What Trucker Gps Is Better? My Qualcomm Keeps Getting Me Into Trouble...

Ok I am going to have to get one of those. I actually have been using a app called One20. It seems to do pretty good. Can you put manually the routes you want to take?

I preach to my trainees.. NEVER move the truck until you know exactly where you are going FIRST. It won't prevent the occasional missed turn, but it sure makes driving less stressful when you know you are well prepared and have checked the entire route on an atlas, written down your route and have that available at your fingertips, because electronics can and do fail. I do love my GPS, but it's simply a tool and certainly not my first line of defense in trip planning.

Oh BTW, to force a GPS into taking your desired route, add additional stops like your fuel stop, where you're taking your breaks at, major intersections on the way, etc. You have to add them in the order that you will be encountering those locations but enter your final destination first then add the extra stops.

Gotta be honest, I'm about fed up with my garmin. It reboots on it's own, and when you try to do custom route shaping, it keeps wanting to revert back to the original route it found initially.

It does a decent job at routing and when you can get your custom route programmed, it's nice. I'm going to eventually go back with the rand McNally when I save enough to purchase one. Rand has a new 740 model which is the same price as the 730 model. Was going to get the tablet, but I've heard it doesn't get good reviews. I like the tablet version though because it has built in dash cam, and has the RM atlas built into the unit as well.

My GPS is a Rand Mcnally gps, I use it as a guide but I also google map the location and go to street view and look at the whole route where it might be questionable for trouble. (IE getting off the interstate) I also confirm directions with shipper/receiver. With multiple sources for getting there, why rely on just one? Use them all!

I use the RM 720. It works ok most of the time. As all the previous comments point out it is just another tool. Always remember it will take you too the front door. Many customers have other entrances for trucks. I always call a customer the first time I go there. You also never know when road construction is going to trip you up.

Hope it's OK to revive this thread but I was wondering if those using GPS units have any updates on the units they are using, problems they are having, etc. From reading through all the posts I agree getting lured in by a GPS unit is tempting but can get you into a bad situation quickly. Before there was mapping GPS units (20+ years ago) I kept my wire-bound laminated Rand McNally atlas close by and used the QC text directions for the last few miles to the shipper/consignee. I had a file folder with city specific maps and my favorite was the Chicago map with the red, yellow and green dots on intersections indicating which bridges were below 13'-6", at 13'-6" and over 13'-6" respectively. However, I am interested in the GPS units primarily to get real-time traffic information, weather and logging capabilities. I have a standard auto Garmin unit that I use for long car trips but it is no substitute for trip planning. I recently used Google Maps' off-line feature on my iPhone that lets you download a geographical area for 30 days. It worked really well for the rural part of West Texas (Big Bend) I was in without cell coverage or data access. I used CoPilot on a laptop 10 years ago driving with family in a 43" motorhome. With the USB antenna cable, and the power cable and trying to keep in propped on the console it was more trouble than it was worth. Might be better now if it was on a tablet with built in GPS capabilities. Even with directions via QC and dispatch, the information doesn't apply to all rigs. I followed directions from dispatch once that sent me to a customer and the directions were good EXCEPT, I was pulling a double-drop flat and there was a raised railroad crossing! The company usually sent flats and step decks there, not double drops. Luckily a driver spotted me and warned me via CB before I got to the tracks. There is no way the trailer would have made it over the tracks with 6-8" of ground clearance and I would have stopped traffic for miles on that 2 lane road. Thanks in advance for any equipment updates and suggestions!

Harley Davidson has an online ride planner that you can use plan a ride and download it as a GPX file to a card. If you add waypoints along the route, you can force the GPS to follow your designated route. I used it riding Route 66 to stay on the "old alignment" as much as possible.

I was looking for info on the truck specific GPS units with traffic, weather and logging capabilities. RM, Garmin and TomTom. Thanks for the idea about manual waypoints and the HD planner.

Harley Davidson has an online ride planner that you can use plan a ride and download it as a GPX file to a card. If you add waypoints along the route, you can force the GPS to follow your designated route. I used it riding Route 66 to stay on the "old alignment" as much as possible.

At prime the last mile (macro 19) since I really can’t read and drive. I like to dry erase the directions on the corner of windshield.