lot from this video. Thanks for uploading it. I’m actually excited to have one of those “old school” Atlas’ in my car. (:
Thanks Marc. In this GPS on my phone days, you sometimes forget how helpful those road atlas's are. Very interesting about the truckers version. Thanks for the Great information. Tony & Cathy
You're welcome Tony. Yes a couple of bad experiences with our RV GPS and phone GPS and we've gone back to more careful route planning with the road atlases - they are invaluable and go hand in hand with the RV GPS/Iphone GPS - we cross check them all now whenever we are traveling new, unfamiliar routes. Safe travels!
great review, i'd just like to add that we've always carried a road atlas too and since retiring this year we upgraded to the National Geographic version which for rv'ers give a lot more info on national parks and other venues that gravitate to outdoor places to see, got it on amazon for $15 thanks marc
I have had a Rand McNally road atlas since hitting the road at 16! Love my motor carrier laminated road atlas I got earlier this year - it is perfect for use with my new to me rv now!!! Like you Mark, I don’t like gps = and never use it to plan my route, I prefer to go old school as well! Thanks, Kari
yogawick I use a GPS in the truck I have a truck specific unit it does a good job but I still carry a map but almost never use it but sometimes for many reasons a real map is better
Great video. Rand McNally now has a Motor Carrier Deluxe laminated Large scale. That ticks all the boxes I think except for the cluttered look. Which can sometimes be a convenience. sounds like best of both worlds. I use a Randmacnally RV GPS but not found of GPS at all.. We drive a class B, so no big rig option not this needed.
I like the HEMA United States Road Atlas. The entire country is done on a grid that has the same scal from page to page. Try going through a sliver of Maryland, West Virginia, Western Pennsylvania, Western Virginia and Eastern Ohio, and having to go to different pages on the Rand McNally map for each state, with a different scaled map for each state.
I was looking for road atlas reviews because the last atlas I bought was from 2004, so it is high time to update (2019). I noticed some complaints about the quality of the newer large scale Rand McNally's, on AMZN so I took a second look at my atlas (which I really like) and found that it was sold through Discovery Channel. Well, Discovery doesn't seem to sell them at this time. Further searching took me to National Geographic and they sell a large, spiral bound one which has really good reviews, so I decided to try that one this time. Hopefully it will be as good as my old one from 2004.
Mark have you seen this one? Large Scale Motor Carriers' Road Atlas. I just saw this on the Rand McNally site, but have no idea how it might compare to the Large Scale "standard" Road Atlas?
HI Ian, yes we have the Motor Carrier's Road Atlas as well, it's the one with the laminated pages in the review. The large scale standard atlas doesn't have laminated pages. We cover both in this review.... unless you are referring to another one we aren't aware of?
Yes there seems to be a LARGE SCALE Motor Carrier's Road Atlas as well! www.amazon.com/McNally-Large-Scale-Carriers-Laminated/dp/B005II5MIY/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_img_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=WXKENYSGT95YDN3P2P39
I don't know if its just Colorado or all states in the Large scale version, but normally the top of a map book page is North. So, everytime you open the Large scale version - you have to turn the book to the right to orient north? Not really a big deal with the spiral bound, since you can fold it open on itself I assume. Sorry, for pointing this out - it's just the way my internal compass works whenever I get turned around - I first locate North wherever I am , then orient the map, to figure out exactly where I am. It's one of the things I hate about GPS maps, is the rotating map orientation -- In my opinion, I think the top of whatever map you are looking at , whether it be a hand drawn, electronic, or printed --- the top should be north. :)
Nice review! We are planning a trip to Canada in July and to use our phone for the google maps nave app will run us $10 per day on top of our regular data plan. Not too bad but that can add up and an Atlas, as you point out, can be great for preplanning and the large pages are great for viewing. Rand McNally is king, however, when it comes to Canada they are lacking in options. The large spiral bound motor carriers, as well as national parks and smaller 8x10 road atlas versions, do cover Canada, however, the large-scale spiral bound road atlas does not. Kind of a bummer as that option is the only one with 35% larger maps. Wish they would add Canada to the large-scale spiral bound version but unfortunately, we will have to settle for the much smaller 2019 EasyFinder® Midsize Road Atlas.
Well, I think I saw a symbol that reflects rest areas or two different ones one meaning rest area with toilets and the other meaning rest area without toilets.
The one thing that I get concerned about when it comes to GPS devices and google maps that they might replace physical maps entirely. Electronic navigation devices have their places but all too often they fail me. Sent me in the wrong direction, directed me to drive into a farmers field because of it's inaccuracy and just lacking the detail I require. No tool is perfect but still, love to have the oversight, that all those colours and lines on paper provide.
Hi Dave - We actually have the Rand McNally GS RV GPS and while it's been useful, we are not big fans of it. User interface of the RV GPS is slow and frustrating, it freezes up en route (usually at the worst possible time) and has led us down some roads our RV should never have been on - despite being programmed with the coach data and route preferences. But it's better than nothing and we NEVER rely solely on the RV GPS anymore - the Road Atlas is much more reliable and combining that with the RV GPS and the Mountain Directories and the iPhone Google Maps, we've had more success. BUT we would NEVER recommend anyone solely rely on the Rand McNally RV GPS... we believe there are better units out there and hope to review one here soon. How has YOUR experience been with the Rand McNally RV GPS? Has it ever led you astray?
I find that all very weird. 40yrs in the computer ind and I am kind of a gadget geek and I do not find my GPS to be slow and it has never locked up or froze on me nor have I ever been sent down the wrong road. I had a TomTom before this and it wanted me to drive off a cliff in San Diego and that’s when I bought the Rand/Mcnally. I did see a review of the new Garmin RV GPs and it looked pretty darn good, you can even talk to it
That's a scary experience with the TomTom! Yes that's the one we want - the Garmin. So your Rand McNally RV GPS works well then? Hmmm odd, our Rand McNally RV GPS 7725 (despite being properly programmed with our coach dimensions etc and with software /map updates) tried to take us under an 11' bridge in New Paltz NY, through the Lincoln Tunnel where propane tanks are banned, and took us from Denver to Rapid City via an 18 mile dirt back road in Wyoming - a completely different route to the prior year. That was when we decided we were done with it. Will check out LoLoHo's review - thanks!
I have an older model, the 7710 and I do have one problem with it, I always leave it plugged in while traveling and when I stop the engine and come back the screen changes to a dark un seeable version and I can still hear everything but I can't see it. Sometimes I can bring it back a little bit by changing settings but not always. I was really disappointed at their support. All they could say is oh we have never heard of that. Made me realize that they are a map company and Garmin is a technology company and when I change, I may go with the Garmin also. I too carry the road atlas and use my iphone with google maps for backup
We always carry a Road Atlas. It is a great way to get around the back roads. Also, when you have no service on your phone, you are never lost.
Absolutely!
@@RoadGearReviews as a Gen-Zer I couldn't agree more. Atlases are great!
Found this channel a bit ago and was going through your older vids. Great info.
I was an over the road trucker (OTR) for several years and I highly recommend the RM Road atlas's. I personally used the trucker edition specifically for the height and weight restrictions. Plus it has the tandem settings, length restrictions, haz-mat routs etc. Plus being able to highlight my route was a big help too.
I used this atlas in conjunction with a RM truckers GPS (and Google navigation) and would highly recommend that for larger RVers. It will route you with all the atlas information and steer you clear of low bridges and weight restrictions and such. Just program it with your specific information and all good. The RM GPS also gives many warnings when a low bridge is ahead. They also let you easily switch from truck to car settings too so when you unhook your car you can explore without those restrictions.
After I stopped for a night I would pull out the atlas, get on Google maps and use both to plot my route. Using both kept me free from any trouble.
One other tip for long trips: Use dry erase pens to list out your highway interchanges across the TOP of your windshield. You will never have to take your eyes off the road to double check what interchange exits you need to catch and you can easily mark through them (your finger will erase it) once you make them so you wont have to study where you are in your route. At the end of the day just erase it all.
Yes, the GPS will tell you but sometimes, as we all know, they can be wrong. So easy to check. I always used redundancy to make sure I was heading the right way and it is much safer too.
Great tips. As a prospective CDL holder, thank you so much for the suggestions.
I appreciate the straightforward opinions, great information sir. Thank you!
Thank you for the video. Getting a printed map for my truck "prepping" pack.
After visiting some national parks, I kept seeing the National Geographic road atlas’ At the visitor centers. I’ve since come around to the idea of actually owning a road atlas, since I lose signal so often when going to national parks.
I learned a lot from this video. Thanks for uploading it. I’m actually excited to have one of those “old school” Atlas’ in my car. (:
Thanks for the info, you made it easy for me to decide which atlas to buy.
Thanks Marc. In this GPS on my phone days, you sometimes forget how helpful those road atlas's are. Very interesting about the truckers version. Thanks for the Great information.
Tony & Cathy
You're welcome Tony. Yes a couple of bad experiences with our RV GPS and phone GPS and we've gone back to more careful route planning with the road atlases - they are invaluable and go hand in hand with the RV GPS/Iphone GPS - we cross check them all now whenever we are traveling new, unfamiliar routes. Safe travels!
great review, i'd just like to add that we've always carried a road atlas too and since retiring this year we upgraded to the National Geographic version which for rv'ers give a lot more info on national parks and other venues that gravitate to outdoor places to see, got it on amazon for $15 thanks marc
Thanks for sharing the National Geographic version - that's a great option! Happy Trails!
Thanks for getting straight to the point
super good review -thanks!
I have had a Rand McNally road atlas since hitting the road at 16!
Love my motor carrier laminated road atlas I got earlier this year - it is perfect for use with my new to me rv now!!!
Like you Mark, I don’t like gps = and never use it to plan my route, I prefer to go old school as well!
Thanks,
Kari
yogawick I use a GPS in the truck I have a truck specific unit it does a good job but I still carry a map but almost never use it but sometimes for many reasons a real map is better
Agreed!
Agreed!
Great video. Rand McNally now has a Motor Carrier Deluxe laminated Large scale. That ticks all the boxes I think except for the cluttered look. Which can sometimes be a convenience. sounds like best of both worlds. I use a Randmacnally RV GPS but not found of GPS at all.. We drive a class B, so no big rig option not this needed.
Well, Rand McNally is currently publishing it's centennial edition road atlas.
Useful explanation of the various options. Thanks!
Do they show mountain trails things like that?
Awesome!!
Now available, the large scale, laminated, motor carrier edition.
It’s great and usable as a 20ton jack stand if necessary
Thank you that was very helpful. What RV GPS do you use?
Thx for the review!!
You're welcome!
I like the HEMA United States Road Atlas. The entire country is done on a grid that has the same scal from page to page. Try going through a sliver of Maryland, West Virginia, Western Pennsylvania, Western Virginia and Eastern Ohio, and having to go to different pages on the Rand McNally map for each state, with a different scaled map for each state.
Yes those small states can be tricky!
As a truck driver I carry a rand McNally but rarely use it any more with GPS I can save regular stops
Good to know - we like having both an Atlas and GPS
Super helpful thank you!
I was looking for road atlas reviews because the last atlas I bought was from 2004, so it is high time to update (2019). I noticed some complaints about the quality of the newer large scale Rand McNally's, on AMZN so I took a second look at my atlas (which I really like) and found that it was sold through Discovery Channel. Well, Discovery doesn't seem to sell them at this time. Further searching took me to National Geographic and they sell a large, spiral bound one which has really good reviews, so I decided to try that one this time. Hopefully it will be as good as my old one from 2004.
Yes we really like the spiral bound version.
good review thanks
Mark have you seen this one? Large Scale Motor Carriers' Road Atlas. I just saw this on the Rand McNally site, but have no idea how it might compare to the Large Scale "standard" Road Atlas?
HI Ian, yes we have the Motor Carrier's Road Atlas as well, it's the one with the laminated pages in the review. The large scale standard atlas doesn't have laminated pages. We cover both in this review.... unless you are referring to another one we aren't aware of?
Yes there seems to be a LARGE SCALE Motor Carrier's Road Atlas as well! www.amazon.com/McNally-Large-Scale-Carriers-Laminated/dp/B005II5MIY/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_img_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=WXKENYSGT95YDN3P2P39
I was just looking at that one...seems it would still be "cluttered" with the orange truck routes.
I don't know if its just Colorado or all states in the Large scale version, but normally the top of a map book page is North. So, everytime you open the Large scale version - you have to turn the book to the right to orient north? Not really a big deal with the spiral bound, since you can fold it open on itself I assume. Sorry, for pointing this out - it's just the way my internal compass works whenever I get turned around - I first locate North wherever I am , then orient the map, to figure out exactly where I am. It's one of the things I hate about GPS maps, is the rotating map orientation -- In my opinion, I think the top of whatever map you are looking at , whether it be a hand drawn, electronic, or printed --- the top should be north. :)
Good point!
Nice review! We are planning a trip to Canada in July and to use our phone for the google maps nave app will run us $10 per day on top of our regular data plan. Not too bad but that can add up and an Atlas, as you point out, can be great for preplanning and the large pages are great for viewing. Rand McNally is king, however, when it comes to Canada they are lacking in options. The large spiral bound motor carriers, as well as national parks and smaller 8x10 road atlas versions, do cover Canada, however, the large-scale spiral bound road atlas does not. Kind of a bummer as that option is the only one with 35% larger maps. Wish they would add Canada to the large-scale spiral bound version but unfortunately, we will have to settle for the much smaller 2019 EasyFinder® Midsize Road Atlas.
Thanks for your feedback! Hopefully Rand McNally will pay attention and cover Canada more thoroughly in future. Enjoy your trip!
does this atlas show rest areas ?
Well, I think I saw a symbol that reflects rest areas or two different ones one meaning rest area with toilets and the other meaning rest area without toilets.
Marc, does Rand/Mcnally offer a digital version for an iPad? Stored on the device not dependent on GPS
They do have an app, Its a bit more expensive than the books but has a lot to offer. You can use it just as a map without GPS, or with GPS navigation.
Thanks for jumping in to answer this one guys. Peter hope that helps!
Well, Even though the Road Atlas or Folded Maps maybe useful only if the Overdryve Device, G.P.S. Device, or Smartphone Unit are out of charge.
The one thing that I get concerned about when it comes to GPS devices and google maps that they might replace physical maps entirely. Electronic navigation devices have their places but all too often they fail me. Sent me in the wrong direction, directed me to drive into a farmers field because of it's inaccuracy and just lacking the detail I require. No tool is perfect but still, love to have the oversight, that all those colours and lines on paper provide.
Agreed. the paper navigation tools still have a lot of merit.
Just one more reason to have the Rand/Mcnally Good Sam RV GPS Everything that is in the Atlas is in the GPS
Hi Dave - We actually have the Rand McNally GS RV GPS and while it's been useful, we are not big fans of it. User interface of the RV GPS is slow and frustrating, it freezes up en route (usually at the worst possible time) and has led us down some roads our RV should never have been on - despite being programmed with the coach data and route preferences. But it's better than nothing and we NEVER rely solely on the RV GPS anymore - the Road Atlas is much more reliable and combining that with the RV GPS and the Mountain Directories and the iPhone Google Maps, we've had more success. BUT we would NEVER recommend anyone solely rely on the Rand McNally RV GPS... we believe there are better units out there and hope to review one here soon. How has YOUR experience been with the Rand McNally RV GPS? Has it ever led you astray?
I find that all very weird. 40yrs in the computer ind and I am kind of a gadget geek and I do not find my GPS to be slow and it has never locked up or froze on me nor have I ever been sent down the wrong road. I had a TomTom before this and it wanted me to drive off a cliff in San Diego and that’s when I bought the Rand/Mcnally. I did see a review of the new Garmin RV GPs and it looked pretty darn good, you can even talk to it
It was Long Long Honeymoon that did the revue
That's a scary experience with the TomTom! Yes that's the one we want - the Garmin. So your Rand McNally RV GPS works well then? Hmmm odd, our Rand McNally RV GPS 7725 (despite being properly programmed with our coach dimensions etc and with software /map updates) tried to take us under an 11' bridge in New Paltz NY, through the Lincoln Tunnel where propane tanks are banned, and took us from Denver to Rapid City via an 18 mile dirt back road in Wyoming - a completely different route to the prior year. That was when we decided we were done with it. Will check out LoLoHo's review - thanks!
I have an older model, the 7710 and I do have one problem with it, I always leave it plugged in while traveling and when I stop the engine and come back the screen changes to a dark un seeable version and I can still hear everything but I can't see it. Sometimes I can bring it back a little bit by changing settings but not always. I was really disappointed at their support. All they could say is oh we have never heard of that. Made me realize that they are a map company and Garmin is a technology company and when I change, I may go with the Garmin also. I too carry the road atlas and use my iphone with google maps for backup
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