navigation for new drivers

you might try truck miles.com its free have been using them for years. they are trying to sell there software plus some ads. but other than that no problems,and there miles are real close to pc miler miles. lots of luck

 

Before I got I got I got into trucking I was a new house framer... and having the rignt tools a d toolbelt were important. ? And it is the same with trucking... you want to have the tools of the trade..

I always do have my laminated Rand Mcnally and my Rand Mcnally gps.. when I am trip planning I will use my note3 and google maps.. between the three I have not ran into any trouble...

I find the Rand Mcnally GPS easy to use and I like having instant access to information such as weather,, truck stops, rest areas... I also lime the warnings or alets.. sharp curve ahead, steep down grade ahead, weigh station..

 

These are what I use ..









They cost a lot of money but I guess because they're so easy to use and fool proof

 

One of these comes in handy too.

 

I can go with a few of those, but, alas.....I'm abstaining from sextants....

 

I use Garmin Dezl 760. They all have weak points and strong points and each driver has different wants and likes from a GPS unit . And at some point you will end up buying a second one to try out and maybe you'll be glad you did, maybe not

 

I personally feel that my google maps app on my phone is the #1 navigation tool I use. it is very helpful to actually see an overview of the customer for many reasons. my atlas is #2 then the gps.
usually ill pull up the customer on my phone and write down routes, street names etc. then look at the atlas to verify all the routes and streets are truck friendly then ill punch the address into the GPS and compare its routing with mine. I really like the gps mainly only for the ability to see the street names on it, especially at night. a lot of streets are not marked clearly and many aren't marked at all in some towns.

 

Learn to use the RMCA atlas... you'll be a pro at navigating after that. Relying on a GPS or any of the online programs to do your navigating for you is dicey at best. They all screw-up eventually, because the routing is only as good as the information in the routing database. One wrong keystroke, and you have a problem.

 

Agreed. And your GPS will only route you to the address you input, which more than likely will NOT be the place you are going to pull your truck into. Usually it'll be down the road a bit, or up the road, or (gasp!) on a completely different side street.

For navigation I mainly use my Rand McNally 510, the older version without the rugged design. But I don't rely on it. I always have my atlas riding shotgun and use it quite often actually. My company has a solid directions macro that I can send in for EXACT directions to a shipper or receiver, so I couple that with a look at Google Maps to get a solid idea of where I'm going.

Generally speaking my Trucker GPS is about worthless the minute I pull off the freeway. Hell, most of the time it tries to route me .5 miles further than the actual building address sits in real life. It is nice when your on the freeway and have XX minutes left on your clock and you are looking for a place to park. I'll give it that.

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