Do you use/recommend Trucker Path app?

truckparkingclub.com

 

It's pretty decent. I don't have it running constantly for navigation anymore. I just use it to get a rough idea of the route and then use it in satellite view to plan out the final mile route to customer.

Truck parking info was super handy when I first started, but I kinda have a general idea of all parking at this point, so meh.

I keep paying for it just cause it is handy sometimes and I don't have any other truck GPS. Probably the biggest feature I use now is figuring out what truck stops are paid, what amenities, etc. Helpful to figure out where to stop for laundry

It's the same as any other GPS. Check the route and use common sense. If it only adds a few miles to deviate from their city street route and use major highways, then do that, etc

It's probably cost me more than a normal GPS at this point, but it auto updates like any other app, does live traffic like Google with no extra connectivity steps, and can trip plan while taking a #2 in the morning or laying in bed. Worthwhile to me

 

I don't pay for routing and never would.

It's still ok for mapping out stops and rest areas.

It's also good for seeing if a small truck stop has DEF or showers or a scale, things like that.

I used to read the reviews and they were helpful but now it's stuff like "Is there any parking spaces left?" Real helpful review there, driver.

 

Even the paid version of Trucker Path will sometimes route you where a trucking GPS won't. The Trucking GPS have their quirks & make decisions an experienced driver would not.

There is no "do it for me so I don't have to think about it" approach. The closest you can get to a brain replacement or "it said do this so I do this" is a truck specific GPS and even they should not be used that way. You have to filter what the GPS is saying through the Motor Carrier Road Atlas (MCRA) restricted routes, current weather & closures, traffic, judgement.

I used both a $450 RM RND 740 truck GPS, Trucker Path, and sometimes another app on another phone. A few times all 3 things were saying different things. It's like listening to your parents argue in front of you.

Tons of new drivers turn over all thinking to the smartphone. 80-90% of new drivers leave the industry quickly in some part due to not taking responsibility for checking what they are doing until they wreck something or get tickets and can't get hired. It looks like trucking should be a few things added to driving, it's more like driving is about the only common factor between being driven around in a minivan and .moving freight. There isn't some easy & inexpensive technical fix for moving freight with drivers who barely care what happens.

 

I use Garmin and trucker path mostly. I found the satellite view on trucker path to be valuable. Can look at your destination to see how to get in. Also final approach. Garmin can get goofy on final approach.
I don’t use so much anymore. I’m on a dedicated coast to coast run. No need much of the time.
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You might also get Hammer from this website. I was in Louisville. Had to cross where train bridges were. Hammer showed all crossings and clearances. Found one and got through. All my other gps’s were lost as to what to do.

 

They just need to bulldoze that city (from a former resident of Louisville) ha

 

Nothing like an old outdated road atlas that is useless and dangerous to use when your "route" is blocked by construction or an accident and you have to go up 15 miles and make another exit and backtrack to get to where you need to go. Not to mention if you never have been to these locations you have no idea the route to get to them, as some of them are no truck roads on one side and only one truck route to get in. Some have NO truck routes to get in and you have to violate truck restrictions to even get there.

No thanks.

Not to mention that road atlas doesn't tell you WHERE in the city you're even going. Oh gosh no. I combine google maps with Garmin Dezl and I can get anywhere I need to go. If I have time I will map the route out in my head on my laptop, seeing what roads I need to turn to get to the truck entrance of these locations. Dropping the little "man" on the street near the entrance gives me street view so I can see if that is indeed where I need to go. I've seen it where I thought I needed to go in one entrance because it was a truck entrance, but street view gave me a clear enough picture where I could read the sign that said "receiving entrance" and I needed "shipping entrance" and was able to find it on the other side of the building.

I also use street view at intersections where I'm not 100% sure a road is a truck road. Since "no truck" signs are always posted near the intersection to go onto that road, I just drop the "man" at that point and look for a no truck sign. Has saved me many times.

Neither garmin nor google is good enough to put full faith in, but using them in conjunction with your brain and ability to read road signs hasn't let me down yet.

 

It looks Ike Louisville has already been bulldozed in many places.

 

@drivingmissdaisy
Use whatever worx for…never had a gps never will
Managed since ‘74…reckon I’ll keep stumbling by….