Trucker GPS App

jtaran06 · Mar 28, 2021

Ace Brothstein said: ↑

I'm checking out Hammer, Trucker Path, Sygic, SmartTruckRoute2 and Copilot. If I type in an address in these five apps, I'll get 7 different routes. like everyone says in every GPS thread, you can't follow them blindly, even Garmin and RM will steer you wrong. Google Satellite and Street View are very helpful.

My Garmin broke and I was getting increasingly annoyed with my RM so...

Copilot is $119.99 per year.
Trucker Path is $99.99 per year
Sygic is $124.99 per year but is on sale now for $74.99, $112.49 for lifetime license and 3 year map update.
SmartTruckRoute2 is $59 per year or $129 for three years
Hammer is free God bless them!
Compared to the money I've spent on Garmin and RM devices, the cost isn't that great. I got them all, because I'm the kind of guy who has to see for myself.

Copilot uses 142MB on my device
Hammer uses 8.83GB with offline maps for US and Canada
Trucker Path uses 509MB with an option for offline maps
SmartTruckRoute2 uses 87MB
Sygic uses 5.16GB with offline maps for US and Canada

Copilot and Sygic can use external storage. I think Hammer gives the option to use external storage when downloading the maps, but it doesn't work on all devices.

About Trucker Path, the only thing I need it for, and will ever need it for, is parking prediction. This driver explains how they cheated me out of 6 months of my subscription. There are only a few options for the GPS navigation compared to the others. While using it, when approaching the turn, it zooms in so much that you can't see the turn on the map anymore, I'm glancing at the GPS to see how close I am to the turn, but then the information I want/need is gone. Do you want to add a second stop to your route? No problem, $300 per year for that. It's a greedy company that has gone down the path of trying to be everything to everyone, and doing a half-donkeyed job at most of it in my opinion.

Trucker Path, Hammer, and SmartTruckRoute2 all seem to use Google Maps data. Google maps color scheme is white roads on a white background, really hard to see compared to the others. Hammer somehow changed the color scheme and looks a bit better.

If you want to preview the upcoming turns, one touch for Trucker Path, Hammer, SmartTruckRoute2 and CoPilot, two touches and a scroll for Sygic. Trucker Path only gives the next three turns. When looking at the turn list, tapping the specific turn will bring it up on the map for Hammer and SmartTruckRoute2, another two touches to see the map on Sygic, Copilot will ask you if you want to avoid the segment/turn if you tap it. Hammer's list is hard for me to read, SmartTruckRoute2's list looks glorious, with lane guidance included. (I have found that lane guidance is not always accurate in some GPSs)

Trucker Path, SmartTruckRoute2 and Sygic report the speed limit for trucks. C'mon Hammer. I doubt Sygic, like RM has the most current data, if Trucker Path and SmartTruckRoute2 are using Google Maps data, it is surely the most up to date. The current speed is displayed right next to the speed limit on Hammer and SmartTruckRoute2, but is across the screen from each other on Sygic and CoPilot. Again, hard for me to read the speed limit on Hammer, and I'm using a 10.5" tablet.

CoPilot does not have lane guidance, $120 per year and no lane guidance or truck speed limit? It will also take you off the main road and route you through downtown sometime for some reason. I can't find the post but another member mentioned if you configure it to avoid roads under a certain speed limit it will stop doing this. Also, at one point CoPilot warned me of a Rail Road crossing, with Truck Hazmat, I wonder why this isn't a feature in more GPSs.

Sygic and CoPilot look the most like traditional GPSs with the routes and roads highly contrasted on the map, I think Sygic looks best out of them all.

Trying to zoom in on the map with Sygic is hideous, much easier (pinch zooming) with the other apps.

All of them allow you to route to a specific point on the map by tapping or touching.

Trucker Path, Hammer and SmartTruckRoute2 make it real easy to route to navigate to a specific Point of Interest, like a truck stop or Cat scale. One touch to bring in the satellite map as well. Also easy to add Points of Interest to the route on Hammer and SmartTruckRoute2.

There are ways to find and navigate to Points of Interest on Sygic and CoPilot, but it's so hard compared to the others, I just can't do it. It's easier to find the address using another app and entering that address into Sygic or CoPilot.

SmartTruckRoute2 must have mobile data to calculate the route, Boo. However, this hasn't been a problem for me yet.

Hammer and SmartTruckRoute2 uses Google's voice recognition AI combined with Google Map data so I just have to speak the name of my company, for example, and the name of the city and it will come back with my terminal's address, brilliant, and quite a time saver.

Hammer and Trucker Path want to know the status of the weigh station while I'm driving. That's a no no in my book. No app should be asking me questions, or having pop ups while I'm trying to drive. Yes yes yes, but I can use the CB radio without taking my eyes off the road.

I can't, at this time, speak to the reliability of each app keeping me on a truck route, but given that we have to check all routes against the Atlas, satellite images, street view and use common sense, I would lean towards SmartTruckRoute2 simply because of the ease of use. I would keep Hammer installed, because of the offline maps.

I wish SmartTruckRoute2's map looked better.

I wish Hammer's user interface was easier to read and had truck speed limits.

I wish CoPilot had truck speed limits and lane guidance.

I wish I could pinch zoom Sygic's map without ending up in the Atlantic Ocean, and could see the upcoming turns with one touch.

I wish there were a reliable alternative to Trucker Path for getting parking predictions.

These are my first impressions, I haven't used each app extensively, so I might be wrong on some things. I am subscribed to them for a year, if you want to know something else about one of them, I'd be happy to look.

Here's an unrelated video:

Click to expand...

Smart truck 2 on android is way better than ios version. Has dark mode maps and you can customize the colors for the Ui pretty well.

Catholic Trucker · Sep 4, 2022

Update? New trucker here trying to pick out an app or GPS.

Finfn1372 · Sep 4, 2022

For me google maps is the best,just use common sense.As far as gps I use Rand McNally.

MidWest_MacDaddy · Sep 21, 2022

I have used the Rand McNally 730, 740, & and now 750. It’s not perfect but I still feel it’s a good solution. I use it in conjunction with other apps but it’s my daily driver.

Before buying the 750 this year, I tried a few Apps and while they all did a good job, none did as complete a job, for me anyway, than RM did.

I’m not a complete fanboy of RM as they could still improve things and update maps and POI more often and still not sure I like a few of the changes in their 2.0 version but it’s been a reliable tool for this driver for many years.

Always open to hearing what other people use and why. Good to have options and competition in the marketplace.

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