GPS suggestions

For a while I used telenav app on my android phone, it isn't a truck gps so you have to be extra careful but I was taught to drive with a car gps, so I was used to double checking my route.

I bought a rand McNally tnd500 and I would say it was worth it, the smartphone would sometimes need to load more map data from the web and when the signal was bad it had a tough time. The McNally gps has lots of clearances and truck routes, but you still have to check your route.

The real advantage over the smartphone was when you needed to make changes to your plans, wince the McNally gps has most truckstops built in and it also will route you from wrong turns with truck routes in mind.

 

IMO smart phone gps sucks even in a normal car

 

The garman lmt..for truckers...this one works great..i use this & my map to double check allways...its great....also alot of common sence...garman

 

man you guys sure do a lot of things i don't even consider when using my gps. LOL

mine is the3 cheapest model. doesn't have all them extras. it just takes me there. which is all i need.

if i want to know where something is. there's an app for that. and it's free.

my best advice. is to buy the cheapest out there. your phone can doo all the rest that everyone else wants in an expensive unit,.
you also need a back up gps. like google nav on your phone. becuae your gps most likely won't have EVERY address in the country programmed in. google nav has ALWAYS worked when my gps can't.

the only time gps doesn't work. is when a business moves to a new address on a brand spanking new street. and for some reason the new address never gets relayed through the broker to the driver.

 

I came across a very good system. I have a new Razor from Verizon. Just so happens they are having a clearence on the Motorola Lapdock 100 for the razor for $50 that was normally $250. It's basically a 10" laptop that uses the phone as the brains of the operation. Then I bought the Co-Pilot app for droid. So I end up with a 10" GSP that does a whole lot more for $200. I'm still learning the Co-Pilot software but it's geting easier everyday.

 

NOT a Rand McNally, they want to nickel and dime you on map updates!

I'm getting rid of my TND 710 and going Garmin 560LMT (760LMT, when it comes out in December).

The Garmins have LIFETIME MAPS INCLUDED as well as LIFETIME TRAFFIC and other cool features. The 760LMT will have the ability to provide weather updates via your smartphone connection when it comes out in December.

 

I've used both smartphones and dedicated GPSes for routing, and the dedicated GPS blows away the smartphone while driving.

The problem is that the GPS chip in the phone doesn't work nearly as well as the dedicated GPS receiver. With the phone, I was losing GPS lock pretty much any time I went into an urban area, which is generally when you need it the most.

The phones are great when trip planning, but not when driving. (For example, what happens to your routing app when the phone rings?)

 

TND 720 does have LTM with it. It already has Weather updates via a Hotspot be it from your phone, Mi-Fi or Wi-FI, and Traffic does not have all the advertisment.

Mark

 

I like using my laptop with Microsoft Streets and Trips. Gives you a bigger screen and a lot easier to plan your route why you are sitting still because if it tries to route you on roads that you know you dont want to travel you can "drag" the route to roads you want on once you have your currrent location and you destination route established. I haul a lot of ag products directly to farmers so end up on a lot of gravel roads. Dont have internet in the truck but if I am at home planning my route I can then locate where I am going on google earth and see exactly how the driveway and building setup is. If the adress is one that is not available on the GPS system yet and you have driving directions you can still pinpoint it on Streets and Trips. You can get the GPS virsion of Streets and Trips and it contains the gps receiver that plugs into a USB port and I have no problem with reception just laying the reciever on the dash. The software is the same on the GPS verision as it is on the one without the reciever and you can buy the reciever off ebay.

 

a lot of people like microsoft. but there are much cheaper and easier solutions.

i never have a problem with my phone for gps. it just works. just like my trucker gps.

copilot is a full fledged program. you don't need your phone. it's all downloaded into your system.