'programmable' GPS. It exist?

I've owned four of them and all are programmable.

Let's assume you've done your map reading and called the customer and you know the correct way. You program the GPS from point A to point B and you know it's wrong.

Look in your menu and you'll see where you can find directions for multiple trips from point A to point B to point C to point D.......

Use that to your advantage and make them middle points spots on your known route.

Let's say the GPS tells you to get off exit 148 and you know that is wrong because the truck route is up at exit 152.

So program your GPS to go from point A to exit 152 and exit 152 to destination.

My last GPS I could point on the screen and push "detour here" or "go here" and it would automatically correct it.

You can use them techniques to force the GPS to go any known trucking route if it gives you bad directions to begin with.

I call each of them points, legs. I've had some trips that have had several legs in it to get the routing the way I want it. Once you have it done, you can kick back and know the GPS is taking you in correctly.

Another example is like Davenport, IA to Nashville, TN area. A GPS will try to route I-74 over to I-57 south. But by company directions and by experience, you know to go down I-155 to I-55 to IL-4 to I-64 over to I-57 south. I think it's 17 miles shorter.

A case like that, pick a little town on the other route. So program the GPS, Davenport to Lebanon, IL to Nashville, TN. Routing fixed.

 

Couldn't have said it better than Condo just did. They are all programmable by using "waypoints" or "vias" to force the route. It is a technique that requires a little practice to get used to, but it can be done fairly efficiently once you get the hang of it.

 

You really need to forget about a GPS and learn to truck first. If you cant read a map or read a scrap of paper, what are you going to do if your gps breaks down in the middle of a big city?

Learn your job first, and then play with the toys later...

 

Good advice.....
when I was with my trainer he would always say: "what if your gps craps out on you...then what are you gonna do" and I was thinking: "you ol' fart theses things don't crap out on you".....well they do....or at least mine did(Garmin Zumo550). So now I have my written route and my gps (Acer tab running CoPilot) all of which I use after reading the maps and looking for restrictions, low clearances etc. Nothing is perfect so always have a backup system.

 

OR......your GPS routes you down a road that gets narrower to the point of turning into a TWO-TRACK. I saw an instance of something similar in Ft Worth TX a few weeks ago. MY GPS told me to "turn right" to follow a road around a cement plant, but I could see the paved "road" ended into a mud track before I got there. I could also see that several trucks took this "short-cut" to the industrial park on the other side of the cement plant. I went around the "long-way".

 

I relied on the electronic version of a map for a dozen years before GPS; I loaded a copy of various "MAP" programs onto a laptop; from Delorme to Microsoft Streets and Trips, which I find the best. For the simple reason (while connected to the internet) I can view an Aeriel shot of just about anywhere on the map that I have a question about, and zoom it in pretty tight for good detail. I still can't count legs on a centipede yet though.
I NEVER use/rely on GPS for "Routing", but only as a general reference tool for ETA and distance from a location

 

Not too long ago in Virginia I seen a county or state sign that stated.

Attention Truckers
Your GPS is WRONG!
Dont not follow SR XXXX to blah blah blah
low bridges, sharp turns blah blah blah

I was cracking up when I read that. That means dozens of truckers have stuffed their buggies under a low bridge or ended up lost on a cow path somewhere in BFE Va. I cant even imagine the mayhem these lost truckers were causing for the locals to actually decide to put up a huge warning sign like that.

 

That's why you compare your Rand McNally with your GPS. It's really not that hard to do. The dumb ones will screw up with or without a GPS.

 

Aw man; you mean the days with the magnifying glass and dividers are over? No more leafing through the low bridge book hoping it's wp to date? Where's the challenge? ( shhhh. I'm gonna get one asap. keep it quiet. )