Rand McNally 528017829 OverDryve 8 Pro 8″ Truck GPS

Description

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Most of us consider Rand McNally in terms of printed maps, meticulously accurate, constantly updated, and distributed annually in a big atlas covering the U.S. and Canada.

This is not unexpected. Rand McNally created the U.S. highway numbering system in 1917 and declared Auto Chum, the parent of its popular Road Atlas, in 1924. The first full-color Road Atlas worked off the presses in 1960.

But like other publishing businesses attempting survival in the 21st century, Rand McNally has adopted the digital age and used it to its way-finding results. The newest model of that growth is Overdryve, a digital tablet that will give all the infotainment and connectivity characteristics currently accessible in middle- to high-end cars, at costs usually lower than nav box opportunities.

More important, Overdryve makes these characteristics accessible to owners of vehicles at the basic transportation end of the market, as well as to millions of more traditional cars that pre-date extensive connectivity.

Rand McNally has turned its mapping knowledge into an innovative product that can turn virtually any vehicle into a connected vehicle with its OverDryve 8 navigation system.

Presentation

Rand McNally’s intention here is to offer a detachable tablet that can do what a lot of smart vehicles can do. Navigation is a given, of course, but there is more that this tablet can do.

The OverDryve 8 is also an entertainment enter, dashcam, and with some extra accessories, a backup camera, tire pressure monitor, and overall diagnostic tool. The tablet is also detachable and works as an Android 5.1 Lollipop tablet when away from its origin.

Starting, it necessitates to be said that the OverDryve 8 navigation unit is an exercise in the large. The tablet itself is strong and the mounting bracket is large. Even the suction cup to mount the tool is the size of a teacup dish.

Rand McNally wasn’t modest when it was creating this tablet. Everything is generous. The specs of the tablet are more on the traditional side, 8″ high-resolution screen, 2 GB of RAM, AMD processor, and 2 GB of flash memory size. This is a low-to-mid-range tablet.

Physically, the tablet is a bit brutal. It’s thick – nearly twice as thick as a Nexus 6P. The device comes with an antiglare and an anti-reflective screen protector to make it simpler to read in the sun, but is pretty inclined to balloons.

On the back of the unit is a rubberized handle that makes the tablet easy to hold. Across the top are power, volume, and a home button. On the side you’ll find a microSD slot, MicroUSB charging port, headphone jack, and interestingly enough, a Micro HDMI port.

The mounting device is on the large side to complete a few purposes. There is an FM transmitter, incredibly sturdy magnets, plus an extra USB outlet for charging your telephone or other accessories.

Features

There are optional tools that we didn’t have the chance to test that allows the tablet to work as a backup camera, tire pressure monitor, and can find motor diagnostics and performance information.

The speakers on the unit are loud, by far the loudest I have ever heard coming from a tablet, let alone an 8” tablet. If that isn’t sufficient for you, the OverDryve 8 also has a built-in SiriusXM satellite radio that you can utilize to tie into your vehicle radio.

But overall, this is a common tablet that performs essential duties decently. You won’t be playing many games on this unit beyond, maybe, Solitaire. And that’s only if you don’t have a better tool to play on. The tablet itself is underpowered by today’s rules, which is a disgrace.

The overdrive 8 tablet works Android 5.1.1 Lollipop which is old but gets the job completed. It comes with a preinstalled home screen widget that allows you to reach the main characteristics of the navigation system.

Of course, navigation is the most notable, along with the other characteristics we’ve talked about (cameras, tire pressure monitor, and entertainment). There is also a microphone image that you can utilize to initiate your phone’s voice assistant, Siri or Google Now.

The interface is friendly and large, just what a vehicle navigation system wants to be. It’s easy to travel around the unit while driving. Rand McNally has the best idea here. But going into the benefits a bit more and things get less pleasant.

The map, arguably the entire point of holding this thing in the first position, is not the most intuitive part of software I’ve ever met. Of course, whether or not something is intuitive is completely subjective.

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The map has a ton of data built into it, speed, current location, next turn, time, and direction.

But there are some other miscues during the interface. The aforementioned speech assistant is fine, but it’s slow to perform and only does commands on the phone. This gives sense, because it’s using your phone’s voice assistant after all.

But when I say “Navigate Home” to a travel system, I want the ways to come up on the navigation system, not the phone. The Dashcam is a nice bonus, but it has to be manually started, which is only helpful if you remember to turn it on. Dashcams go better when they’re modest and automatic.

As a tablet, the OverDryve 8 doesn’t appear with the Google Play store. You can connect to some third-party app stores. Google Play’s absence isn’t fundamentally an awful thing, but it falls under the class of less-than-ideal.

Your smartphone attaches to the tablet via Bluetooth and has playback buttons for playing back media. The speakers on this unit are amazingly loud. They are more than adequate for music or podcast streaming while running on the expressway.

That’s telling a lot for our heavy-metal broken ears. The speakers themselves are very midrange heavy, with a little bit of treble and no bass. Stick with podcasts with these speakers.

Pros

• excellent idea that updates your old car
• loudspeaker able to cutting through vehicular sound
• lot of connectivity to several devices for an all-encompassing clarification

Cons

• Half completed dashcam and voice assistant
• No Google Play store

Conclusion

If you need a GPS that has more functions than a normal GPS we recommend Rand McNally OverDryve 8 Pro. This tablet has functions like dashcam, reverse camera, navigation, engine monitoring.

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