Maps Or GPS?

I know most truckers will tell you that you should use a map like a Rand McNally to drive your routes, but now I'm hearing new things. For instance, there are some Youtube truckers that tell you there are truck GPS's that you can buy and put in that you are driving a truck and it will take you on routes that are okay for trucks, i.e. high enough bridges, etc. These GPS's supposedly also have live alerts for bad traffic areas, etc. I tried looking into the one that Allie Knight (a female trucker who Youtubes her life as a trucker and gives trucking advice) recommends, but it is kind of pricey in my opinion (379 on Amazon). On top of that, does it really work? Do you guys recommend investing in a trucking GPS or should I just stick to a Rand McNally? If this really is worth the investment, should I invest in it before or after training?

Rand Mcnally has a lot of different options for GPS's, they have standard car, RV, and truck GPS's. I'm planning on buying one of them as I've heard 90% positive about RM GPS's. But on the same token I will also have a hard copy of maps to help for routing. As far as the price goes I generally go with "you get what you pay for", if I'm going to entrust a piece of equipment to guide me I'd rather spend the extra to get as good a quality as I can get, but at the same time have backup plans in case it goes down.

Just my 2 cents.

Rand Mcnally has a lot of different options for GPS's, they have standard car, RV, and truck GPS's. I'm planning on buying one of them as I've heard 90% positive about RM GPS's. But on the same token I will also have a hard copy of maps to help for routing. As far as the price goes I generally go with "you get what you pay for", if I'm going to entrust a piece of equipment to guide me I'd rather spend the extra to get as good a quality as I can get, but at the same time have backup plans in case it goes down.

Just my 2 cents.

Thanks I'll definitely look into it.

Always always always have an Atlas. GPS is a tool and isn't always accurate. Plus, what if you get somewhere that your gps isn't working or it just quits working? Now the one thing you've been relying on completely isn't there and you're potentially lost. Me personally. I use a few different things, one as a backup for the other. First, I use my atlas (laminated type) and mark my route. I also make quick notes on a post it note for the local directions. Then I'll put my destination in the gps which I'll use for live traffic updates (nice feature btw) and then I'll also put the address in Google Earth to give me a good look at where I'm going. It not only shows the building, it can help me see where the truck entrance is since the address might be different from the driver entrance. That view will also give me a good idea of places to park in case I decide to shut down there to save from starting my clock in the morning.

I always use the atlas when trip planning. Our Qualcomm has GPS and it works pretty well honestly, hasn't gotten me in trouble YET, knock on wood. Those rms are niceee just too spendy for me. My trainer had one and I never seen him touch the atlas.

I use trip planner by rand with an atlas to lay out the route I want all the way to the customer and then import that into my rand 530. That way my GPS gives me the exact route I want to take

Never Never Never solely rely on a GPS, always correlate that to an Atlas and i also use Google maps to find the correct entrance to a customer. GPS can and will lead you into a field or down a street to a cauldesac or somewhere else not accesible for trucks. Now if we're talking Interstate then by all means GPS is awesome. I use the newest Rand Mcnally (whatever model number it is) and I will say it works decent. BUT it has tried to take me a few places where there is specifically a sign that says "No Trucks Allowed" especially in the North East, things are all wacky up there.

Never Never Never solely rely on a GPS, always correlate that to an Atlas and i also use Google maps to find the correct entrance to a customer. GPS can and will lead you into a field or down a street to a cauldesac or somewhere else not accesible for trucks. Now if we're talking Interstate then by all means GPS is awesome. I use the newest Rand Mcnally (whatever model number it is) and I will say it works decent. BUT it has tried to take me a few places where there is specifically a sign that says "No Trucks Allowed" especially in the North East, things are all wacky up there.

Do you ever just take the route that is sent to you on the Qualcomm?

No, altough 90% of the time that route would work fine there are all kinds of things that change before technology can keep up. My company has never said anything about not exactly following their route but i dont go 50 miles out of the way either haha. At the end of the day its your career and if you get in an accident you're responsible and not only will you be paying the ticket but if serious enough your career could be over. Try to get another job driving after you run into a low bridge, it hasn't happened to me but i'm sure it wouldn't be easy lol

No, altough 90% of the time that route would work fine there are all kinds of things that change before technology can keep up. My company has never said anything about not exactly following their route but i dont go 50 miles out of the way either haha. At the end of the day its your career and if you get in an accident you're responsible and not only will you be paying the ticket but if serious enough your career could be over. Try to get another job driving after you run into a low bridge, it hasn't happened to me but i'm sure it wouldn't be easy lol

My company has come out and stated not to follow the Qualcomm/Navi-Go system "blindly". That's great advice for any driver.

Since I am a dedicated driver I know most of my routes without relying on the Qualcomm or other GPS toll. There are times though when my "stop routing" dictates using roads that I am not as familiar with. In that case I always check my route using Rand McNally's truckers atlas, just to be sure. In some of the more rural areas of my territory I have changed the route suggested by the Qualcomm after checking with the atlas. I can only share my personal experience, but my trips are always pre-planned in advance, so I know a head of time what the route(s) is and if I need to do some extra homework to stay out of trouble. I use a yellow post-it with hand-written route directions as a back-up.

The other issue with relying solely on the GPS devices is that they will sometimes lose their satellite feed, or in the middle of the night shut-down for a software update or other issues. Without a back-up plan, you run the risk of flying blind for a prolonged period of time.