Trucker's Atlas, Headsets, etc recommendations?

Years ago, we were running blades from Corpus Christi to LimonCO. One guy followed his dummy pilot cars (usually, people too stupid for CDLs) and ran into road construction on US 87. Big fine. Massive. Biblical almost. Permits had us run to Colorado CityTX. They have since changed the highway sign, but when we went through, they had just finished the bypass to the east that goes to i20. We had 3 trucks blow through the center of town and got stopped by the locals. When I went by, the news cameras were out in force. Could you imagine getting ticketed and a reporter shoving a camera in your face?

 

I personally still rely on asking for local info on ch19

 

I learned to read the reviews for the company by name and also search for reviews by address to resolve issues when a company changes names or is sold to another company. If the standard GPS routes you a bad way to a customer, there is a good chance the Google reviews of that customer/address will mention a better route. But IMO, drivers starting to use reviews in this way spend about 8 seconds, read ONLY the first review, and if that one review doesn't solve every problem in their life they give up on ever looking at the reviews again. I guess it's better to announce to the world NOTHING WORKS than it is to find a solution to a problem.

 

I still like Trucker Path for navigation and truck stop information like parking status. My company now pays for it and run it in the company tablet. You can download the maps also in case lose cell phone data. Looks like it $149 a year is the cheapest plan.

You can try free for 7 days. It usually has the truck entrance to most places so it routs you to that and not just the address. They give parking predictions and history so you see when truck had been full last 7 days. It just getting info from other drivers but it can be help fill sometimes. $150 a year is kinda ext but the the GPS are like $600+ you can also pay by the month and test it out longer to see if you like it.

The truckers Atlas has good info also like low bridges and restricted roads and even the axle weights for each state and the bridge law lengths for state also. You probably won’t use every day but is like be able to to double check you GPS if it sends on some back roads.

 

i use them all, randy gps, randy paper, google maps. truckerpath. company directions, directions from fellow drivers, customer directions, and my eyes, ears, and brain. Gotta use all your tools!

 

I agree. Also Hammer, which is a gps being developed here. I ran into a problem in Louisville on west side. Low bridges for train tracks. All others didn't know what to do? Hammer showed me all those roads and the clearances. I got through on a 13 foot 9 inch clearance bridge. Then went over to my delivery. Use as much as you can. I normally used Trucker Path and a Garmin.
Also make sure you're covered. Get a backup phone. No, don't depend on Apple for only phone. I won't rant on.
I also had an iPad for my Trucker Path and other things. Backup there too. And a Samsung pad.

 

I don't depend on apple for anything. Lol