What GPS do you use?
 

I was wondering what gps you all use been thinking about getting a garmin soon.

I use the Garmin C530. It's pretty accurate, but I have come across a few roads that it wanted me to turn on that were not really roads.
If you miss/skip the turn, it recalculates fairly rapidly. I'm very happy with this unit.

I use Microsoft streets& trips on my laptop. Though it's not perfect but for 89.00 bucks from Amazon .com its well worth the price. Plus most screens are at least 14 inches on laptops making easy to see.

i also have ms streets & trips but i use delorme 2007+ most of the time also with delorme i can ask it things and it will tell me what i want to know as well as zoom in & out move pan the view all by voice

I've run DeLorme on my laptop since '03, and did the new version every 2 years. I like it the best. Since I've recently had laptop trouble...I thought I'd give the stand alone a try. I have the Garmin 660.
It's ... :? o-k-a-y... :? It offers a bluetooth connection for my phone and MP3 capability. I still like using my phone most and using my iPod. :?

I like the laptop best.
I prefer to route myself and write my directions on a piece of paper I stick on the top left area of my steering wheel...so I can glance at my route as I go.

I use my map, the software and client directions to make my route. I don't rely on any one source. I never use the voice prompt....or watch my map as I'm driving. I've never been late for a pick or drop in 6 years. :?

I am hoping to download PC Miler when I get my new laptop, off my Boss. That software is like $2500 ...which I'd never fork out.

CoPilot 9 Truck - After getting used to it, it's been pretty good. I'll get an address on occasion that it doesn't recognize. When that happens I jump on Google Maps, find the actual street, and match it up with what CoPilot has.

What's fun is when there's an address that isn't in anything - CoPilot, MS Streets, Google Maps, etc...

I'm beginning to think Garmin is an expensive toy, and useless as a work tool. I've used it a few days now, and I'm very dissappointed. I went off the "praise" I heard from a few people here, but I personally just do not see it as the least bit praise-worthy.

Examples...the bluetooth...you may as well invest in an earpiece. The Garmin is so weak, you can barely hear it over the truck noise. The MP3 capability is another feature that doesn't measure up. You can patch the music through your truck speakers, but in comparrison to iPod sound quality...and iPod playability...no comparrison.

I've given it recently, two very simple destination tasks. (I would NEVER ask it to route me through Chicago)
My own route planning is so much better and smarter.

I plotted my drop at a Cold Storage in Columbus off Valleyview Dr.
It was so simple a Caveman could do it. :lol:
Traveling eastbound on Hwy. 70 to exit 94 (Wilson Rd.) go left off ramp onto Wilson and then left onto Valleyview. that's it bucko :roll:

Garmin had me go eastbound Hwy. 70 to Southbound Hwy. 270 to exit 7 Hwy. 40. Go eastbound Hwy. 40 (several stoplight intersections) to Wilson Rd. go left and travel north to Valleyview.
This Garmin route was 2 miles further and more congested. Just a stupid route.

After I made my drop I wanted to go to Williamsburg-Va.
My route was figured to go south on Hwy. 270 to Hwy 23 and then pick up Hwy. 35 to Hwy. 64. (simple, direct and a Truckers route.)

Garmin wanted to send me back up Hwy. 270 to Hwy 70, then over to Hwy. 77. Awwwww Bull Crap. So I kept to my route and wanted to see if Garmin would "wise up" and recalculate to the "smarter and more efficient route." It kept recalculation...and after about the 4th time...I think it was even giving me some bitchy attitude. :evil: .....so I deleted the route.

I got about 15 miles down Hwy. 23 and pulled over to reset the trip. Figured...that far down the "right route" it HAS to recognize the route I wanted.
:shock: YOU KNOW WHAT.... :roll: This stupid Garmin STILL wanted to turn me around...YES...can you believe it...turn me around and send me back up Hwy. 23 to Hwy. 270 to Hwy 70, then over to Hwy. 77....etc. Good God...what a waste of money in this TOY.

Now you can "listen" to whomever you want in regards to Garmin GPS or another system. Just keep in mind...my opinions are highly regarded...because I was ....after all...Time Magizine's 2006 Man of the Year.

CoPilot will do some 'stupid' routing like that as well. I've noticed that no matter what you do, if you drive straight through Columbus, OH on either I70 or I71 that it will try to get you off of that route and onto I270. No, HazMat isn't selected. I've even had it tell me to exit the interstate and jump right back on at the same ramp.

Also, CoPilot calculates the quickest route, not the shortest. I'm assuming that's what your Garmin is doing as well. I tried using the 'Short Route' option in CoPilot and turned that off right away, especially when it tried to route me on US250 south from Wheeling, WV to Fairmont, WV (definetely not a truck route).

I had a run from Clarksburg, WV to Columbus, OH the other day. It routed me north on I79 to I70 west to the destination. The short route is US50 west to US23 north. I took the shorter route and it eventually stopped telling me to turn around. I've figured that CoPilot has interstate speeds set at 60mph, US highways at 45mph and so forth. So, even though the route it wanted looked better, it was way off, because other than a strip of about 10 miles the way I actually drove is 4 lane highways.

You can try putting in waypoints for getting your routing to match what you're going to actually run. That's what I do, especially when I'm heading to the upper north-east. I just put a waypoint away from the GW bridge, basically.

With any GPS setup, you just have to learn what it's doing and make it work for you, not the other way around.

Boy how did I manage before everyone had a GPS I did it with a good old Rand McNally motor carrier laminated atlas and the pay phone to call for dircetions. I never got lost also never had to worry about bad routing from a GPS called get out of the tech toys drivers and use your brains what would you do if those goodies were ever taken away from you by a solar storm called you are SOL big time drivers.

I did it manually for years and still can - that's how I'd manage. The question is why are you afraid of the future?