Road Atlas purchase

Four plus years and a broken phone has never been an issue. Although if for whatever reason my phone broke, I'd be at t mobile within the hour buying a new one.

I have a MacBook pro, a Samsung tablet, and two hotspots to ensure I've always got an internet connection. Smartphones are starting to replace not only atlass, but wallets, scanners, cd collections, remote controls, tvs, and libraries.

If I wanna pay for something, swipe my phone which holds my AMEX card data. Have my Samsung tv saved on my phone, where my phone acts as its remote control. Have directv on my phone, where I watch live tv/football. Scan paperwork and send to my company using my phone. If you know how to get the most out of a smartphone, its one of the best tools a driver can have. Makes you more efficient and makes life on the road easier.

Currently taking my break in rural Oklahoma, watching this week's Fox News Sunday on my phone.

 

With one big solar flare directed at the planet, all that tech is moot.
It's only a matter of time before all the fancy gadgets are toast.

 

It shouldn't be an either/or thing. Having an atlas is a basic tool that all trucks should be required to have. Then GPS's, smart phones, and tablets can be added as bonus tools. I have and use all of the above.

The $20 price at Loves is with a mail in rebate.

Don't forget about the free stuff. Some companies offer free paper atlases to their drivers.

I also ask other driver friends for directions sometimes. I find many customers have no clue how to give directions for a truck. I spend a lot of time in the north woods of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. GPS's do weird things up here which add many unnecessary miles or route on roads not made for trucks. I still use my GPS (especially for IFTA reporting), but I frequently have to out think it.

 

I can get any info you need (plus 100x more) out of an atlas 10x quicker. Why should I be required time carry something I've never needed in the four years driving across this country?

Even the need for a truck GPS is going away with smartphone software.

 

People have been saying that for twenty five years... Still no solar flare.

 

Or when, for some reason, your GPS decides its just not gonna work today..... I had two systems go down at similar times. I HAD to resort to an atlas, after realizing too late that it had frozen.
Admittedly, it was my bad that I relied on GPS, but having that atlas saved my butt.
What happens when you're in an area with bad, or no, cell signal?

 

I don't own a truck/car GPS. All you need is a smartphone, Google maps, street view, satellite view and Nokia maps.

My main call is through t-mobile. I have a Sprint and Verizon hotspot that ensures I have an internet connection throughout every square inch of the country. If you trip plan, you could get away with one internet connection. Just went from the southeast to the northwest and had a connection 100% of the time.

 

I'm on T-Mobile as well, and there's plenty of times on I-80 that I don't have signal. So, you advise him to rely on subscriptions which will cost $180/month, versus an (at most) one-time $60 cost??? Yeah, makes perfect sense...

 

If a phone/internet connection only served the purpose of an atlas, I'd have a weak argument.

For twenty dollars a month you can get a gb of Sprint and Verizon data for when you're out of t mobile's network. Every month data keeps getting cheaper and cheaper. It's impressive just how much t mobile's network has grown in the past year.

My phone has replaced my need of an XM RADIO, can download the shows I wanna hear, commercial free. Haven't missed a falcons game in three years because of mobile technology. I watch every show I like while on the road through my phone. No waiting until I get home. Like it or not, technology is taking over. An atlas will be considered an antique soon, like millions of other things that technology has replaced. I'll happily pay the extra cost of not having a paper atlas in favor of the added benefits a smartphone brings.

An atlas doesn't give you a satellite view, or street view. An atlas doesn't tell you if a scale house is open, or of a truck stop has any parking spots available. An atlas doesn't allow you to view every square inch of your route through Manhattan or Brooklyn to spot landmarks or low bridges.

When Henry Ford invented the first car, there were stubborn people that swore they'd stick with their horse and buggy.

Btw... There's downloadable maps, no internet connection needed.

 

Which would also include all the trucks, so the atlas is needed for post-apocalyptic survival.