GPS
I found myself wondering how anyone found their destinations without GPS . The old fashioned road atlas and written directions are the devises that I employ to find my way to wherever I need to go . It seems to work out better when I talk to someone on location about the best way to enter shippers or receivers facilities . I have heard to many horror stories of GPS leading drivers through places that a semi truck has no business being . I would like to hear from some of you that use GPS on how this technology has performed . Maybe if I hear enough good stories , this tool will find it’s way into my truck .
February 19, 2009 at 9:41 am
Comparing The Times I Ran With And Without GPS, I Love My “Go-Box”, And Will Never Go Anywhere Without It. It’s Nice Driving From Coast To Coast Without Needing Alot Of Written Information. A Few Times I’ll Compare My GPS Suggested Route With The Motor Carriers’ Atlas If The GPS Thinks A Quicker Route Would Be Going Off The Interstate (Truck Routes, Height Limits). I Highly Recommend GPS (Make ABSOLUTELY Sure The Particular GPS System You Look At Is Compatible With 18 Wheeler Routing, Some Truck Stop Models May Not Necessarily Be Ideal For Big Trucks) Thanks Sir. I Enjoy Reading All These Blogs!
February 20, 2009 at 8:24 am
I read your paragraph on GPS and this is my two cents for you! I use a Garmin Nuvi 350 to guide me but I also use company routing via quallcom, and company or shipper/receiver directions in my planning. Then, I usually make the GPS match what those say and THEN I follow it as long as it matches up with signs. So GPS systems are extremely valuable for our job. I don’t have any desire to do this job without them. HOWEVER, relying on them solely, all the time for every route planning decision will eventually get you in hot water! So you need to find that middle ground but it is much safer than trying to look for street signs and such all the time!:)
February 21, 2009 at 10:06 am
I read you GPS paragraph. I have only been driveing for about one year and a half and now have the wourld nave GPS witch is made for trucking I have been useing this for aboust two mounth now and has been working great for me just have a few tech. problems with it .IF you would like more info about this just go to http://www.teletype.com
February 23, 2009 at 11:09 am
Thanks for the comments . Have any of you had any experience with the PC Miler GPS ?
February 25, 2009 at 7:31 pm
I’ve been running with a Garmin StreetPilot C550 for well over a year now. While it’s led me astray a time or two, so has virtually every other form of “navigation” I’ve used over the last 30+ years (including verbal, real time directions from someone supposedly sitting in the place I’m trying unsuccessfully to find). Having said that, it’s undoubtedly another one of those technologies that, once you’ve embraced it, you wonder how you ever got along without it.
Hopefully, your common sense and experience tells you to avoid routes in the Rand-McNally that look like they might be wagon trails, and it’s ultimately no different with a GPS. One of the places where it does really shine though, is when you in fact find you made that REALLY wrong turn just after you straighten the rig out. At your fingertips is a detailed overview of the immediate area, along with a computer algorithm that automatically rolls with the punches when you decide you want to make another turn BEFORE you come to that low clearance it inadvertently pointed you at.
Given a new destination, I generally “find” it these days by querying mapping software on my laptop, attempting to get verbal instructions from the customer themselves, looking it up on Google Maps (which I can access either on the laptop or my cellphone, as needed) and finallly plugging it into the GPS. Additionally, using Google Maps’ archived satellite views allows me to scout out things like driveway and dock locations (which, as we all know, aren’t always where the street address tells us they ought to be). It’s not foolproof, and I doubt any system ever will be, but it’s a lot better than CB’s, fuel desks, payphones and paper maps ever were.
I’ll be at MATS, as things stand; I’ll try to indeed stop by the Freightliner booth and maybe we can swap opinions and experiences, as I’ve ordered a new Cascadia that will likely be delivered a week or two after the show.
March 4, 2009 at 7:19 pm
I use Co-Pilot Truck 11 for laptop. Brought at a Love’s truckstop. Its not perfect. I like better then Garmins. I was thinking for buying the GPS dash verison.