Truck GPS comaprison chart from Dieseboss

I completed "rev 1" of the comparison chart of 3 Truck GPS units based on our product testing locally (Northwest US) and in various states over the last few weeks (for the Garmin and Goodyear) and since January (for the PCM 430.) Please note that I sent an invitation to TeleType to participate with their WorldNav unit but they did not reply to date.


It is important to NOTE as of he date of this post the following items:

• PC Miler is about to do a scheduled software update in July. This rev of the chart is base on the current (the first) version of the software.
• The Goodyear unit we are testing has already had the software changed at the factory to improve some things on the units that will be on the shelves. Our unit does not have that newer software.
• I have a couple of open items being looked at by Garmin as well.

SO this chart will be modified to reflect the latest revisions as they are released. I will hit this thread as applicable to let you know it has changed.

This chart does contain SOME of my comments on particular aspects of features but is not a full review of each function yet. Many of these features are "bells and whistles" that do not carry as much weight with your buying decision as the main things you are concerned with. However, the features of each are certainly a large part of the PRICE differences between them and will certainly help you make decisions about them.

Here are some general statements that note CLEAR undisputable feature differences that may help as well:

- If you want to pair to a cell phone (bluetooth) to be able to make and receive calls "hands free" through the GPS then you need the Garmin or the Goodyear.

- If you are a CANADA driver then it is very important to note that ONLY the PC Miler has the trucking routes identified in Canada. All 3 units have Canadian maps/addresses but Garmin and Goodyear trucking considerations are only loaded in for the lower 48 states at this time.

- If you want "real-time traffic" information (for many cities) then the Garmin is the only one that does that at this time.

- If you need an EXTERNAL antenna to mount outside the cab (important for car-haulers and any configuration where you have something over your cab blocking the view of the sky) then only the Goodyear has this ability and actually comes with an external antenna in the box.

- If you want it in a language OTHER than English, then you must consider the Garmin or the Goodyear (as the PCM430 is only in English at this time.)

As far as pricing, there is a $200 dollar difference (give or take) between PC Miler and the lower end and Garmin at the higher end. Goodyear will fall in between the two on their retail price.

As I said, I will add more as far as "opinions" when the PC Miler and Goodyear software revisions are updated next month. But I can make some general statements for you at this time.

• NONE of them have a very loud speaker. The PCM and the Goodyear will be especially hard to hear in a noisy cab. The Garmin is louder and clearer, but is not "very" loud.
• All 3 screens are the same size and will "wash out" if bright sunlight hits them. There is no clear winner there, but the Garmin has a very nice "look" to the maps as you are driving such that it is easier to distinguish the roads.
• Don't rely on battery power for long. All 3 claim to last "hours" when navigating on battery power. However, this is greatly reduced by the brightness of the screen setting and the volume of the speaker that you set. Basically, just leave them plugged in for any extended navigating because all three will typically die on you in about one hour with decent screen settings and sound turned on.
• When it comes to clicking the buttons with your finger, you can easily "miss-click" due to the size of them. However, there is a definite pecking order here with Garmin having the biggest and easiest buttons, PC Miler is 2nd, and Goodyear 3rd in this regard. Goodyear and PC Miler come with a stylus to help with this - Garmin does not (but also is the one that doesn't really need one.)
• When it comes to truck routing NONE IS PERFECT so don't expect one to be the clear winner in this all-important category. All 3 have routed me on a road locally with an 11'9" railroad trestle and all 3 have taken me on roads in Brooklyn that are not the NYC legal truck roads. We have a pretty good data-set from hundreds of our drivers using the PCM430 but it will take some time to get that kind of nationwide truck attribute picture on the Garmin and the Goodyear. All 3 do MUCH better with truck routing than a "non-truck" GPS for sure.

Here is the link to the full features comparison chart: http://www.dieselboss.com/truck_gps_review_features.htm

Again, more to come because all 3 units will be "new" as of July so I'll update as necessary. But I hope this helps you all.

- Don

 

That's a nice chart, thanks for the effort.

The pcmiler does technically have an onscreen compass but it only displays the heading in degrees (ie south = 180, north = 0). It will recalculate your route but it will take it 5 miles or so to stop telling you to make a turn on every single road or dirt trail you pass to turn around and go 50 miles back the other way to get to the destination that is 10 miles ahead on the road that you're on (it did this to me today). It will not find the fastest route, it will find the longest, most convoluted way you can possibly go and insist you go that way, even if it's 100 miles farther (also did this today, dumb me for trusting it). This route will include roads with no commercial vehicles allowed. It took me over a bridge in kansas with a 13 ton weight limit (good thing I was empty and the bridge was only 15 feet long...and the fuzz was busy elsewhere). It tried to take me through downtown Vicksburg, Ms (40,000lb limit, very large sign on the exit).

This thing might work if you never get more than 2 miles from a major interstate but if you wander farther than that, don't trust what it's telling you. And god help you if you get off the roads it knows. It moves the icon around trying to forcibly place you on a road, even if that road is 2 miles away. It's kind of amusing watching it bounce the map around while you're parked.

Forget about it finding addresses. It might do well in NYC, but I am not in NYC. It found one address out of all that I entered last week. It has not found a single one this week. These are not new addresses on new roads. One that it claimed to have found but turned out to be 5 miles away from where it said it was had been at the same location since the business was founded in 1923.

The buttons do not work right. You press, it lights up, clicks, and does nothing....12 times in a row. You run the calibration, repeatedly, it does nothing. Mine has decided that it has a tab button in the middle of the backspace button. If you mistype the second letter in a location that's 23 letters long, enjoy backspacing (tab tab tab wtf?!?!) 21 letters because that's the only way you are getting at it.

I'm taking pictures of some of the roads it's telling me to turn on. I'll have to get them off my phone and post them. You will laugh, oh how you will laugh.

 

The addresses rarely take, but with company directions and google maps you can set it where it needs to go and it'll get ya there. The thing I don't like about GPS, and this happens often, it always wants to cut a fraction of a mile off and will put you on a tight road, when you could have easily gone another mile and caught a bigger road to get to the customer.

Co-Pilot laptop has NEVER routed me onto a road with a bridge less than 13'6 clearance. But it frequently puts me on local roads with bridges that have weight limits and more often than not you have no choice but to go over it (what are you gonna do set the brakes on a two lane rd with no shoulder around curves and no place to turn around? Why don't they tell you about the bridge limits at the intersections where you turn on?) and I know one day a smokey will be waiting on me lol.

I do wish Co-Pilot (PC Miler) would allow you to customize your route easier. It's difficult to do so as it wants you to add stops to the trip but often times what you think you're clicking on isn't what you're actually clicking on for stops.

BTW Kaj, North is 360 degrees South 180 West 270 East 90.
Don, I bought a ram mount laptop stand from you almost two years ago and I gotta say it's a great product! still as good as new.

 

- Correct. If you choose Speed and Heading to be in the on-screen display bar at the bottom. One of the complaints is that it should show good old North, South, East West, etc. like a regular compass. Hopefully this is one of the changes in the software update. The Goodyear actually has the most impressive compass feature of the 3. It has a moving compass across the top of the screen which doesn't take much real estate up there but it is always present and it quite neat.

I would love to get a peak at your routing settings. If you get a chance, give me a ring at 866-851-2346 because I have not found that unit to be as "extreme" in it's ability to reroute correctly as your description. I'll verify it with you in just a minute or two if you want.

Garmin, Goodyear, and Microsoft Streets/Trips buy their maps from NavTeq and they are QUITE extensive. In my testing in North Dakota 3 weeks ago, those units were picking up just about every dirt road and county route that I could throw at them. The PC Miler uses ALK's internal map database and we have found it to have far fewer rural roads and also many city streets that need to be added to the "database" part (where you type in the name of the road during routing) though it does have the majority of them on the maps if you click to add the destination. Again, we shall see how it looks after the map update in 2 weeks.

 

Funny thing is that it is actually the easiest of the 3 to customize the route at this time. The other 2 make it more difficult in their methods.

Good news. That's definately our favorite mount. Did you get the one that slides under the passenger seat or the one where you have to remove the seat and put it under?

 

The one I got, you just loosen the seat bolts and slide it under and tighten the bolts back up. In the Freightliner and the Volvo it was secure as can be but in the International, the flooring is padded a bit and it's not as stable meaning, it will move slightly forward or backward (towards dash or sleeper) but it's easy to nudge it back to center. It's certainly not any flaw in design, just that the flooring is not as solid as in the others.

I like the fact I can set it where I want for driving and lock it in so I'm not knocking the shifter against it but I can also loosen it up and adjust it for use in the sleeper. I have a USB mouse I use with it and it's great!

As to customizing a route, why don't they do it like google where you can simply drag a portion of your route elsewhere? Would this not make it easier?

 

Check highway 34 in Iowa where it goes around Fairfield. Mine has it going straight through the city and it freaked out trying to place me on every nearby road until the highway curved back. I'm really beginning to suspect I got a faulty unit.

Thanks for the truck stop guide, by the way. Found me a safe spot in Salem from that.

Oh yeah, last time I used Microsoft's maps, it routed me to the wrong side of the highway into a dead end. That was before I got my cdl.

 

I ran a route coming from the west and going eastbound in Iowa through Fairfield in the middle. It looks to me like 34 is the only way through Fairfield and the unit leaves me on 34 straight through. Are you sure you don't mean Mount Pleasant? That is just east of Fairfield and the unit routes me on the northern side of the city on the 34 Bypass loop and then reconnects on the eastern side rather than taking me through the middle of Mt Pleasant.

 

Nope, 34 doesn't run through Fairfield anymore, it curves all the way around the south side. 34 through Fairfield is now business 34. You can't go that way though, bridges are out in both directions at exit 210. It's new highway, I can see that in the daylight now. Mapquest hasn't updated it yet. I got video of the gps freaking out as I went around the loop. Can I post that link here if I upload it to youtube?

 

Yes, put it on YouTube, put the link in here and it will show up in here. Thanks.