Map, GPS or both?

you'll learn to use all of them together and when and how to use each....and more important intuition.....
I know, that really helps, huh?
-sometimes the gps is wrong or sucks
-company routing often sucks
-sometimes even shipper routing sucks (like you get ahold of "Gina" and she's only driven there from her house and doesn't know her directions or anything about trucks)
-very often (and this is sad) driver directions suck
-sometimes everything sucks and your kinda on your own
-sometimes you get in a pickle....you'll learn to avoid that.

 

Amen to company directions sometimes sucking. I just got directions the other day to take some road...lets call it "road X".

Well I'm driving along and road X turnoff comes up. Well Road X runs south from this point.....and north of the road I'm on its called something else. I assume since they specifically told me "road X" thats the one I take. Well that road took me into a residential area and I started to really sweat. Good thing they had a traffic circle (had to hog both lanes around it) and double back. When I talked to them again about it they said "oh ya, sorry I guess its called something else when you go north of that road"

Assume only makes an "Arse" out of "U" and "ME"

 

In chicago, going down a road. Next turn is the road I need.

The sign clearly says "NO TRUCKS OVER 5 TONS".

 

I delivered somewhere that my company had no directions to the cons. I had to call the cons. They told me there will be no truck signs you have to go this way only way in. I think I saw 3 no truck signs. The last one I could see the plant. I had to turn left to get there. What did the sign say? Absolutely no big trucks allowed???? What the heck? It is the only road into this plant???

 

LOL...I think we all own a couple of those T-shirts.

I especially partial to the signs you see in Montgomery, AL on one of my shortcuts.

From the intersection and down the street about 75 yards, you can read "Weight Limit --- 9 Tons"

If you're brave enough to continue through the intersection, you notice in very small print underneath..it says "Per Axle"

 

On another note....I just bought a TomTom Go730 GPS unit at an online boxing day sale. Instead of beating the lines, or camping out in a chair overnight I paid an extra 10 bucks for Air shipping to my door. Will be at my house by the end of December.

I didn't even have to put pants on!! Cheers to that!

 

I don't think that is a truck version.

 

My dad has been using a comparable TomTom model (920) in Europe for the last 6 months with his driving over there.

I'll compare the route to my trucker atlas and make sure its all good. I got it because it also has "lane guidance" to give you a heads up on what lane you have to be in to make the turns on the various major roadways.

There's a mode that gives you the shortest distance, or the quickest distance to get somewhere. If you choose "shortest distance" get ready for a mess with routing. If you choose the "quickest route" it usually puts you on major roadways that are okay to travel on for a truck.

Regular 400, on for 300. I'm sold. I'll probably manually enter my route based on customer directions, etc. anyways.

 

I have a truck version and I run it on shortest. I double check it tho, because even the truck versions can put you on roads you don't want to be on.

 

That's why didn't think it was crucial I bought one with a "truck mode". I think its such a big task for them to get that down to a science. I mean, every truck turns different...many trucks are different heights. An employee of the company would have to come out to every intersection in the world to see if a truck would clear every turn 100% without hitting a sign post, hopping a curb, etc.

I figure this way too.....A pilot plans his route and then enters it into the GPS. He doesn't simply put in point A, point B and giver. He's gotta look at his maps, figure out if theres a NOTAM preventing him from making that route. The pilot has to check the weather to figure out the best altitude for him to fly. What we do isn't really that much different. I'll never solely rely on a GPS unit. It's a definately a supplement, not a replacement.

I think I'll mostly use it to know what streets I'm coming up on. Those intersections that don't have street signs are getting pretty annoying. Sure, the locals know...but what about us guys travelling accross the country to get there? I also don't like crawling upto every intersection while I hunt for names, and leaving a long trail of cars behind me ticked off at the new guy. haha