Your GPS took you where??

i havent had too bad of luck with my gps which is a cobra but i look at map at where im going just to double check but a couple of times i havent paid attention and pulled into the car entrance to a place and not the truck entrance, and one time in bloomington on the 55/74 split it had me exit onto a highway which i knew wasnt right but figured what the **** lets see what its doing sure enough had me turn around and get right back on makes a guy wonder what it was thinking lol

 

it was getting back for all the cussing it was getting.

 

after i got my GPS (garmin) i learned that i dont listen,and I argue. Ive learned to listen more,but I still argue.Like (im glad one of us known where were going)me. But once i learned the GPS more,Id punch up shopping stores,or where's the nearest laundry mat,an were getting along better now.

 

Well due to my young age and playing racing games and 18 wheels of steel... I use my GPS as a mini-map... nothing more; if I know im going cross-country I ask my step-father to come with me, who knows the roads.. and so I dont get lost .. oh; we also double up and at times my mum comes with us, and they stay where-ever for a few days, till I go back up, and head back down.

 

When with USX, I "tried" to use that pos they call gps. It cost me a $93 ticket.
I was to pickup a load in Big Island Va., the GP plant. I was southbound on I81. Well, here I come up to X188. The GPS said to exit, so I did. Next the pos tells me to make a right at the end of the ramp. None of that felt right. So, dopey me, I did it. I really never saw the sign about "NO Trucks over 65'". But it didn't take much to see I was screwed. Of course we all know in the wonderful country of Va., how they like to trap a big truck anyway, and they got me.
Once my interview with the city kitty was over, I STILL hadn't learned, back over I81, drove a few miles to the split, well isn't this special!!!! I can't go either way. At the split there was enough room for me to get turned around, no I didn't do a U turn. Back to I81 go I. This time I stopped on the south bound on ramp, and got the Atlas out. I made the trek without another ticket.
Since, I've been in a couple other trucks with company GPS, but I TOTALLY refuse to rely on it. I have noticed that the GPS on the new SNI Qualcom is quite accurate, and hasn't had me where I don't belong, but I just can't bring myself to rely on it.

I must admit though, on a recent load out of the Phillie area, I did sorta rely on it to get me out of there. It was quite foggy, and it did help me find the streets I needed to be on.

 

I refuse to have a GPS in my truck. I can route myself really well by use of the truck atlas, customer's directions and cel phone. My cel has a mapping feature that lets me see a daytime satellite photo of whatever it is I'm looking for. Since I've had it, I haven't missed a driveway(knock on wooden head)...I have an idea what to look for when I get there.

However, two GPS stories:

A guy I knew swore by his GPS. It led him into downtown DC and earned him an $1,800 ticket and police escort.

Another driver was following GPS in Illinios and ended up on a county road that was weight restricted. It was a 30K road. He was at 78K. The overweight ticket for that was over $18,000. You did not read wrong...18K.

 

i'll stick to google maps and/or mapquest. i only use them for finding customers and freeway on ramps. i don't use them for anything else.

 

I don't have a GPS and never will.... If the GPS knows where you are, so do others........

I use mapbooks and old fashioned common sense.

 

GPS is a tool. Like any tool you have to know how to use it.

You can't buy a car GPS and expect truck routing out of it. But you can use common sense and experience and everything is great. It's got me out of trouble alot more than it got me in trouble.

I started out with a Magellan Roadmate which is a pretty good GPS. Someone above said they used shortest route. Always use fastest route as it keeps you on the main roads and gets you there quicker which equals less fuel. I always zoom out and preview everything just like you look at a map before I leave. There is no difference.

What's helpful is..
--It gives you distance so you fine tune your ETA.
--Telling you the turns/left exits ahead of time allows you to prepare ahead of time in traffic.
--Yellow pages so you can find Walmarts, Truck stops, repair shops, police directions and ph # etc. I saw a huge lady broke down the other day 10 miles from anywhere that started walking. I called the local police dept instead of 911 and they went to help her. Thanks GPS
--Detouring wrecks
--Seeing curves ahead of time in bad weather
--You can preprogram all multi-stops in and know what you're up against.

There are times it tried to turn me into a neighborhood. But thats where common sense comes in and you see a main route down the road on the map and it'll reroute you when you ignore a turn.

I still pull out the map and call the shipper/receiver on occasion. Like I said, they are tools and you can use them to your advantage. Nobody said you had to give the other methods up.

I now have a Pete 387 with a high dollar, Navistar Lorance C GPS with truck routing.
It's a truckers friend for sure. It talks over the stereo system, has a built in MP3 player, a built in Photo Viewer that you can upload your favorite photo's.
And best of all it has all the big truck stops preloaded. I just punch their logo and go. It also has the Pete dealers loaded, rest area's, scale houses, pharmacies, Walmarts and any place you can think of. I've even pulled up restaurants and called in deliveries in the wierdest of places.
Mine has Google earth on the maps. I can see a birds eye view of the buildings, parking lots, trucks, entrances too. I can zoom into 200 feet. Very helpful.

You'll have to pry it from my cold dead hands!

 

No that's a myth. A GPS is nothing but a receiver that uses signals from multiple satellites to plat you on a video map. Your map. Nobody elses.

In no way does it transmit data to anyone else like a cell phone or laptop does.
You have to transmit to get found.