Doing it old school without GPS.

Nah. I just tune-her-out. Like a wife or girlfriend.

EDIT: What I would do just to shut her up quickly when I needed to think fast, is yank the cord going into the cigarette plug. Quite effective.

 

Not really. Most have battery backups. Mine will keep working for an hour or so.
I use my GPS everyday. I no longer have an atlas. I have google maps on my phone and my iPad. I can see everything the atlas shows from my phone including truck routes and tolls. Scale houses show up on my gps.
I can certainly read an atlas, but since I never even used the thing I never updated it. When I switched trucks I didn't bother putting it in the new one.

 

I like my gps and yes I know how to read a map. Taught navigation for years in the Corps. Like many has said it isn't foolproof so if going to somewhere new I bounce it off my atlas. Or the google satellite image on my iPad. I like not having to carry a lot of city maps and a lot of the places you call give you way worse directions than a gps ever would. I agree that if you routinely go to the same place it may not be needed but neither would your atlas. Over the years they have got much better and not only can some of them give you a suggested route around a back-up but can even let you know there is a back-up. Cause it's getting to where you can't rely on other truckers to let you know there is a backup on the radio either. A lot of them don't even turn them on until they hit the back-up. If used as a supporting tool they can be very useful but I think it is foolish to use it as your only navigational tool. Also they should be programmed in your Pre-trip just like you should find the route in your atlas during Pretoria. I have seen many programming while driving just like you used to see many trying to read their atlas while driving. That hasn't changed and if you think it has your fooling yourself into believing it. Both were and are dangerous and you will always have those that will do it anyway.
You know back when compassas were invented the old timers laughed at them also and said they were useless. All you need is the stars to guide you.

 

Mine does have battery backup. If I yank the plug, it will tell me to touch the screen to put it into battery mode.

I have a couple seconds to respond. If I do nothing, it shuts off.

 

Sometime i do ask my self, how i ever drove coast to coast without GPS,

i cant do it like before any longer , must be some kind of Alzheimer things

 

Back to paper logs 'n check calls as well? I love it when Ms Elogs and the QualCom take a dive!!

 

I read over on the Stevens thread that they had a kid driver run out of fuel because the GPS didn't tell him to refuel. I think his issues go beyond map reading.

 

Were just gettin' lazy.

It's human nature

Like using a remote control to change the tv channel.

Using a riding lawn mower instead of a push mower.

Driving an automatic instead of a stick-shift.

Using a lighter rather than rubbing two sticks together. Is that how 'ya do it? I don't remember anymore.

The list could go on-and-on.

 

I had one when I first started driving. Got it from my trainer pretty cheap because he wanted a new one. Even then I still took the company directions. Wrote them down and looked at the atlas or google maps. Now I'm local. And my GPS is broke. So usually I know where I'm going. But when I have to go to a new place. I just type it in google maps on my phone. Then use the allstays truck app to verify no low bridges. The turn to the atlas. Then I just write down my directions and tape them to the dash. Although I think it's more distracting looking at a piece of paper then it is lookin at the road and listening for the gps to tell you where to turn. So yeah. The old way can still be done. And get this old
timers. Im a "youngin" and doing the old way. So before you put us all in the same group of people dependent on gps. Think again. But the gps does come in handy as long as you verify it on a atlas. So don't be afraid to try out that "talking box" sometime. Believe it or not. Some things are better than 30
years ago.

I though about getting another GPS just so I'm not staring at the paper. the problem I had with the rand McNally was that the routing they gave me was always some weird routing. It never took the simple route if it could save 5 minutes by using 20 state routes. So I've been on the fence about purchasing copilot truck for my tablet just because you can drag and choose your route. Or just use the phones gps for those rare times I go to new places. Either way. There's always lots of options. And not all will fit the need and satisfy every driver.