Need a decent GPS

Personally I think the thread has lost its usfulness,nothing else can come from it.

 

Yup. And every thread with the useless and endless product spamming.

 

OK, not to continue to take this down hill, but just a bit of info for you. First off, you obviously believe that all the info you got here is from OTR drivers. Yeah, I was an OTR driver. But I've also been a local P & D driver, and extra driver, as I'm sure a lot of others have.

You were given good information, but decided to flame folks who were trying to help you. Not nice.

Note to Mods: If I am out of line here, please, feel free to delete this post and let me know.

 

Do most of you buy your own GPS truck navigation system? It seems that most of you pick one up on your own dime direct from the manufacturer or a retailer.

Anyone have any luck getting their employer to buy one for you?

$499 is a lot of money and it would be great if it didn't have to come out of your own pocket.

 

I dont like nav systems.

I like a person who knows how to get where they work to tell me how i need to get there.

There was a truck (ok it was a driver) that went under a low overpass here just recently because they nav system told him to go that way.

Its just like those "ebooks" never will replace a good old book to me.

 

Hmm, well, since you are mentioning it... I know a driver who called for directions from his consignee. He followed them perfectly, right up until he ran under a low clearance bridge and left half of his trailer on the ground.

See? Your method doesn't really work either.

Anyone who uses it in conjunction with their atlas regarding restrictions will be a better informed driver who knows where the heck they are going at all times. If it is an area I'm not intimately familiar with, I will definitely check it against the atlas. If I am familiar with it, then there is no need, just plug in the address and away I go. Much more productive.

 

To get back to your actual question, here's my visibility into that as a supplier.

- Owner-Ops and independents: No
- Company drivers: Sometimes. It's up to the company. Yesterday I had a driver that was given a "budget" by his company of around $500 upon successful completion of training / hiring. He is required to have several "tools" on board by the company. A couple of these things he already owned, so he could use his "budget" to get alternative items instead (with company approval of course.) He bought a Ram laptop mounting system instead. He also said that he could use the money for a truck GPS if he so desired, but he already had laptop version so he got a proper mount to go with it.

- I have also had company "bean-counters" and small-company owners call in and order 5 or 10 units at a time because they were outfitting all of the drivers with GPS.

So yes, it does happen that some companies will pay for, or at least subsidize you for this type of thing, but it is up to them.

And $500 is an "option" available, but is far from the lowest price you can pay for a truck GPS these days.

Hope that helps.

 

Thanks Boss, That helps me understand what can be expected out there.