Gps and trucking
Believe it or not I use two gps units, a Rand Mcnally 500 and a Sony Nav-u83T. I had the Sony back in 2005 when I started driving because it was all that I had at the time. I was aware that you had to actually map your route and make sure the gps was not routing you onto roads not favorable for big trucks. The biggest asset for the Sony was the lane guidance feature in big cities, ( The Best hands down ) Also it has the quickest rerouting time from 2 to 5 seconds and it's a very nice unit. I also just updated the map from the 2007a / 3.2 update to the 2009a / 5.0 update. I purchased the Rand Mcnally 500 after my Sony tried to take me on a 12 ton bridge route and on a foggy night in the mountains tried to route me on a winding road out to I81 from N.C. into Northern Va. that was not for big trucks. The Rand Mcnally which some call junk was an ok unit for me even though it will also try to send you down a bad road, or as one poster said, it will try to make you take a exit to early and take you around the long route to get you to a point, but had you stayed on the interstate to the next exit or two down you would be right at the fuel stop or intended point. ( That is where the Sony conflicts with the Rand M. and I go with the Sony and its usually right. ) The Rand M. has a very bad recalculating time and often it just gets confused and will just freeze up when you miss a turn. Again here comes the Sony to the Rescue ( BAMM ) with a IMMEDIATE route, while the Rand M. is still recalculating. (lol) It has saved me a lot of times in big cities with quick responses if I miss a turn or get in the wrong lane and can't get over and I need to get a new route to get me back on point. So why even bother with the Rand M ? Well it really has a lot of needed and useful truckers tools. The accuracy for routing and getting you to your correct destination is 90 %, it has my favorite which shows an actual speed limit sign on the display and keeps up with the posted speed limits, again the accuracy is about 90%. The speed limit display can be set to alert you if you exceed the posted speed, and you set how far over that limit you want to go before it will alert you. ( Lets say the posted speed is 55 but you want to be a speeder and want to go 60 but no more than 60. So you set it to go off at 5 miles over the posted speed. ) This is now set for all posted speeds, so if you go into a 35 mph zone then the alarm goes off at 40 mph and so on. This feature is so useful when going into these speed trap towns, because its voice calls out each drop in the posted speed as they happen. And you can set the distance that you want to be notified before the warning is issued, usually I set mine to a 1/2 mile which gives you plenty of time to decrease your speed. The Rand M. also has weigh station, toll roads, state border, country border and several other warning that you can set a specific distance to show your relationship to that point along with a screen warning and the voice. ( You can adjust voice volume or choose to only hear voice or just see the warning on the screen. ) The Rand M. can help you find every rest area and truck stop, cat scales, hotels and the list of places is extensive. ( I have to give it an A+ in that area. ) So these two gps units are like having to bird dogs, what one can't find the other is on point. And a back up is useful if the other happens to fail for what ever reason. If I had to choose just one it would be the Rand M. but the killer slow rerouting time would be to much for me to bear and I would purchase another gps, Sony if available just for the fast rerouting and off ramp direct route fueling points. I believe that all gps units have some faults and will get you off route occasionally, so always map your route before you start as if you didn't have a gps and use it as intended just another tool in your trucking arsenal.So If you are laying the road behind you and happen to glance over and see a fool with two units attached on the window give me a shout and don't rub it in to hard. As always Be SAFE and AiM HiGh.
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