Truckers GPS?

A new GPS is going to have features. Either find an old one or use an app on your phone. Waze and/or Hammer seem to be a decent pairing.

 

You know... when I started trucking... not very long ago in 2007, my trainer used a compass and the atlas.... he would call customers for directions from the highway to the business and when lost in a small town, he would ask locals and/ or rely on the compass and his own common sense navigation... he had over 30 yrs experience...
Nowadays, drivers use one, two or three GPS, apps on smartphones... such a difference...

 

I started driving in 2002. Just as gps was getting started. Cell phones also.. Everybody still spoke English then also.

I wouldn't dream of doing otr work without GPS. Nobody speaks English so calling is worthless.

 

I hear you... some customers don't even know what is north, south, east and west... they give the same directions they use when driving their car to work... but if I ask for truck route directions, they have to ask someone else who might know...

 

That's the problem, some can't even give any directions. On the other side, I've had delivery drivers that can't follow directions too. That is one reason I like the phone, because I can just tell them to text me a map pin or I can send one. Of course, you run into the ones that can't do that either.

I really prefer an trucker's atlas because Waze doesn't know about truck routes. I do like the fact that Waze has such a huge following that you shouldn't get into too many traffic situations without advance warning.

 

I just bought a Garmin dezl500. Costs less than those with too much stuff that I don't want.
Will "play" with it tomorrow and decide if I want it or not.
I am also considering getting CoPilot downloaded on a tablet.

 

@Rocks I'm interested in your expereinces wth these products.

 

So far I am not happy with Garmin dezl500 OTR....
Added truck info, size, weight, etc. Browsed everything, customized everything on the lists, muted sound, some features needed wifi and I didn't want to pair with my phone, so left those alone. Drove around with it in my car and everything worked as it was supposed to.
However, first thing I didn't like was that when turning onto a street or arriving at destination, the map doesn't zoom in... which is not helpful at all... specially if there are many streets in the vicinity and signs are not easy to see... I don't want to listen to directions... so, I had to touch the screen with my fingers and zoom in to see which street I had to turn in... my old Garmin Nuvi would automatically zoom in every time I had to make a turn into a street, or take an exit or arrive at a destination.
Then, I started checking other things on the map... and I realized that the points of interest are only on the next exit and in the cities nearby but not all the way to the destination.
I am in TN and wanted to find a Petro in Dupont, PA. So, I entered the address but it wasn't listed... Looked on the map and the street was there but there was no reference to it... Hmmmm.... I had selected all truck stops and all trucking related places on my list but only the ones in cities close to me would show on the map.
Same thing happens with rest areas and weigh stations. The map doesn't show all those along my route.
Another thing I didn't like... the map doesn't show exit numbers on highways... That's a REAL turn off for me...
My old Garmin Nuvi used to show those anywhere when I zoomed in on the map. It would also show truck stops by name, rest areas, weigh stations, Walmarts... and I could get their addresses and even phone number just by tapping on them on the map. Can't do the same with this Garmin dezl500.
I will try to play with it some more but I am disappointed and thinking about returning it and getting an old Garmin Nuvi on ebay or somewhere... Only problem is, I can't remember what model number I had before...

 

So... I called Garmin support today and was told they are working on getting correct exit numbers on their GPS. But still, Garmin dezlOTR 500 doesn't show the numbers when you zoom in on the map. You have to tap on the exit ramp in order to see that.
Then, support person told me how to see the list of truck stops, weight stations, rest areas, etc on my current route on in another location far away. It's a different format from Garmin Nuvi that I had and I still prefer my old one because it was much easier and it had less steps.
I tried to do a search on Petro which is on 98 Grove St, Dupont, PA and couldn't find it. Had to get the zip code from Google and give it to Garmin because Garmin shows the city is Avoca. I bet that is not the only address I won't be able to find unless I have the zip code.

 

This sure dosen't sound very user-friendly !