Rand McNally or Garmin

I was going to tell you to get the Paper Atlas. Forgo the GPS. It is more accurate and saves a lot of money. Every time I tell people that I get bombarded with negative messages.

 

FYI - The RM Overdyve has the paper atlas in electronic form as an app. It is much easier to use and convenient, as it can be accessed while underway. Some of the other RM GPS may have it too. It's waaaaay easier than wrestling with the big physical atlas. You open the app and scroll to the state you want, zoom in and out by pinching and pan by moving map with one finger.

 

That's cool.

 

I use my atlas almost every time I route plan. It doesn't show a detailed view of cities, except some major ones, and it only shows about 1/10th of restricted roads and low bridges. The only times I've had to actually turn around and find another way was because I relied too much on the atlas. So yeah, it's a good supplement, but not something to be relied on 100%. No different than GPS.

 

It was my experience to rely on the atlas the 2 years I was OTR. I never got lost and never had to turn around. I called both customers for directions and then the Atlas to get me there.

We had a gps built into our PeopleNet and it was always wrong. When I was runnings South on 75 headed to North Carolina the gps would tell me to stay right on 75 and 40 West, but you have to go left on 75 S and 40 E. So, I learned fast not to trust the gps.

 

I call the customer whenever there's a phone number. Not just for directions, but also because I'm always trying to sleep at the shipper or receiver when I can. But you don't always have the option or ability to get ahold of the customer for beginning and end directions. Maybe you got lucky and always had that chance, but not everyone does. I've got a 2021 Deluxe spiral-bound and laminated atlas. I've spent a lot of time route planning with it, and a lot of time just reading it for the heck of it. It fall short in so many areas. To nail everything, it would need to weigh sixty pounds. The whole thing is cursory at best as far as maps, low/weak bridges, and restricted routes go.

Point being, the atlas is just another tool like a CB or a GPS, or calling a customer and so on and so forth. To write one off over the other is F'n stupid.

 

Get an iPad with data. Copilot works as well as RM if not better, and it doesn’t have the terrible hardware. You also have google maps on the same device plus options like audible and Spotify.

 

I've owned the rand mcnally overdryve 7,8 and 8 2 and the garmin dezl 740 and otr800. Garmin hands down is the best. I do like the rand mcnally interface better. But it always loses satellite connection and I'd have to hook up the garmin. Finally ditched the rand mcnally and just use garmin now