Drivers, why are we using GPS units?

To be honest my garmin just sits in the trunk of my car. I have a set route if needed for a special drop or pick up I have my smart phone with google maps, witch in my opinion is much more accurate.
I always have my atlas on hand, it helps with the trip planning and keep off restricted routs.

 

Update. Garmin 760 had me going right through the Eisenhower tunnel this morning with a class 3 hazmat load. Had the settings correctly set up for flammable liquids. Junk. Save your money.

I did refer to the atlas and didn't see he restriction on I70? I knew there was a loop but missed the exit however I was paying attention to the signs. Turned out okay though, I'll use the phone more now on. Lesson learned.

 

how did we ever manage before GPS ?? lol old school here..not as old as some....Tony and Olhand....but still old school....but to each his own i guess. long as you insert your brain before use...LOL

 

If you know anything about I70, Hazmat loads are NOT always restricted through the Eisenhower and johnson tunnels. Have to know what the local laws are.

 

Good point. I understand fuel hauling is exempt.

 

okay.great lengthy reply covering the basics. thanks for the refresher. I have never failed to get where i need to be by calling before starting out or at least during transit and naturally after consulting my few years old paperback atlas.perhaps i am a bit more friendly and/or persistent when calling. i truly do not believe that i am less efficient simply because i am gps-less. no argument can convince me otherwise.

regardless,i am extremely elated that your use of modern technology is seamless and exquisitely smooth. driver trainer could very well be your next title.

 

i dont know about the new truck friendly gps so i cant say really, but i do know, that more than once in my personal vehicle, gps has gotten ME LOST..now of course in a 4 wheeler thats no big deal.. even taken me to the WRONG side of town COMPLETELY....i guess if you find one thats reliable then its probably helpful, but i dont trust them...

 

GPS,s are no different than the ECM Computer (Brain) that controls your Truck or the Qualcoms or other Computer Systems used by companies. THEY ALL REQUIRE UPDATES. ALL INFO IS IN THE SYSTEM FROM A HUMAN BEING. With that being said, no system is perfect. I also have the latest greatest Atlas. I use a TND 720 and update every two months. Mostly covers Construction work changes. Its pretty good but I also run a secondary Auto GPS because its a lot faster. I compare all routes with Shipper/Receiver's instructions. Try running the Dallas/Ft Worth area or Los Angeles area without a GPS. Their routes change by the week from construction. GPS is merely a tool to use, not the Holy Grail but when people burn up a lot of time scouring maps during a load others will already be there. I run all states in the Continental US. Old School Drivers with years and years of experience are the ORIGINAL GPS,s, I marvel and respect their knowledge.

 

My Garmin's as essential as my front, left steer tire.

Always on in digital, mph mode. Nice, large numbers.

Rarely call shippers, receivers and find they're usually wrong or just don't know. Rarely consult my two atlases. When close to new PU or DEL, usually have Google Maps feeding into my headset from my iPad and let the two, iPad and Garmin, argue it out.

Garmin's a 2008 regular, car-type NUVI with 2008 era construction re-routes and maps, will take me down a cowpath to save 60 feet of driving. Ignore it when says, turn left onto 'Hill Climb Road'.

I run out from Indiana on either I-74 westbound or US Hwy 36, usually up I-39 from Bloomington/Normal or Hwy 61 above Davenport. Garmin's nice to remind me so that I'm not lost in thought and sailing by a needed exit--still happens sometimes all the same!!

 

Printed maps are hard to come by, I'd generally have to travel to a city to find a map of it (not that all towns are mapped in print, in which case addresses can't be found directly, while half the time people in a given area give me the wrong directions), and your average road atlas has few cities mapped out, with little detail, and my collection of printed maps cost as much or more than my GPS, though I had fun with each. It takes time and notes to follow a map, and (after all) the snow plows may have covered street signs with powder, so I can't read them to determine where to turn. Truck GPS units also show us the speed limit (approaching weigh stations, etc.) in such cases, where signs are also few and far between, even when I can read them without binoculars before I pass by (or they're at an angle, or somebody stole one, knocked it over, whatever)... there are reasons to have both maps and a GPS, because sometimes I have to use a map to look up an intersection, when the GPS can't find a particular address (and I want it to navigate me close enough to see the building, on a multi-stop trip). Mine couldn't even find a truck stop by its address one time, even though it had the same truck stop programmed into it as a point of interest! Neither is completely reliable.

Navigation is where both my trucking school and first employer fell way short of giving me a good chance of success beyond driving professionally to nowhere in particular (I'm not sure why, when industry standards are based on time and money—I humored them though), they handed me a road atlas and a ruler, and then I got bad directions to go by on top of not having enough information on the map, or a realistic idea of how difficult road signs can be to read at high speed or in poor lighting, weather, etc. and dispatchers are worse than people giving me wrong directions (one "confirmed" for me that I could drive down a restricted route, which another trucker told me the truth about before I did so—the dispatcher was either lying about looking it up for me and flipping a coin or just cruel and rooting for my first ticket). Although I stuck with printed maps until my next employer had me going to so many locations on short notice that there was no way I could consult multiple maps to various places in order to actually start driving in a reasonable amount of time, while further cross referencing truck restrictions along the way gets to be an all day affair (which was fine when I was just sitting somewhere, it depends on my job description). Maps are more of a hobby for that matter, good for big pictures at a glance, tedious or unavailable for the details when a schedule is involved.

Otherwise I'll probably continue to have a truck GPS onboard when I have a predictable job, for its extra-navigational features, and as detours are necessary at a moments notice. I don't see how people see it as being any more technologically advanced than the truck driving it supports (as if the truck was a simple device that didn't require specialized operation), at least it was designed for it, unlike our roads and maps for the most part. Well, I think they're swell, but can't recommend a particular model, because I haven't compared them all myself.