What brands to look for (equipment)

get a good weather proof, heavy duty rain ware.
when you drive through heavy rain i would get a pair of rubber boots.
Get a flashlight like the police have, very dependable.
My perfence is a cobra 25=29, with a good ant.
Rand Mc NALLY atlas, it has all the information that you need.
GPS== only good for inner city driving. I suppose any brand will work.

 

heavy duty rain Gear
Mag-lite flashlight
I have a conex and a Galaxy CB at this time
Rand Mcnally great map
I like engineer boots or cowboy boots easy on and of.
couple pair of good work gloves
the list could go on for ever!

 

GPS..get the garmin 465t

 

Rain gear:

I have a rain suit that I bought a decade ago when I was driving wreckers. It wasn't cheap...but wasn't too terribly expensive, either. It's a heavy duty PVC 3-piece (pants, jacket, hood) that I got at Home Depot...heavy weight PVC over a cloth-feeling inside. Only problem I had was the cheap retaining system on the pants (were similar to bib overalls, but with rubber grommets). I bought a pair of heavy duty suspenders to clip onto the waistline of the pants and I've been getting great use out of them since. If you buy the cheap, thin, light weight crap at Wally World, you'll get wet the first time you wear it.





As for boots, I've never bought "rain boots". I either wear waterproof work boots, or my feet get wet. I like slip-on boots for easy on/easy off. If you live in your truck, kicking your boots off before you climb back into the sleeper will help keep the "living quarters" cleaner. Rocky USED to have my favorite boots...100% waterproof & fit like a glove, but they changed their cut. They are still good boots, the new ones just aren't as comfortable on my feet as the old ones of the same size & model.


(also available in steel toe)

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Flashlight:

Mag Lights are good quality. I've got one somewhere that I actually found at the bottom of a shallow spot in a lake...and it worked. The one in the truck is one of the new ones with the LED light...seems to do alright, but it isn't as bright as the traditional 4-D cell lights. I've also got a 6-D cell one somewhere, but it's just too darned heavy to lug around all of the time.
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CB Radio:

As long as people near you can understand what you are saying when you key up, and you can hear people near you when they talk, that is all you really need. I'd spend more attention on the antenna and coax than on the radio. As far as radios are concerned, what features do you want? You can buy anything from a simple 40 channel radio, to a radio with side bands, echo, talkback, etc. You don't NEED all of that extra stuff...never heard about any shipper/receiver that required you to be on a side band to communicate with 'em. A hint of echo helps you stand out from the crowd of faceless voices...but too much and nobody can understand you. It doesn't take a lot of echo to be "too much", either. Talkback is nice...lets you monitor your broadcasts...but if you aren't careful, it will lead to feedback.

One other thing: Get a noise canceling mic (like an Astatic or Road King)...sounds a lot clearer when you talk, since they don't pick up as much background noise.
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Trucker Atlas:

Rand McNally Delux Motor Carriers' Road Atlas. It's the laminated one. I generally buy a new one for the truck every 4 years, due to regulation and map changes...NOT from the map wearing out. If you waste your money on the less expensive paper version, you'll end up replacing it AT LEAST once a year (possibly 2 or 3 times) because the pages get torn up or it falls apart...so you end up paying MORE than if you had just bought the laminated one to begin with.
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GPS:

I'm going to second the Garmin 465T, as it's what I have and it works pretty good. There are other truck-oriented GPS devices, too. If you are buying it with the intent to use it in a truck, spend the money and get the truck-oriented one. It will have more relevant information than a car-oriented unit...however it STILL won't be 100%. Road information (size & weight limits) aren't programmed in for every road, so you STILL have to pay attention to what you are doing. Don't turn on a road you aren't supposed to be on just because the GPS told you to....it's still your ticket (or worse) if you blindly follow that electronic gadget. The one nice thing about GPS is that you always know where you are, and searching for the next exit/fuel stop/repair location is just a tap of the screen away.
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Rain Gear: frogg toggs and a good small umbrella
Flashlight: Mag light, at least a 3 d cell and a mini mag
CB Radio: i buy a new cobra 29 ltd every 10 years or when they stop working
Trucker Atlas: Randy McNally or last years when it goes on sale
GPS: using a tom tom now, but wouldnt reccomend it, dosent have truck routing

 

Pay attention to this !!!!!!!! If you feel you need a GPS as a n00b make sure the model you choose has truck routing on it !!

 

Whether it has truck routing or not, you are STILL the one behind the wheel.

I've got the truck version of the Garmin (465T) and it ain't perfect either. It does pretty well on the interstates, but once you get off heading through the sticks, it picks some pretty funky routes. Most of the time, by the time it corrects itself enough to pick the route I was already going to take, it is 10-15 minutes faster than its previously selected "fastest route". Pretty sad, considering a lot of my trips are less than a couple hours in length.

Mostly, I just use it for a speedometer (more accurate than the one in the dash) and as a map to see what's around me (without programing in any route information) or to search for fuel stops if I'm in unfamiliar territory.

 

I bought a low end Garmin for the Jeep (it was almost free w/all my Loves points) ended up bringing it out in the Pete w/me.....I'll use it as kind of a heads up like late at night when I searching for a street I need to turn on.....I swear those street signs get smaller at night when I'm tired !! Knowing that the turn is coming up helps a lot sometimes..