Road Atlas purchase

My advice would be to spend the extra money and get the laminated one. I still have mine from 2012 and it's in great shape. I found the cheap paper ones get trashed after a few months of good use. Even if you decide trucking is not for you you'll have it for road trips and looking up places.

 

Love's has them on sale now for $19.99.

I just bought a 2016 laminated to replace my 2011.
It was still in near perfect condition, but I wanted any updates.
Near perfect means that after 5 years there were a few creases in a few pages. No rips or other damage.
Those things should last a lifetime if you don't throw them in a fire.

 

My two cents.

The paper one we bought didn't last our first week out. We were handling it so much the cover ripped. It's kinda trashed and we spilled some kool aid on it.

So we bought a laminated one and it is awesome. We use a sharpie to mark the great food we find along the way and the gas stations we are authorized to use on our trip.

So far it has saved us from being lost twice. And I know just where to go for great tacos.

 

Buy paper then save money and get a Rand GPS. It's as close to up to date as you can get and is the same as paper. Anyone who says they don't run GPS has a fixed area. The software is the digital atlas. Try navigating small county roads with paper.

 

I have both the RM atlas and the RM GPS.

The GPS still routes you weird ways (including u-turns even with that option set to 'no') in some locations and doesn't account for some restricted routes.
Case in point, getting in to or out of Toledo, OR.
The GPS will route you on US 20 to and from I-5.
If you look at the atlas you will see that most of that road is not a truck route, and if you read the section on restricted roads you will see that a portion is restricted in both directions.

The GPS maps and routing are NOT the same! Get that straight.
You will get into trouble if you rely totally on any GPS system.

That said, every driver NEEDS the atlas.
Paying an extra $20 for one that will last forever won't kill anyone's budget.
And since you can get the laminated atlas for $20 right now at Love's, it is like a free upgrade.

 

Buy the cheaper one, how often are you planning to navigate by atlas? I always keep a current one just in case, but typically the only time I ever pull it out is if I'm in a screwy area I don't know and want a birds eye view of highways or something.

 

You don't need one until you go solo.
You can buy one when you are training with your trainer/mentor.

Don't get ahead of yourself. The space in the truck is very limited with two people and you don't need to be stocking up with unnecessary things before you get out there. Your trainer will have an atlas, so you don't need to bring one.

 

I don't run a GPS and I run 2 lane roads most of the time and I am not in a fixed area. Heck the other day I was 10 miles from the shop on a road I did not know was there. I do pick up the larger paper state maps because more of these roads are on there than the atlas.

All you need is a paper map and know where north is. Before I ever leave I grab my note pad and jot down the directions on it. Like exit 324 L, 3rd R, then L on yukon.

So that reads take exit 324 and turn left. Then take the 3rd right and then a left on yukon. I will look up google maps and get a feeling for the buildings around the turns. Being that I am usually wide, heavy and long, I cannot afford to miss a turn.

The only ones that have issues with the paper version are the ones that just can't have nice stuff.