Of course I can read a map, and, I can still read a TV Guide but I prefer to go the high tech route and use the cable program listing.

 

sorry wrong steve talking about steveb28 or whatever it is.

 

Oops, sorry.

 

this is only good if you drive major cities.... I get a route from dispatch and it does not go from dock to dock but city to city, and some places I been were not in the city where they said but 25 miles down a bunch of nameless roads and streets and trips got me to their front door. Most of my driving is never in a major city where you can use a nice atlas. Try to find a highway out where I go and its not on any trucker atlas, you would need a map of every state that shows all and every highway and dirt road, I have an atlas just for major routing and streets and trips for dock to dock routing, yeah I know you will say call the consignee for directions when you get their, its cheaper to pay 80 bucks for Streets and Trips that pay 80 bucks every month calling for directions. I choose to make life simple and have both.

 

goodluck

 

Here?s a good illustration of the power of the Microsoft Streets and Trips software for those of you who still have lingering doubts, and for those of you who already use the software, you might want to try this out for fun!

I was picking up a heavy load the other day in York Springs, PA and so was looking for a truck stop nearby that also had a scale so I could make sure that I would be legal. I found one located not too far away at the junction of US-15 and PA-394 called the Gettysburg Travel Plaza. However, my little pocket truck stop guide indicated that it didn?t have a scale, which was really too bad because it was very conveniently located.

Nevertheless, not too trusting of my little pocket truck stop guide anymore because it has let me down on several occasions before in the past, I decided to look at that junction via my Microsoft Streets and Trips software to see if I could focus in on that truck stop. Having a Verizon aircard I also connected to the Internet and then hit the ?Show in MSN virtual earth? button in Microsoft Streets and Trips. After a few seconds the satellite photo of that intersection appeared in a separate browser window. Once that satellite photo appeared, I clicked the show Bird?s Eye View link and the first picture that appeared was a shot of the truck stop from above and lo and behold clear as day in living color it showed the truck stop had the blue Interstate Scales that I needed on the west side of the parking lot. In fact, the following is the same bird?s eye view picture that I viewed. Here...see it for yourself:Bird?s Eye View of Truck Stop

I?d like to see someone accomplish the same thing using just a MCRA! Moreover, I?ve used this same technique numerous times before also to zero in on shippers and consignees when the directions I received were flat out wrong are extremely convoluted and hard to understand.

 

Wow...I just realized that my previous post has disappeared and vanished. I'm wondering what's up with that!

 

I have not decided what software I want to buy. I am interested in CoPilot or Streets and Trips. I am leaning towards CoPilot because it is trucker friendly. I have been reading the post about the disadvantages of both and as usual both have their following and others don't think it is worth it. Most seem the think a mapping software is worthwhile when used with an atlas. Others are proponents of just the atlas. Many of you give examples of why one or the other is the best, with really comparing to the other. Exactly, how do you know it is better than the other, if you haven't used the other? How does one sort through the information and make an informed decision?

Oh, I forgot to ask, which is better, Bluetooth or USB and why?

 

I found that the Bluetooth receiver lasted 6 hours before needing a recharge. It has a NiCad Battery so keeping it charged is bad for the battery. So I found myself having it plugged in anyway ... no wireless connection there ,..

I also found that the bluetooth connection was a hassle because it uses a virtual serial interface. Once you pair the bluetooth adapter on your computer with the bluetooth interface it should work every-time. I found myself trouble shooting problems and software conflicts more than once. Then my receiver just stopped working completely. The ALK software has zero error messages to help diagnose problems and customer service sucks.

USB does not have these problems.

 

I guess you're limited to the length of the cable and the cable itself getting in the way or not being able to route it to where you need it.