ELD---Which One

Hi folks here's my experience so far with our ELD,

Thanks for this thread, specifically Stryker whose description I found extra helpful.

I spent some time researching here for which ELD to start with. I run a small HHG fleed that does a mix of local and long distance, and has a mix of underCDL straight trucks and a semi. I wanted to get started with it well before the deadline so If my first try didn't work I'd still have time to find another vendor.

I wanted something simple that DIDN'T do a million other things (no ifta, no routing, no telematics, etc). I wanted to keep it simple and not have any overlap with the other solutions I use. I also didn't want to spend a mountain of money.

So based on a number of details I started with bigroad this summer, first just running it without the dashlink on the drivers' phones and then purchasing the accounts and dashlinks in September. We ran concurrently with paper logs, treating the paper logs as the official version and the dashlink as a "test" case for a while and once we'd ironed out some bugs, went with just the dashlink. Here's a few things we learned:

tape the dashlink plug onto the truck's plug. They shake loose sometimes and you get bad data and it's hard to chase down. We thought one was good, but until we taped the $@!* out of it, we kept getting lost miles. If you're also running a scangaugeD or the like, put that on AFTER the ELD plug, and also tape the #@$ out of it.

Different people have weird different habits with their phones. Some people kill off apps they're not using all the time, some folks are real fussy with their "notifications" and what info they allow different apps to use. We had one guy that had NO problems. Just fired it up and went and another that had all sorts of weird connectivity issues. Turned out the first guy didn't fiddle with his phone's settings, 2nd guy really nerded out about it. Took him a while to figure out what made the app run well and what messed it up.

have a good dedicated power plug to charge the phone mounted on your dash close to where you mount the phone. Make sure it's a good high voltage fast charger. bigroad/dashlink is power hungry and kills batteries fast. Some phones with low batteries cut some services to the apps which will disrupt bigroad apparently, or so we think. definitely keep it plugged in and charging. don't bother with cheap chargers. A good serious dashmount is also a must. RAM X-grip has worked well for us.

you can swap the dashlink to a rental, no problem but you may need to have a couple different dongles kicking around in case it's a different plug than your truck. Also tape the $#% out of that plug too. Don't forget to take it back when you're done. Make sure to log out of the truck when you drop it off so you don't end up with a bunch ghost trucks stuck at your terminal location on the map, leave them at the rental places. Also you'll need to be handy with cut&paste with the dashlink serial to switch it back to your truck.

team driving & slip seating works. but the person who is not driving needs to remember to log out of the truck, and other drivers who are not working need to log out of the truck at EOD and also it's best if they log out of the app when not on duty. being clear and sticking to this solves problems.

some of the UI isn't great. some stuff is hard to find. most of it's not bad, and all of it is doable once you get used to it. the online dash is good for dispatch, I quite like it. The drivers like the app better than paper so far. Less writing, and a real life saver for guys with messy handwriting who never use a ruler. Also good for guys who forget to turn their logs in on time. Good for drivers with a shaky understanding of HOS nuances. yard move and personal conveyance work, same with short haul exemptions, 16 hour rule, etc. So far, aside from setup and learning curve it's been a serious time-saver.

We have a good record and rarely get inspected so in the 3 months we've been using it we haven't had to show it to a cop so no experience there.

So far we have 3 users, Myself (owner, occasional CDL driver, and dispatch) and 2 drivers. Costs $300/year per user & dashlink. We swap dashlinks as needed if we're not using the 3 that they default to. I'll probably add another 1-2 guys we've been using paper with who may or may not fall under the "under 8 days out of 30" exemption.

If anyone has questions let me know. Thanks to stryker for his earlier big road review in this thread and everyone else whose experience I relied on when researching.

 

I brought the KeepTrucking ELD. I was using the KeepTrucking app when I was an O/O leased on to a carrier. I loved the app because the format is exactly like a paper log and fully editable and will alert you for any errors like missing info, and violations. I had 3 DOT inspections when I had the app and the DOT officers loved it because it was simple for them to understand. When I got my own authority in late august I brought the KeepTrucking ELD I hook it up to my truck for a week to make sure everything was working and then I went back to "paperlog mode" until dec. It costs around $250 which includes service for one year. One ELD unit is for that one truck but you can assign as many drivers as you want. More trucks require you to buy more ELDs for the same price. You tell keep trucking the year, make, and model of your truck and you'll get a cord for that make/model truck to hook up the device. You'll need to download the KeepTrucking app onto your phone or tablet. I'd advise you to get a tablet with a cellular antenna built in it so it'll have it's own hotspot for the ELD to sync to. I wouldn't want DOT/law enforcement access to my phone (and everything else in it) to look at my logs. You'll get an admin account and a driver account. If you have the account in ELD mode you can edit everything but your drive time. You can also set different HOS rules for the logs so if you are running in texas you can set the logs to run on Texas HOS instead of federal for example.

 

don't get a transflo-pegasus t7 eld.....its junk no refunds no returns

 

This is what I plan on getting. Can you tell me if you had any issues with connectivity? Or problems logging in areas without cell reception? Also when editing the log is there a mark left that you did an edit?

 

haven't tried, keep on trucking eld
i'm still workin on one lots of my friends leased to companies are on omnitrax with a setting change to allow for weak gps signal so it wont flip to drive when parked "radius of 2 miles" along with 5mph yard move
im hammering big road eld with past issues with transflo they don't want to talk to me.

 

Hmmm. That does kinda smell funny since you posted this a week ago:

You gonna "grill em" now that you have gone with em?

11 out of 12 posts mention Amil Freight?

Got their site link and their twitter link posted without triggering anything?

I guess Amil Freight feels that they are a lot smarter than the members or the mods here too...

 

I activated KeepTruckin ELD today and tested about 2 hours. .

no way to use it as an AOBRD. it's a pure ELD. no way to adjust speed and distance threshold when it starts recording movement.

 

I called them about it two weeks ago...They said it was not ready yet. Not until the end of the month, this October. Well it it is pretty much the end so....

 

So what is it set to out of the box? it starts recording drive time as soon as the truck moves?

For example you get to a fuel island, line up behind someone and hit off duty, then when you pull up to fuel will it switch to drive line?

 

you can move around at 3mph and it will not switch to drive mode and record driving time. it triggers drive mode(recording driving time) at 5mph and no way to edit it from admin account. you will not have an issue at fuel pump as you mentioned above.