JacknKay

We were at a Tiffin Rally this June in Oregon, but Bob was not there. The Tiffin Rep told eveyone there that this is a legend and did not happen.

Actually, I ended up replacing the Batwing, with wingman with the Jack. Why? Well I like how it works and it's easier to crank up too. It does pull in a lot of stations when I'm in an area with stations. If you are not, nothing will help except cable.

We have an Allegro of 2007 vintage. It's a 28DA. It has the Ford V-10 and we tow a 94 Honda Accord with it. Last year we put more than 10k miles on it without issues. The engine performs and we went over the Rockies with it just fine.

There are a couple of places that I started looking into for a May trip. One is Yosemite Pines in Groveland, Ca. It has 118 full hook-up sites. Claims to be minutes from the park and is on HiWay 120. Just outside of Groveland is Yosemite Lakes RV Park. It's Thousand Trails, but they have public spaces too, I hear. It's very close to the Valley. High Serra RV Park in Oakhurst, CA. It's a little further from the Valley, but closer to Mariposa Grove. It only has 24 Full hook-up sites. It's on HiWay 41. It's about 280 miles from LA. Good luck and enjoy the wonders of Yosemite National Park.

I would love to have my coach have a full body paint job, but my wife wants to go to Hawaii instead. Aloha......

Here's a picture of my LED TV that I installed this Winter. What the TV used to look like. What it looks like now.

My wife and I had a nice dinner in the city, (SF) this past week and when we got home there was a message on our answering machine from the credit card company that there was suspicious activity on our card. There didn't seem to be any charges that I didn't approve of, but they canceled the card and the next day I had a new one delivered by UPS. They could only say that someone called from a known fraudulent phone number. Interestingly enough the restaurant that we went to didn't include the tip I left them on the charge, but only the amount of the meal. Maybe they were too nervous or in a hurry. Interesting!

A friend had his Allegro carpet replaced. It's the same year as mine. (see signature) He had to buy 4 rollers to put on the slide leading edge. Is that really necessary? On mine it doesn't seem like the slide "rolls" over the carpet, so why over the floor? just wondering. Jack

I have a 2007 Tiffin and I know it's not the same as yours, but I had to remove the wooden frame around the box (enclosure) holding the TV first. It's attached with four 5" wood screws. Two each were driven into the enclosure from each side. (inside of the cabinets on each side of the enclosure) Once you get those out the frame slides toward the front and can be removed.The TV, in my case sits on the bottom of that enclosure and is held in place by four wood screws, (one at each corner) that are attached to small pieces of felt covered plywood. Remove those and the TV slides out. Make sure to get help, if it's a 25", it's heavy and you need to disconnect any cables once you pull it forward. It took me and my son about five minutes to remove it once the wood frame was removed. If you have an impact driver it will be easier to get the long screws out. On mine they were a square headed screw, not a phillips. Hope that helps. Jack

I have the RVND manual on my iPad in PDF format. It resides in the "books" icon and I can easily look things up in it. I also have a manual for a Magellan and doesn't come close to the completeness of the RM manual.

We have a Tiffin and they use Alder wood. I am planning to do the TV switch next week. I am going to try Poplar to replace the frame around the TV enclosure. If that doesn't match as well, I'll have to go looking for Alder.

I to would like to have the ability to upload routes from a computer. I always research a new route using Google maps and sometimes on my iPhone. Often I have my wife refer to the paper maps just to make sure. I had the RM7710 and now the 7720. It was very handy on our last cross-country trip and impressed some of my fellow travelers on occasion. I like the dash-board feature for those areas of the country that are feature-less, (you know who you are).

I did take advantage of the trade in and the 7720 does appear to have less of a glare issue. It also have WiFi to overlay local weather.

I am in the middle of changing out our front 25" CRT with a new 32" LED. The LED TVs are lighter, and the one I got, a JVC weighs in at 9.5 lbs. The reason I got this size is that it will fit within the old enclosure and a 40" would be too big. I am getting a stationairy mount from CW that I will need to mount to a piece of 3/4" plywood. The plywood also fits within the old enclosure and will be anchored to 2X4" on each side. There should be enough room at the bottom on the enclosure to have a shelf for the DVD player and a sound-bar, (if I decide I want that). I do have to build a new face-frame to replace the one I removed, I think I have the skills to that.

I started with an old Magellan, but I couldn't update the maps. I wanted a larger screen, so I decided to go with the RM 7710. The software took some getting used to, but I know how to use it now. I don't like the routing on occasions and often defer to a paper map. The glare was an issue and I bought the sunshade, which was useless. It did prove useful on our 8500 mile cross-country trip in the Fall. I decided to take advantage of RMs offer to trade it in to get the new 7720 in December. It seems to have less of a glare issue, but I haven't been out in the RV since Christmas. The new one has WiFi which can overlay weather. Not really needed because I get that on my phone anyway.

I run the Dock software on my Mac Book Pro. It seems to check for updates, but doesn't open the RM website. Do you have the RM Doc software installed? This is the only way to get updates. I have noticed most of the updates are for traffic. I recently upgraded to the 7720 during their, "send us an old GPS" program. I returned the 7710. I also have the GPS mounted to the driver's side window. This gets it closer to me to hit the "buttons".

I also installed this Awning Lock last year. It works great. On our last cross-country trip in the Fall, we logged 8,500 miles and some windy conditions across several states and had no problems whatsovever. Very easy to operate too.

So adding the Wingman is necessary or nice to have?

I have the 7710 and brightness and glare are a problem when sunlight is hitting the screen. I tried the sunshield which is worthless im my opnion. I don't like the way the unit routes. Sometimes the shortest route is not the best route for an RV, but it tells you to go that way. Why can it route the smartest way?

I have the 7710 and my main concern for trading it in is the glare issue. Does the 7720 have less screen glare? I also wish it had smart routing rather than the fastset or shortest route. Like which is the most logial route for instance.

I agree that this sounds like a Ford issue.

We have a Roadmaster baseplate on our 95 Honda Accord. The towbar is a Blue Ox Aladdin. I bought the towbar long before I got around to adding the baseplate to the car. We use an Invisabrake system for stopping.

We have an Allegro 28D and we got 7 on a recent trip from No Cal to Palm Springs, and back. (1300 mi) We did some climbing over a couple of Mt passes and we don't tow a car. And you are right about the areodynamics of a modern motorhome. When we were going into a stiff headwind across the desert, I had to push harder on the gas pedal and that makes a difference.

Do you notice any glare issues on the the screen on the RMND 7710? My iPad is useless in the sunlight, and it's only a WiFi model.

I have the Magellan RV9145-LM on my short list with the Rand McNally RVND 7710. Both have 7" screens. I can get lifetime updates with either one. The Magellan has Good Sam parks, the the Rand will have Woodall's, in April. Others have said that the RM is difficult to see in the bright light. Not sure if this is an issue or not. I have a Magellan Maestro 4040 is's old and I would need to send it somewhere to get firmware and map updates. I can't seem to make up my mind which would be the best for me. They are the same price at CW or Amazon. If you have either of these, do you have glare issues is sunlight? As an aside: I have an iPad and when I was in Palm Springs last week, I tried using it outdoors and it was impossible to see the screen. Even under and awning at Max brigthness. What a shock! I had heard this, but never experienced it.