CoPilot Truck GPS Laptop System

You're exactly right. And, it will never completely replace the map. The software isn't being updated at the same rate as the trusty Rand McNally.

But, many of us have an advantage. TIME and experience. I occasionally get nailed by the evil GPS monster, as noted in an earlier post.

More often than not, I am familiar with the area and manage just fine. One of the primary uses of my GPS, is to keep track of time and scheduling of that time. You can't drive as long as I have without "knowing" certian areas.

 

Ahh, you named a big benefit that I forgot about it: scheduling. It is great to be able to plug in an address and really get a good idea of how long the trip will take AND if you can make it on time.

As a newer driver, this has helped me a lot, since I can keep dispatch up to date on my ETA/available time. This has been pretty good, at least until I can build up more experience to 'know' these things like you do (;

 

Oh the Tom Tom One....

It was the first GPS I owned. I loved that thing for every reason you mention, except......it does not have a setting for "trucks". It does not even want to pretend that it thinks you are a truck like some GPS that claim truck routing.

Let me tell you a little story about my beloved Tom Tom One. I was in Prescott, AZ making a delivery one day and when I was done I was excited to save a lot of time and take the back way out of town through Skull Valley and Yarnell instead of going all the way to the 17 or 40. Well I didn't know how to get to where the shortcut began from where I was. So I told my partner "no problem, I'll just punch in Skull Valley, AZ on my new Tom Tom and it will get us to where we need to go."

So I start following Tom's commands and I start going down some very nice neighborhoods with huge 3,500 + sq ft homes and then I see that it wants to send us into the National Forest Park. There was no place to turn around and it showed that my destination was 15 miles away. So I proceeded to truck on down the road.... or up the road I should say. Well the road turned into dirt and started to get windier and narrower. Still no place to turn around a Big Truck.
A pickup truck drives down the road and stops. He says "You wont be able to go much farther this road gets much worse as you go over the hill to the other side." I asked if I could get to Skull Valley this way and and he said "yeah in ten minutes but not with a rig. There is a spot a mile down the road where you MIGHT be able to turn that thing around in."

Well I kept going up this thin windy and now very bumpy road to that spot in the road hoping I could get my rig turned around and not have to back the whole way out of this mess that I along with TomTom got myself into. Luckily I was barely able to back into this opening in the side of the road and get turned around.
I had also asked the kind man that helped me how to get to the normal road to Skull Valley and he had told me where I went wrong.

So I proceeded to get out of the National Forest and found the road I was looking for. Not with the help of Tom Tom but with good old fashioned human directions. As soon as I arrived back home I took that Tom Tom right back to where I bought it and exchanged it for the Garmin C340 that does have a Truck setting. It isn't perfect but it will abide by most of the truck routes and not send you down little residential streets.

The moral of the story is:
1. Find a GPS that has a Truck setting instead of just Car/motorcycle

2. Make the employee show you the truck setting on the unit (I had a problem with this also when I went to exchange the Tom Tom. I got the Garmin Nuvii because the salesmen told me that it had a truck setting. Got home and it didn't. Back to the store and got the cheaper, better for me Garmin c340 with a truck setting.

3. If it doesn't look right go to the next street (if you can) it will recalculate.

4. And the most important one. Use your own brain along with the GPS.

 

I've been using a laptop in my truck for some time now, but between DOT tickets and wear and tear on my computer from bouncing around, I was ready to give up on it. I couldnt put a laptop stand in cause it's not my truck. THat's when I found this..http://cgi.ebay.com/A-C-GPS-Laptop-...tem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4cf09f104c. It not only hides the computer but it gives me an easy way to remove it out of the truck.

 

what about the new unit from Mc Graw. I'm thinking since the make our road atlas the directions should be pretty good