The best Truck Driver GPS

I've recently reviewed the TomTom Pro Truck GPS here:

http://www.poi-factory.com/node/40131

 

You are a tech for Rand McNally?

 

I got lifetime maps for my Garmin 465, but the area covered has shrunk as the map data size has increased so I now don't have as much coverage as I originally purchased, even after adding a memory chip. Secondly the truck information is separate from the maps, and the truck information has NEVER been updated. The truck data is 5 years out of date sends me in bizarre detours to get around bridges that have long ago been replaced, improved streets etc. Very annoying to get #####ed at repeatedly, cancel the warning and it pops back up again, accept the route and still get warnings, 6 warnings in less than one mile traveled. Repeated warnings block view of needed navigation info and truck speed. All warnings have to be manually cleared, even miles outside the restricted area screen is stuck on non-truck route warning has to be manually cleared. Scale locations are bad, no useful warning an exit prior. Battery is useless, not replaceable. Hello Garmin, are you listening? Warnings only need be given once and should not dominate the visual data displayed, a simple icon and maybe a flashing red border and a real ignore button. When I am doing local delivery I don't want off route warnings interfering with navigation. The engineers at Garmin have obviously never backed up (a flatbed towing a pup uphill in traffic) because a turn was missed due to off route warnings hogging the screen. Speed limit displayed in truck mode should be truck speed limit not cars, Flashing red speed limit icon when truck speed exceeds 5 over. Hello Garmin! Yes I am being tough and critical. But I spent a lot of hard earned on this device and I sometimes lie or die by it. I am extremely disappointed that the truck info has not been updated and I think it was deceptive advertising to not notify that the truck data was separate and not lifetime updated. As great as some of the features are, these repeated irritations will probably have me looking elsewhere for my next purchase.

 

In my opinion Garmin, Cobra, Rand McNally there all about the same. My last few years of driving I finally broke down and bought one, because city maps that were up to date were getting harder and harder to find. The only reason for a gps is to assist you in city driving, and the key word is "ASSIST". If you can't figure out the highway system and can't understand that LA means Louisianan not Los Angeles you need a new job. With that being said cities in the US are growing and changing all the time and with the internet many places have stopped publishing regularly updated maps. So call your shipper or delivery point and get directions from them, look at your map to get a better understanding of the directions, write the directions in dry erase maker in the left hand corner of your windshield, and then plot a course on your GPS and go. If TomTom tells you to turn left and the sign says no trucks go straight. If TomTom tells you to go straight and 15 sings tell you there is an 11 foot bridge ahead STOP.

Okay so you get my drift. Like I said I did finally get one because I called cities and found out many are cutting cost and not printing maps on a regular basis because they assume everyone has GPS now. So don't let us old timers fool you, yeah we hate them but we have to live with too. I found that cities are changing a lot and they all update around the same amount of time so the maps are all about the same. How often they freeze up or break down I don't know I only had the Rand McNally and it may have froze on me a time or two but if you have an idea where you are going you won't notice all that much. As far as the screen goes, Why do you need the 7" screen? I'm old and wear bifocals and got by just fine on the 3.5" screen or whatever it was. Plus the smaller ones take up less space. My only other suggestion is don't buy a new one. You can find an almost brand new one for $150 or less at any truck stop or on Craigs List from a CDL mill driver who realized that .30 cents a mile was not a living.