PC Miler 450 oddities

I learned that 4 lefts will get you right back where you started using this thing.

Not impressed with it at all. Too many annoyances to list.........

 

In the past couple days it tried to send me up an off ramp, down a laneway with a 'private drive' sign and onto a road with a 5 ton limit. And to think one of the reasons I wanted to get a truck specific gps is because it's likely they will be the only type allowed in a commercial vehicle before long.

 

What is your current profile set to for the following settings?

Vehicle type:
Freeways:
Divided Highways:
Primary roads:
Secondary roads:
Local streets:
Hazmat:
Misc options: (which boxes do you have checked?)
Tolls:
Truck dimensions (height? Width? Length? Weight? Weigh per axle?)
Routing option (practical or shortest?)
And did you save the profile instead of leaving it as "default?"

Once you have done this stuff correctly it won't put you on any route that doesn't match your profile in 99% of cases. Let me know what you have on the above settings and any specific roads where you had a discrepency and I'll check it out.

 

If you can recommend anything different I would appreciate it and would gladly try it.

Most of the places I've had a discrepency I don't think it would matter how it was set. I was told to turn left onto an on ramp for example. In this case the on ramp was actually an off ramp and there is no way to get to the road it wanted to put me on from the road I was on. Another was onto a private lane.

 

Well, unless you accidentally left out something then I see a huge problem with the profile. Do you have "National Network" and "53' trailer" checked in the Misc options?

I don't know exactly what you drive, but the PCM brand units will let you save as many different profiles as you want.

Per axle standard weight is tricky because legally you have different weight limits between single-axle, double-axle, triple, etc. AND you have different per axle limits in some states than others. But in general if you drive a standard 53 footer, you do not go over 17,000 lbs per axle on the rear of the tractor and on the trailer. Your steer axle is always lower and does not typically exceed 12,000 lbs.

THEN, to make it even more complicated there are states that have "frost laws" which change the maximum per axle weight limits depending on what time of year it is!

SO, you are going to want to set that number to your maximum permissible weigh depending on what you haul. So again, for this example I am going to use 17,000 lbs as the maximum I would have on any one axle because that is the most common long-haul configuration.

Profile example one (a 53' box with no HazMat or other non-standard dimensions for an OTR long-hauler)

Vehicle type: Truck
Freeways: Strongly Favor
Divided Highways: Favor
Primary roads: Neutral
Secondary roads: Avoid
Local streets: Strongly Avoid
Hazmat: None
Misc options: (which boxes do you have checked?) check "National Network" and "53' Trailer" only. (If you cross borders into Canada then check the "International Borders Open" box too.)
Tolls: (It's up to you and your company. I use "Avoid if Possible.)
Truck dimensions (Height? Width? Length? Weight? Weight per axle?) 13'6 / 80,000 lbs / 102" wide / 53' long / 17,000 max per axle
Routing option (practical or shortest?) Practical
Profile name: I would save this as something like "53NoHazMat"

Example 2 (A 48-footer who makes deliveries around a particular city or geographic area rather than OTR long-haul stuff)

Vehicle type: Truck
Freeways: Neutral
Divided Highways: Favor
Primary roads: Favor
Secondary roads: Neutral
Local streets: Avoid
Hazmat: None
Misc options: (which boxes do you have checked?) check "National Network" only.
Tolls: (It's up to you and your company. I use "Avoid if Possible.)
Truck dimensions (Height? Width? Length? Weight? Weigh per axle?) 13'0 / 70,000 lbs / 96" wide / 48' long / 17,000 max per axle
Routing option (practical or shortest?) Practical
Profile Name: I would save this as something like "48footlocal"

Example 3 (A box-truck delivery route-driver)

Vehicle type: Truck
Freeways: Neutral
Divided Highways: Neutral
Primary roads: Neutral
Secondary roads: Neutral
Local streets: Avoid
Hazmat: None
Misc options: (which boxes do you have checked?) check "National Network" only.
Tolls: (It's up to you and your company. I use "Avoid if Possible.)
Truck dimensions (height? Width? Length? Weight? Weigh per axle?) 11'10" / 36,000 lbs / 96" wide / 28' long / 14,000 max per axle
Routing option (practical or shortest?) Practical or shortest depending on the location.
Profile name: I would save this as something like "28footbox"

Now, in your two miss-routing examples, do you remember the beginning and ending addresses for those routes? I can't evaluate that type of stuff without having the specifics.

Have you sent any of these into MapSure yet to get fixed on your next downloadable update?

On the PCM units the routing is very dependent on the profile settings. And since there are MORE of these settings than the Rand, Garmin, etc. many drivers do not finish setting up some of this stuff correctly and get wacky routing as a result. But, if set up correctly then it is very good at picking truck routes based on whatever you put into that profile.

 

I will see if that helps with some of the routing. Did I actually set width to 96, lol.

As for the two miss-routing examples I don't see how my settings would have affected them. Sending me the wrong way on a ramp is wrong regardless of settings. Same with a private drive. It may help with some of the other ones though.

I looked at MapSure but can't be bothered. That sounds bad but here is why. If it was just the occasional address I would gladly make not of it and send it in. It is pretty much every address though. At first I though it may be something with my specific unit but I have talked to a couple of others who have the same results. Between my experience, the ones I have talked to and the ones further up in this thread it's clear the product just isn't ready and it's not just a couple of address corrections needed.

I'll give you an example using a rest area. I know poi's aren't something MapSure deals with but this one just made me shake my head. I mentioned in the other thread that it only lists rest areas that are on an interstate so when I had it route me to a rest area it seemed a little ironic it would send me off the interstate to get to it. Start the route at Flint Michigan and then add a stop. Choose poi/ different city/ Imlay City, MI/ Rest area and select the rest area listed as Rest Area, I-69 West 6.2 miles away. When you select it you will see the rest area symbol but nothing else. If you zoom out a few times you can see when the rest area actually is. First thing you will notice is how far away the rest area ramp is from the symbol, next thing you will notice is it is actually on the East Bound side of the Interstate. Now tell it to go there and check the routing. It takes you south of the Interstate onto a parallel road to a point which is likely someone's back yard or an open field.

Unfortunately this type of thing is not a rare exception and is not limited to poi's. I appreciate your trying to help and will definitely try the settings you recommend as well as experiment with other variations but no setting will fix the fact it just doesn't know where it's going. Like I said in the other thread, I expect more from a 3rd generation product and cannot recommend this unit.

 

The default is always set at 48' / 96" during startup, so you didn't actually set it to 96".

I am not getting the same result with "pretty much every address" being wrong in our driver's testing over the last 2 weeks that these new maps have been out. Conversely, we have run over 100 routes in New York City alone last week and it was 100% for the first time in the 3 generations of its development. Admittedly I didn't plot a chart of how many "yards away" from a trucking entrance or a building front it was because many warehouses can be up to several blocks long. The criteria for us is that it gets us within site of the pickup or delivery address such that it would be inherently obvious to the driver where he needed to be.

But I believe that you are not happy with the address positions and routing that you are getting in your tests though. You should send it back for a refund I'm thinking. Or see if you can trade it in on the difference on another brand perhaps?

 

I just bought a 450 after stepping on my 440...

I was liking the 450 pretty good until I tried to use the CoPilot Central 2.0...when I plug the unit into my computer Windows (7) does not recognize the device, support told me to install Windows Mobile Device Centre, and I did...it didn't help. The thing that sold me on the 450 was the internet updates, but if it won't do it...

I'm thinking maybe I should have bought another 440

 

The one I have is a 440. I thought it was the 450, but was incorrect.