Truck Specific Items

I don't think it is a question of either use an atlas or use a gps. You should use both but if you can only have one for some reason then definitely an up to date atlas is your best bet in my honest opinion.

 

Agreed, but people championing the use of gps and scoffing at atlases are setting newbies up for failure.

 

Exactly. I'm not saying GPS is a bad thing, but people treat it like a be-all, end-all measure, and it's not always a good way to go. I remember I stopped at a Petro II in Kansas (can't remember the name of the town), met another driver going to the same customer as me, so we rode up there together. He used GPS, and it routed him down a county road... now, county roads in that part of Kansas aren't paved, so I wasn't so quick to follow. I stopped before the turn, looked at the road.. and decided that wasn't the way to go. Being a sitework driver and knowing how these systems work, I wasn't very trusting of a truck without full locking diffs to begin with, so when I saw that muddy county road that was all wet and sloppy, I decided then and there that there was just no way that was happening. I continued on the paved road (in accordance with the finals I had gotten when I called the shipper). The other driver got stuck, and finally made it to the customer as I was leaving after having gotten loaded and tarped.
GPS didn't win the day on that one, although, in all fairness, I will say that I don't know what GPS he was using.

 

You guys are funny.

This is why I like the GPS over the atlas. You can see that the street you need to turn down is 3 blocks away. The atlas just shows a black dot.

It is the next street after Polk. The atlas just shows a black dot.

I coordinate my company's directions to the customer with the map in the GPS and adjust my routing accordingly. The atlas has a black dot and I hope my handwritten directions are correct.

It's funny how the antiGPS crowd thinks that the driver HAS to follow the GPS willy-nilly. There have been numerous time my GPS has routed me around a 14' 3" viaduct; I know better and I drive under it. It won't route me down US41 in IL because it's data says it's a no-truck route despite it being legal for trucks (I stay on 294 anyways. Company pays for the tolls).

Atlases are fine. I've used them over half my driving career. Each has their advantages over the other though the GPS has more to offer than the ol laminated atlas. For me it's the street level map and a good truck GPS nowadays will more likely than not keep you out of trouble. .... though it does sometimes recommend a route or two that is not exactly as direct as I typically drive, so I ignore it. (It has a mute button)

 

gps can earn the user extra miles and the occasional over length route with out a road atlas for way points

and then there is the bridge law

 

I use my GPS every day. Mostly on surface streets for finding addresses. My atlas is used for trip planning and major route planning.

As far as the ops question I don't think there really is a good one stop shop.

 

http://www.12volt-travel.com/

 

And it's funny how someone who doesn't think of GPS as something a driver should be wholly dependent on is dubbed as being "anti-GPS". The issue isn't with GPS - the issue is with dependency on it.
And we're the ones who think it needs to be followed "willy-nilly", rather than the ones who do become dependent on it?


This guy followed his GPS "willy-nilly". Plenty of other instances of that. I agree that a GPS is a useful tool, when used in conjunction with common sense. Emphasis on the second part of that sentence, and that's where I think the real problem lies, and why I remain adamant in regards to the bit about GPS dependence.

 

I do not have any of the above in my truck other than a non smart cell phone and a spiral composition book and loose leaf logs.oh yeah,a 2012 trucker's atlas,paper edition and a galaxy 99 that walks the dog.I do have a pair of gators or whatever the flipflop shoe is for wearing inside the truck at night and an Escort 9500IX.truck fridge that is factory but i do have a 12 volt plug in cooler just in case at the house.

As listed,those are my basic necessities.why spend all that money if trucking is not going to be your thing? start with the real basics and add over time.almost 27 years and i quit adding so to each his own.I have no idea how i get by without everything most seem to find mandatory.

OP- know upfront that i do not have qualcom,elogs,nor a gps.No frills/insanely simple/legal trucking that utterly scares the technology inclined to death-

 

a cb radio and a non smart cell phone will do the above and you will have a lot less money invested. driving a truck does not need to be so complex.