GPS in a big truck?

[RostyC]

So you are saying that I am still in the stone age, RostyC?

Me, never would I say such a thing. I might thinks it, but I won't says it.

I'm only kidding with you. There are lots of people that don't use them I'm sure, and know I could do without mine, but like I said above it's just a tool.

[golfhobo]

Hey hobo, YOU FORGOT US SQUIDS . Many of us navy vets live on the east coast of NC.

God bless my momma, my daddy, my brother and my sister. Oh, and don't forget to bless the SQUIDS. Amen..... goodnite.

[golfhobo]

It certainly doesn't make you any less of a trucker. Good grief.

Sorry, Rosty. I forgot that children who don't know when I'm being tongue in cheek might be reading.

I bet you think I REALLY think that local drivers are wusses, too.

[Glad Hand]

I have never bought a gps. I have also gotten a lot of ribbing due to my shunning the technology. I still prefer a Rand McNally and shipper directions to the inaccuracy of the current gps programs. It might work well as an added tool, but I can't see spending $500 for something that isn't accurate. I prefer spending $10-30 on a new Rand McNally every other year. I think that it would be distracting sitting on my dash.

I just got back from my weekly shopping at the Wal-Mart down the road from the company terminal I’m at and I just bought the 2010 version of Streets & Trips because my 60 day trial version expired earlier in the week. Anyway, it cost me a whopping $29 bucks. There is no way I would spend $500 for a GPS device, no matter what they falsely claim it will do.

Anyway, it’s not that GPS technology is inaccurate. To the contrary it is very accurate. It’s that they are not perfectly up to date, as it might take 2, 3, 4, or even 5 years for new roads to make their way into the maps. But then it might take that long for new roads to make their way into the Rand McNally MCRAs as well.

In any event, Streets & Trips is just like a MCRA, only it has been digitized so that you can access the maps via a computer screen, mouse, and keyboard instead of manually. Not only that but Streets & Trips is a lot better than a MCRA because Streets & Trips contains street level mapping for the entire USA and Canada, whereas the MCRA doesn’t, and with Streets & Trips you can zoom in and out and makes the maps as big or as little as you need them to be. Thus, if you are the type of person who hates to use reading glasses like me, then you will really appreciate that capability.

Nevertheless, if you are still using a MCRA exclusively and shipper directions you are at the mercy of those directions because if the directions are wrong you won’t learn about it until you drive them. Whereas if you incorporated Streets & Trips as an additional tool to your MCRA, because of the street level mapping you could follow your directions on the Streets & Trips maps and find out beforehand via the Get Bing Maps feature that your directions are wrong and then have plenty of time to correct them long before you ever drive them and find out about it the hard way.

In any event, I hardly believe that spending $29 bucks every couple of years would hardly break your bank, and if you pay for your own fuel, Streets & Trips would more than pay for itself several times over.

[geeshock]

I use ms streets and trips as well, I use it to view the route if I'm back in the sleeper and to get a beter overview of the city at street lvl. As you said it's good for that, having a laptop up front is a bit cumbersome and big for me. I just use every edge I can get, lol.

[Bulldog]

Well, I wasn't sucking up to anyone, but I can see where it could be useful in giving a better eta. I can't stand the things personally. I had considered getting one and then I took a trip with one of my neighbors, utilizing hers, and it was the worst experience of my life. I would have rather driven around the Bronx with a cell phone stuck to my head and trying to shift in 5 o'clock traffic than ever use one for routing me to a destination. But again, they are useful in setting a pace for you. I guess you have to take the good with the bad.

[geeshock]

exactly, I use the good ol, mcra to figure out my route if i can but eta is close and in bad weather it lets me know when my road is close by. Ever pass up a road in the fog or on a rainy night? the gps has kept me from missing many a turns in these conditions, but trust it to route me in chicago? NOT A CHANCE, lol

[Glad Hand]

but trust it to route me in chicago? NOT A CHANCE, lol

I always utilize my company’s supplied truck routes, that way I can cover my ass with my company if some sort of problem occurs on their route. Otherwise, if there are no final directions available to a shipper or consignee as is often the case, I utilize Streets & Trips to create the routes, but via the Truck Stops Plus add-on template I always confirm those routes are legal for 18-wheelers first before I ever begin driving.

Thus, when I check my routes if I find they contain low clearances or restricted routes, I simply adjust the routes accordingly to ensure that they are legal for 18-wheelers and then save the .est trip file in Streets & Trips to ensure that the route can’t be changed, which is very easy and fast to do with Streets & Trips. I never ever blindly follow any GPS device’s routing arbitrarily without ensuring first beforehand that they are legal because I am the captain of my ship and I control where my vessel travels.

In any event, I can do all of this with Streets & Trips in a small fraction of the time that it takes to do it with a MCRA, pen, and pencil. Not to mention also that a MCRA doesn’t contain street level mapping. Thus, if you are relying on a MCRA alone many times there is no way to confirm the directions you receive from your customer are going to be legal for 18-wheelers beforehand.

Indeed, I can remember in the past back before I started using Streets & Trips that on several occasions when I was following customer supplied directions when I ran into low clearances and restricted routes and had to turn around. Very fortunately, I was always able to legally and safely turn around but it was pretty close a few times.

Thus, with the addition of Streets & Trips to my tool chest I can verify before I ever begin driving if those customer supplied directions are going to be legal for 18-wheelers and make any necessary adjustments to my routes beforehand so I won’t be forced to turn around. It sure makes my life a whole lot less stressful, it saves me tons of time, which translates into more money in my pocket, and it cuts out a lot of unnecessary out of route miles. In other words, I have found Streets & Trips to be an invaluable tool.

In any event, I would never use any other kind of portable GPS device unless it was possible to turn off the auto-rerouting feature and also possible to customize my routes and ensure they are legal beforehand without the auto-rerouting feature arbitrarily changing the routes. Not to mention that because the display on those portable GPS devices are so small, there is no way to properly review your routes in them as well.

[Glad Hand]

As for as an eta goes, I never utilize GPS to figure that out except to determine the exact miles that will be ultimately driven on any particular trip. I then simply make a mental note of the miles I have to drive, determine the miles I have already driven to figure how many miles I have remaining to drive, divide those miles by my average speed in my head, then take into account my HOS restrictions to calculate my eta. I do this all in my head and it is always very accurate by the way. It’s easy for me but I have been doing it this way forever.

The 2010 version of Streets & Trips now not only provides time remaining to next stop but also time remaining to final destination, but because I have HOS to contend with, I will probably not change the way I am currently doing it.

[geeshock]

I agree with you most of the way. All 3 of my companies have left routeing up to me, they provided a route. Only stipulations they had is that I fueled at the fuel stops on those routes, and that I didn't add to many miles on the routes, I thing the standard has always been no more than 15% off route. Most of the routes they give me are the shortest posable route. that doesn't always meen the quickest route. With one of the companies, I'll not point fingers, the route wasn't always even legal for trucks. As you metioned you are the captain of the boat and in the end it's 100% up to you to make the right choice. If I told them the reason I hit that bridge or got that ticket was becuse I was following thier route, they would point out how I should have known beter, lol.

[Bulldog]

Well thats the way it goes, if you do something right they think they were behind it, if you screw up, its what were you thinking?. Lol, thats the way the cookie crumbles I guess. I'm still contimplating wether or not to get one, but, I think for now, I'll stick with ol' Rand Mc Nasty.

[Roadhog]

I'd be lonely as hell without my Ms. Garmin.

(sweet female voice)
Merge right to exit 81...
1/4 mile to exit 81...
turn onto exit 81...

(disappointed female voice)
(sigh) YOU MISSED EXIT 81
you are a dumbass Driver...


...recalculating...