Not A Typical GPS Question

Ok well with the company I work for the qualcomm usually takes the cheapest route to the destination, no tolls, etc which can sometimes be a real pain with some backroads we have to go on, but if we divert from the suggested route it counts as out of route miles. My question is, do the stand alone gps systems aka rand macnally, garmin, etc. Give you the cheapest route to go, the most efficent route, or quickest route to go and do they also give you multiple route choices? And I dont solely rely on this just as another tool to use to make things as smooth as possible. If there is a thread on this type of question please let me know and i will read up on it.

I know the RM 730 has an option to compare routes. I tried it once, but it seemed to take forever and not really give me the info I was looking for, so I gave up on it and never tried it again. It also has a setting where you can figure out toll costs, but I never used that either, so not sure how good it does.

I always had the RM set for fastest route, but in many cases what it was really giving me was shortest route. For example, running from Denver to Wichita, it would usually try to send me down US-40 in Colorado for some portion of the trip instead of staying on I-70 to Salina. Shorter, but definitely not faster.

I would only recommend the Rand McNally GPS. I believe the 520 and up models have the 'Compare Route' feature.

Basically, the two main settings for routing are Fastest Route and Shortest Route. The Shortest Route is the one you want to avoid because it will give you the best route it can figure that is the least amount of miles. The Fastest Route is the option you want to have toggled on. This configuration obviously takes mileage into consideration, but it finds the fastest route to your destination.

There is also more settings on what you would prefer. For example, you can set it to prefer interstates and it will route you using interstates only unless you absolutely must use a state highway. Likewise, theres a setting where you can choose to avoid the interstates.

Its a really neat gadget, play around with it.

I have never used the Quallcomm for GPS, its garbage.

I think what Daniel said about properly configuring your device to suit your needs makes a lot of sense. With the QC you don't really have too much choice but to go with what it routes, especially if you use the dispatch downloaded to it from your company.

In my limited experience using both RM and QC at the same time and comparing both to my own trip planning prior, the QC in many cases chooses the better route overall. The biggest issues I see with the QC is that the UI is not great, and rerouting is very slow. If you go out of route or make a wrong turn and expect this thing to be your saving grace....expect to be disappointed.

That being said, the RM has put me in some very undesirable situations, mostly because I relied on it to be the end-all be-all magical wonder to put me at the exact spot I told it to, LOL. Yeah, not so much! But it sure is useful as an upcoming interchange reminder, weigh stations steep grades, etc.

I'd still choose the properly configured RM as my aid of choice, but am learning that nothing trumps a good pair of eyes, sign reading ability and situational awareness.

I have never once used the navigation on my QC. I find Google Maps and a good ol' Rand McNally Road Atlas works the best for me.

The Rand's have numerous settings you can choose for how it routes. Whatever settings you have, it gives the option to show alternate routes as well(generally toll vs non-toll, but in areas where there aren't toll roads it's just the 'fastest' and 'second fastest'). Some key settings that sound like they'd be relevant to you is the option to avoid tolls and to choose whether it should prefer highways or just whatever's shortest(which will take you down plenty of single lane roads through towns).

But whatever you use, don't forget that the GPS is simply a tool. Your trip planning has far more features because it's wherever route YOU decide to go.

Another handy feature of the Rand McNally GPS is you can alter the routes section by section using the detour function.

For example, say you're going from LA to Spokane. The usual route and the one you're most likely to get from the company is I-5 up to US-97 to I-84 to I-82 to US-395 to I-90. Except there's a huge wreck just past the 5/99 split at the bottom of the Grapevine on the northbound side. You can open up the route details and tell it to detour around the part of the highway that's all screwed up, and it will recalculate a new route. This feature has saved me from getting stuck in hours-long backups more times than I can count.

Another feature of the RM is it matches the Atlas. You can get cordinates from the RM gps to the RM atlas. This however does not work for the large print atlas.

A combination of garmin and MY ONE 20, which is a free truckers only gps that you can download in your iPhone also works, I have use both together and never had n issue.

Ok well with the company I work for the qualcomm usually takes the cheapest route to the destination, no tolls, etc which can sometimes be a real pain with some backroads we have to go on, but if we divert from the suggested route it counts as out of route miles. My question is, do the stand alone gps systems aka rand macnally, garmin, etc. Give you the cheapest route to go, the most efficent route, or quickest route to go and do they also give you multiple route choices? And I dont solely rely on this just as another tool to use to make things as smooth as possible. If there is a thread on this type of question please let me know and i will read up on it.

Daniel B. wrote:

I have never used the Quallcomm for GPS, its garbage.

A rather strong opinion for a device you have "never used."