hi, newbie wanting suggestions on which cb, gps & inverter to buy.

I think you can still get that special for the cobra gps and cb at t/a and petro. The cb is a good cb I use the 29 version not the 25 and it works great had it peaked and tuned and an echo board added and have a good antenna set up. dont know about the gps though hope that helps

 

As for GPS I am using the garmin 465 BUT for it to be a truck gps it has alot of routes that pops up a warning "Unconfirmed truck route" sign. Really considering the tnd intelliroute gps. As for the cb I have a cobra 29 chrome i picked up for $30 used at a truck stop and had it modified to about 35 watts. Need a good antenna but it seems to be getting out a good distance.

 

I have a cb a basic Midland CB (Pilot $39), works good and love hearing the craziness sometimes and also it's good at docks and truck stops to know what's going on. I have my Atlas and I am not a huge fan of GPS but I would use my phone GPS and compare that to the company directions (I have a phone holder in the truck) my phone utilizes google maps and you can also get the earth view. For an inverter I just have a basic 300 watt inverter for my phone to charge and also if I get super bored I can watch movies by hooking my TV up. I went to the trading post aka pawn shop and got an old school tom tom and I just use gps to monitor how much driving I have to do for the day before shutting down. And also to monitor my turns before getting to a shipper or consignee. My first trainer did not have GPS he had nothing but a map and a cb, and that worked fine for me. My new co-driver God bless his heart he does not read the signs and is direction crippled.

 

I love my Cobra 29 LX. It has a lot of great features like weather channels and weather alert. I too had it peaked and tuned. There are a lot of good cb's out there, but the key is a good antenna. I prefer the Wilson brand.

I personally run a Cobra 29LX with a Wilson 5000 with a ground plane addition. So far, so good!

 

I'm still debating on which GPS unit to get, too. I do want to suggest that if you get a Rand McNally 510 0r 720 and you buy it before 31 December, RM is running a promotion where you get free lifetime map updates (you just have to register your unit and send a copy of your receipt). I think there might be a restriction of where you buy it to qualify (seems most major truck stop chains were on the list). Anyway, the special promotion info can be found here: http://www.randmcnally.com/lifetimemaps/

I've been getting along okay so far with just my road atlas, the routing info from my company and using my iPhone (I don't pay for the navigation service. The basic map app you get for free is awesome) to see specific locations. It's designed for car navigation... but it's sometimes just helpful to know where something is. I haven't had any major catastrophes using it so far, it's just very small and it would be nice to have navigation info on a bigger screen.

I may just invest in a CB and stick with iPhone.