Best commercial GPS

Search around the forum in electronic category. There you'll find hours of reading on the subject. IMHO the device you're hoping for hasn't been made yet. Consider Copilot on tablet. Best money I have spent on navigation.

 

So far the most accurate navigation device that I have found is a Rand McNally Motor Carrier Road Atlas. Learn to read and use a road atlas before you start using a gps. The gps should only be used as a secondary source for routing.

 

I've been following my Rand Mcnally 520 for close to a year now. It rarely gets me in trouble, and when you use your head, it's easy to figure out if it's messed up a little down your trip.

 

News flash. There are many, MANY, MANY low clearances not listed in the paper atlas. It cannot be relied on either.

 

Streets and Trips. Never tried Copilot but I would like to.

 

Rand Mcnally Atlas, Rand Mcnally 720 trucker gps,
Google maps with satilite and street view, and the phone to call for directions....
Use ALL your tools

Ive had the Atlas not list a weight restricted bridge that the gps did know about, ive had the gps take me a stupid way, and google maps sometimes shows a dirt field in the satelite view and ive gotten bum directions from a delivery..... but ive never had all 4 be wrong.....

 

Garmin.

I stand by my decision to buy them because no other nav unit has behind them a company that makes them specifically for the military, Nasa or to the aircraft industry.

One of the drivers left me a message that the nav unit was flaking out, so I called him up and we did a couple things to see what's what. I gave up on it and had a driver, who is clueless about electronics, call customer support, they talked him threw a number of steps to figure out what was going on, they couldn't so they told him that the unit needed to be returned. Then they handed him off to someone else who gave him an RMA. He got a box from the T/S, stuck it in the box with padding, sent it off. A few days go by, I got a package on my porch, they sent me a new unit, in the box new, I sent it to the driver and it worked ever since.

 

Definitely second that... Using all of your tools is great, but you have to use the most important one before you even start the truck... YOUR HEAD! Trying to get those "on the road" directions while your driving is not a good way to start. I would also suggest listening to the radio (CB radio that is) SOME drivers have some good info on local areas as well those detours when you have to go around a work zone... And if in doubt about your route, find a place to pull over and get yourself in the right direction.

 

As much as I have tried to figure it out, I can’t get the weather or traffic to work on my Rand McNally Atlas no matter what I try . I also can't get it to update with current road construction locations.

I have had much better luck getting those features to work on my Rand McNally 720. I hear the 730 is a much faster unit then the 720 but I have not had the opportunity to check one out yet.

I’ve always wanted to try CoPilot as well but I don’t think it offers traffic or weather. I also use MS Streets and Trips for trip planning (along with my Rand McNally atlas and Google Maps) but it cannot replace a GPS for use while driving IMO. I don't (and I don't think most users do ether) just take whatever route a GPS gives me, I program in the route I have planed using my atlas and other tools and use the GPS to remind me of how far my next turn is and to locate items along my route when needed.

Each tool has its place.