Trucker gps

Copilot for trucks

 

You can get a currently free one that can be used on a phone from this web site. Go to the forum for HAMMER. They have a link to the download.


For a standalone Garmin.

 

I think you need a truck GPS, not an app. To save money get the 5 inch screen version of the Garmin Dezl or Rand-McNally TND 550. You can limp by with a paid subscription to Trucker Path. TP will give truck-specific routing if you have a paid subscription, otherwise the free version gives you car routing only. In actual use the voice prompts of the GPS provide most of the info you use while driving and the small screen is not a problem. Smaller device can be mounted in better positions than larger devices. Also, it's better to get the GPS only device from Garmin or RM than an all-in-one, does everything but tuck you in device. They are cheaper, more reliable, get less hot, less to break.

No matter which brand of truck GPS you buy you will find it has some errors, mostly small errors. I used a RM for 5 years and it just barely survived because I treated it like a delicate egg, not indestructible piece of plastic. The Garmin screens are much better looking and Garmin devices are a bit more rugged. I didn't like the type of mistakes it made, compared to the RM. But mostly I didn't like the Garmin because I had 5 years experience with the RM and only weeks of experience with the Garmin. When I tried to make the Garmin do what I did with the RM I got frustrated. I am 100% sure if I had 5 years with the Garmin and tried to figure out the RM I would have the same complaint about the RM. Whether you get a truck GPS, app on your phone you will find whatever you chose makes mistakes. Accept it and just learn to live with and ignore what mistakes your chosen device/app makes.

A GPS isn't a substitute for a brain. 99% of newbies buy a GPS and throw their brain out the window. "Officer I had to drive through a children's playground because my GPS said so."

 

A paid subscription with trucker path is what I have always used. The parking availability feature is nice too.

99% of gps errors are caused by folks punching in the address, throwing her in drive, and hitting the road. If you take 30 seconds to scroll through the route it has mapped out for you with your fingers, you will catch it before you leave. One of the most notorious is that every time I go through new york city, trucker path thinks there's a low bridge on 95 and it tells me to exit. DO NOT TAKE THAT EXIT. It will put you on the surface streets, and there is no low bridge. If you hadn't checked beforehand, you would be in panic mode when it tell you to exit and you wouldn't know why it's doing that or where it's telling you to go. Don't let that happen to you. It will also show you stopped traffic before you actually reach it so you can either avoid it or shut down before you reach it. You can also do things like identify left exits.

It is always a good idea to know where you're going before you get there, even in a car. In a truck, it's an absolute necessity.

 

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.teletype.smarttruckroute4&hl=en_US&pli=1

 

I use trucker path on a tablet I have mounted to my dash, and an Atlas for additional information when I need it.

I've only been at it for around a year now but that's what's been working for me.

 

My experience with Garmin:
-It reboots while in route occasionally, frustrating
-It exits me onto a frontage riad for 1 mile just to have me re-enter freeway, frustrating
-It leads me down back-country roads more than on interstates, not frustrating, but it's worth noting

 

The issues I had with my RM 740 were mostly only annoyances.

The speed limit the GPS shows is accurate about 80% of the time. So just like in pre-GPS days the driver is responsible for reading EVERY road sign and obeying them. No lazy shortcut of just pretending the GPS speed limit is accurate. You won't avoid a speeding ticket by saying "GPS said the speed limit is higher." It's your job to read the speed limit signs, all of them, every single one.

I mostly hauled HazMat while I was learning my GPS. There were several phantom HazMat route restrictions in the GPS database that did not exist in real life. I never saw the false "no HM zone" in any route before driving into the area and the GPS screen and speaker screamed its warning about HazMat violation. The one I remember was on the I-285 loop around Atlanta. On the Northeast segment between I-75 and I-85 the GPS thought there was a no HM restriction, There is no such restriction. The GPS screen goes grey and all you see is a HazMat violation. After you know it's wrong, I just ignored it. Eventually it stops warning and returns to normal operation.

The last GPS error of the RM was the most serious, but easiest to live with. On I-80 near Oakland, CA just where the I-580 connects the GPS says Keep Right to join I-580 when you need to keep Left. I may have that backwards. Anyway if gives this false advice just before the big overhead green sign showing which lanes to to I-580 and which lanes continue on I-80 so like a real truck driver you follow the official signs and ignore the GPS. There is also a spot on the Northwest side of the loop around Indianapolis where the GPS gave the wrong Keep Left/Right advice. It also gives the wrong guidance right where the overhead signs are visible so it's not hard to do the right thing except the GPS is making noise while you are making a decision.

The RM interface was easier for me to learn and use than the Garmin interface. But I only used the Garmin for a few weeks, maybe 1 month. The Garmin screen is much brighter and better colors than the RM. Garmin was more solid or rugged than the RM. Garmin updates the database more often. Both companies claim lifetime updates, but RM stopped providing database updates I think 2 years from the release date of the GPS.

No matter what truck GPS you buy you will have to spend time learning how it wants to do things and how to make it do what you want. EVERYONE thinks they bought the wrong brand at the start before they learn how to make the GPS do what you want. If you had bought the other brand GPS you would just have different problems, not avoid having GPS problems. If you get the Rand-McNally GPS you need to treat it like it's a fresh egg and not like it's indestructable. If you do, you can get years of use from it. The Garmin seemed to be almost indestructible. It's major flaw is the spoken advice going down the interstate exit, follow a parallel road and get back on the interstate, a totally unnecessary maneuver. But if you trip plan and look at the route it has chosen and ignore that faulty advice you can just ignore it when it happens. As always, remember the GPS is a tool not a brain replacement. If you think the GPS will allow you to just type in an address and start driving without looking at your route and paper motor carrier road atlas then you deserve the trouble you just volunteered to experience. You will get into a jam with that habit. Nobody gets out of a traffic ticket because they were following the GPS. Don't ever even say that phrase to anyone. It's like saying 'I don't pay attention behind the wheel and I let the GPS drive while I screw with my phone." That's what anyone will think while you are saying "I was just following the GPS."