Best GPS to get?

My advice is Garmin also...yet YOU MUST USE COMMON SENSE.....gps are good for assistance , ETA's , over all ...I use gps, google maps to zoom in on warehouse dock areas and standard maps for a visual

 

Rand Mcnally has been great for me. Never used a Garmin, but I've heard about them being unreliable.

 

I have a Rand McNally, but once exiting the freeway its #### near useless. Rarely can it direct me properly on surface streets. Use LOCAL directions from your company when on surface streets, unless your a route driver, then you probably already know whats chill and whats not.

unloader

 

Don't mean to wiggle in here and take over : but has anyone used or heard anything about the rand 760 I believe its kinda new. I have been looking at it , but 600$ !!!! Idk......

Carry on...

 

First you need to master the trucker's RM atlas. Don't just go buy a GPS and use that as your sole means of trip planning. Use all your resources, map, gps, calling customer, google maps.... Learn to use them all together and problems will be minimal.


That said the best GPS I've had was built in the dash of my last Peterbilt. It was an Lowrance I-way 650c and had all kinds of features you don't normally see on other units like built in google maps where you could see the buildings and parking lots, it talked to you over the stereo, had a built in music player and picture viewer, truck stop finder by distance from you, etc. They use to sell them to the public but now I think they just sell them commercially. They were made by Lowrance which is big in ship navigation. An in-dash factory GPS are becoming more popular so with the right company you might not even need one. Some of the EOBRs even have navaids.

I've owned many and I prefer the Magellan 5190T-LM over the others. It's more of a personal preference. It's only a 5" screen which I prefer.

You want to go easy on all the dash lights at night. All that stuff makes your pupils smaller, decreases your night vision which makes your eyes stressed and tired quicker. Many times a driver will think they are sleepy but it's just their eyes are tired and need rest. Keep all dash lights and toy lights to a minimum by dimming them and you can see 100X better and stay alert longer. Try it sometime, you'll say WOW! as soon as you turn the dimmer switch down and your pupils open up.


http://www.magellangps.com/Store/RoadMate-Commercial

 

My wife uses a Rand for her job as a LTL straight truck driver up in the Holly area of Michigan (she works out of Toledo) and has had very few problems with local street level directions from hers.. Sure occasionally it will be wrong, but name one system that is perfect all the time.... As for company directions...... LOL Those can be worse than the directions you get from the receptionist in the front office.

I have a Cobra that I would not recommend to anyone. To say it's performance was poor would be a gross understatement. Not that it was wrong that often but it had other issues like losing it's satellite signal (usually at the worst times, unfamiliar city, etc) and would shut completely off for no apparent reason, again, usually only at the worst times.... Now, I don't even use a GPS as I'm local hourly so I get directions from my dispatcher and I'm in no hurry if they're wrong

 

Rand McNally I've tried em all and Rand McNally the best.

 

I use products from a company that makes nav units for the airline industry and the military, not to mention has been doing it for years - Garmin.

I found out a while ago that many companies who stick their names on units have them made without the experience of actually being part of the nav unit/gps community and the trust of their products are questionable because they don't meet the requirements of the FAA or the DoD.

Maybe my standards are pretty high but when I have a lot of money sitting on a truck that costs me or a company I'm driving for a lot of money, I don't want to sit on a dead end road that is in the middle of the woods having a nav unit tell me there is a mile more of road (yes that did happen).

 

There HAS to be something better than Garmin. Where do I begin? First, I like to check what the gps recommends against a map, but I can't because the Garmin gives me the NAMES of roads (Old Pump Handle Rd.) and the map gives me road NUMBERS (PA 22). Second, it makes tons of errors. When I am close to home and actually know the roads it just always favors the interstates and avoids perfectly good secondary roads that would shave miles and time off my route. When I stay with the route I know to be the shortest AND the fastest it eventually recalculates and shaves 15 minutes off my ETA. So why didn't it choose that route to begin with? Third, my car's TOM TOM gives you a choice when you are searching for Points of Interest...nearby, along route, near destination. The stupid Garmin just searches for everything in all directions. So you do a search for a rest area or a truck stop and the first 3 it shows you are 20 miles behind you. I have never in my life turned around and gone backwards 20 miles to find a truck stop. Why not give us a choice for looking everywhere or looking on the route ahead. I don't know what GPS to recommend but Garmin stinks.