A quick rant with a ? thrown in

Bingo.
Try Rand McNally.
Garmin is excellent on Aero and Naval navigation.
On trucking, not too much.

 

It's pretty normal for different routing programs are going to give you different routes.I know it can be frustrating. How they program computers to figure out how to get from one spot to another and then also figure out which route will be optimal is pretty complicated and no two programs do it in identical ways. I could give you a 20 page dissertation on how computers use logic to create routes and then weigh those routes to determine which is optimal. It takes some serious brainpower and is as much science as art. I worked in the general field for over 20 years, but I dealt with groundwater modeling. Trust me, it's complicated making a non-thinking computer do something which usually requires thought to accomplish. It is beyond simple logic. One of the reasons I have on numerous occasions here emphasized to always scrutinize any route given by any routing program and never follow one blindly.
Usually, if you're given different routes by different programs, those routes will be roughly equivalent to each other, even if they are different. But, what I think is the best route, often isn't the route given.
Ultimately, it's the drivers responsibility to route themselves from point A to point B. Garmin, Rand McNally and any other devices are just tools that can make it easier.

 

I’m entertained by the different routes.
Garmin loves to get me on toll roads. Even when it’s just an extra to a freeway.
Sometimes I doubt Garmin routing for hazmat. I’ll take i820 and i20 to get through Dallas Ft. Worth. When Garmin wants me to fool around with i35E and some toll.
BTW… some if not all the outer toll routes in Houston aren’t any shorter than going in and taking i610 loop.
I’ll check a road using Trucker Path on satellite view if questioning.
I always use my own wisdom in selecting routes.
Love driving through the “tunnel” in Kansas City. Don’t know why? It always makes me feel like I did when a kid driving the little model T truck in the amusement park.
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I have to admit. I’m really liking my new diesel 800. Can look forward and pick a place to stop hundreds of miles away.