gps for trucking
 

any recommendations for good 5" gps units

IMHO they are all garbage. I bought one of the highest rated by a variety of trucking sites and it ticks me off daily. There have been times I've come close to throwing it out the window because it's so freeking s l o w. http://i1082.photobucket.com/albums/...56pullhair.gif

I have to mute mine all the time...she likes to talk too much:lol: But I'm old so I had to go big...I got the Cobra 7550 7" ........sends me down some messed up roads sometimes...but "Susan" likes to mess with me because I mute her all the time.

After going thru a couple of 'gps' units I ended up with Microsoft Streets and Trips on my laptop. Hauling oversize all the time it is real easy to plot out all the strange routs the states give you (especially Texas) and with the truck stop overlay shows places I can get into for planning. Have a laptop mount so it sits right next to the seat and a 15 inch screen even my eyes can see :)

Listen to Walking Eagle.

Back in 2007 I also tried a couple of GPS units (not truck specific mind you) and they were a joke IMO. Acreen too small, but worst of all is you couldn't choose your own route. I already had a laptop so I paid $100 for S&T and I've been using it ever since. On my third laptop now and I just keep reinstalling S&T. Actually, I've switched to a netbook and I find that screen size to be perfect. I made a stand for it and a chill mat...works awesome. I plan my routes, not a computer.

I also transferred all the restricted routes and low clearances in the northeast from Rand McNally into Trips....that took me 40 hours.

Walking Eagle...what is this overlay?

Truckstop overlay for Streets and Trips

Welcome to Truck Stops Plus

I would go with any of the Garmin GPS units for Trucking.

I use 2 programs on my laptop for my navigation: Microsoft Streets & Trips for the actual route planning (including fuel and rest stops) and ALK CoPilot Truck v8 (the new one).

I only use Streets for laying out the route. I then enter the stops from it into CoPilot, which I use for my actual navigation. I have a 7" touchscreen mounted on the dash that's attached to the laptop which stays in the sleeper.

CoPilot has only tried to send me down a wrong road 4 or 5 times total in the past year that I've used it. Each of those times were when I was in "town" on the surface streets heading to a shipper or receiver. But, because I always get directions first, I don't pay attention to the incorrect streets and let it recalculate.

One of the best ones both programs try to get me to run is US-250 from Mannington, WV to Moundsville, WV (I live in Mannington). While that route is much shorter than taking I-79/I-70 to Wheeling, even bobtailing takes almost 2x as much time to drive.

Why do you take the time to re-enter your route into co-pilot.....because you can't hear the voice with S&T?

CoPilot is a better navigation program to be used while driving. It's VERY touch screen friendly. The only reason I use Streets/Trips is because CoPilot doesn't have the "time" capabilities that Streets does (such as the "after driving for x miles, stop for x minutes". Also, CoPilot *IS* truck-specific, so less likely to have problems with it than Streets, which can & will get you into problems.

Edit: Besides, I don't use the voice prompts on any GPS device - I get into arguments with the stupid things. Ask my wife - she experienced that on our honeymoon. That stupid thing literally had me screaming at it. Damn irish temper.

I like my Garmin 465T.

I see. What is it that you need the touch screen for? Do you need to do more than zoom and pan? Did you download the "keys" template for streets and trips?

I modify the route to suit myself so it doesn't get me into problems. I have nobody to blame but me. :)

As I'm driving along, CoPilot will notify me of upcoming POI's that I select. I use Rest Areas, Weigh Stations and Truckstops. It tells me about them 30 miles before I get to them. Then, if I want to go to one, I simply hit the 'Add to Route' button and it puts that as my next stop. I can also change the way the map is displayed, such as 3D, 2D Next Turn, 2D Destination, etc.

As for the 'keys' template - what is that? Do you mean the Truckstops Plus? If so, yes, I purchased that and use it on Streets. I've also updated all of the major truckstop chain's info as well.

Edit: I know what you mean by the Keys template. No, I don't use that as I don't have safe access to a keyboard while I'm driving. I have a very small wireless keyboard in the front of the truck, but the buttons are hard enough to use when I'm sitting still, let alone while moving.

Streets is a GREAT planning software, but has a long way to go before I'd consider it for navigation. And, yes, I've tried.

The first DeLorme software I got, they didn't have a GPS receiver. Just the mapping software. I already had enough savvy avoid restricted streets. When they came out with the GPS receiver to plug into the USB port, I did get that. It did improve things, but again, I had to look at the part of town that it tried to send me through. I'd let it pick my route going cross country but modify the route in town.

When I got Streets n Trips, it wasn't much different. It helped a lot that the receiver was more sensitive and could be located anywhere in the cab. I always ran into trouble when it was new construction that was not written into the software yet. Having the antenna stop working half way through Denver was not a serious problem, but having the laptop go dark in Sacramento sucked. Then, that version of S n T never did work right in the new laptop. I have not kept up with all the advances in GPS since I retired, but I can still envision getting sent under a low overpass with the GPS. Tow trucks, taxis, and local box trucks are all using them to get around, and I don't think a lot of the drivers could get across the highway without them. The advantage they have is that they don't have to worry about low branches or wires. And, most are not restricted from residential areas. I was kind of surprised to find one on a school bus. They run the same route every day.

I use the Garmin DEZL560LMT. I like almost everything about it except it calculates SLOW!!! I left Brampton, Ontario, set it for Winnipeg, drove via Orangeville, ON. It finished calculating which way to go when I turned onto the 400 (about 45 minutes of driving). I would hate to make a wrong turn or get detoured in an unfamiliar area.

There may be easier mapping software to plan a route with, but I haven't found it yet. Click and drag is what I like about S&T. I will agree that until I installed "keys", I could not use it for navigation at all....just couldn't pan and zoom easy enough. Keys turns the +/- keys on the laptop into zoom in/zoom out and it used the arrow keys to pan up, down, left and right. I applied little foam stickers to each of these 6 keys so they are "braiiled". Now pan and zoom without looking.

Do any of the units have truck routes for Canada? I know Rand Mcnally does not.

CoPilot Truck v8 does - it's a laptop program, but they also have it for the iPhone & Android (and, no, it doesn't have to have a constant data connection - the maps are stored on the device).

Good idea with the foam - I thought about buying a small programmable keyboard with maybe 12-16 keys on it to create a custom setup. Just never got around to it.

I'm surprised Rand McNally doesn't! I figured all would. Garmin does, it goes nuts when I bobtail home off truck route. If you leave the major Canadian routes though, it seems to lack a lot of the extra info like weight/height restrictions.

here's a camera phone pic of my setup
http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/h...0611155501.jpg

Gps
 

I drive a new 587 pete that has the gps built in to the dash touch screen also is the screen for the stereo ant is wacked waiting to get back in to the shop to get it replaced it swears im in indy driving and i dont go that far east even says low bridges in kansas when there's no bridge for a 100 miles

Thank you for the information Walking Eagle!

And thanks to all of you who are recommending Streets & Trips, if it is working as well for you all as it is for me I may be able to convince my company to continue using it!! I find S&T invaluable in mapping my destinations, and it rarely fails to guide me to the correct place. If it doesn't seem right I can usually figure out where it went wrong and not drive more miles than necessary.

Thats a load. Copilot is a useless piece of crap. Very few times has it sent me down the correct route. It has tried to turn me down one way streets in the wrong direction. Doesnt show streets that are there. Has tried to run me under low clearances. And just to see what would happen I left it set for pulling a 53' 102" trailer and set it to route me to my destination (which by the way I was running bobtail to get an empty) and it ran me through a little town which was clearly a non truck route and turned me onto a side street to my pickup location which was marked no trucks, this turn had to be backed up in slightly to make it with just the tractor. Now remember the routing is set to be that I'm pulling the 53 102. Yeh right, copilot is the biggest piece of crap on the market. I'll stick with the garmin I got better directions with it and mine isnt even a truck one.

This is a handy little add-on that will work with several of the programs mentioned in this thread.

Low Clearance GPS Data

Garmin 465t does

Thanks Free. I'm still running MS Trips 2007 and the site says there is no guarantee of backwards compatibility from 2009. But for $15, I think I may still give it a try. I'm still running 2007 because I've been told I will lose all my manually entered destinations and no truck routes if I upgrade.