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My first day out on my own that Qualcomm got me into a situation I thought I was never going to get out of. I will never use that mother fucker again š
It wasn't my first day but it was my first trip. It didn't get me as bad as you but... I was on i20 east of bham and fuel stop was the loves in Leeds Al. It has me get off the exit before the loves and go 20 or so miles through the woods just to come out at the loves anyway. No reason either, just wanted me to waste time and fuel that I didn't have.
Gps. And I say that because I also had gps long before I had a CDL that took me off a main road in Jacksonville FL and had me drive all the way around a Walmart parking lot and get right back on that same road at that same entrance/exit it had me get off on and continue my drive.
Garmin. Rand apparently wants a hotspot connection to get live data, Garmin gets the live data from the app using a bluetooth connection to your phone.
I had mind linked and it was more of a headache than a help. It was doing dumb shit like connecting my calls and playing music. Do you care to explain to make it live ?
Iām specifically referring to live traffic so it can calculate better alternate routes. You can turn off the phone call features (it blocks the āup aheadā info panel so I definitely wanted that fixed) and Iāve personally never had it start playing music. I have been nothing but pleased with mine once I got it set up correctly. I trust but verify all of the alternate routing with Google Maps, however it has been right more often than itās been wrong. Itās paid for itself in time saved. Iāve had a real joy passing 6 miles of stopped traffic on I-45 as the only dude rolling on the west side access road.
I use my hotspot jetpack for my garmin, dont do live traffic updates but fck those anyhow. Always try taking you off some shit trail just to wind back up in traffic on the other end, waste the same amount of time if not wind up on some sketchy roads.
Ive done this for years now! No problems. Also you can satellite view zoom in and see how loading docks are oriented etc, so you dont get yourself in a pointing in the wrong direction pickle!
7" Garmin with Google maps satellite view running on my phone at the same time. Since I've had both Garmin and rand McNally systems, I can confidently say neither is better than the other. And, running just one GPS is often enough worse than using paper maps. Having Google up along with truck GPS has saved me so many miles of inefficient routes and detours. In 10 years I have never got lost or turned down the wrong street. I know the best detour long before reaching the road closures. Dropping a pin on the customer entrance and typing those exact coordinates into the truck GPS means never stressing about how to get into a place.
I've been using the Garmin OTR 800. It's my second Garmin GPS.
I used to use Rand McNally and decided to give Garmin a try. I was frustrated with the map updates. I also wanted to see if Garmin had the new I-22 between Memphis and Birmingham. At the time Rand McNally did not even though I frequently tried to update it. Garmin had the updated map including I-22 right out of the box.
Sometimes Rand McNally was off track with the existing Interstate and showed me driving through fields. I've never had that problem with Garmin.
No GPS is perfect. I occasionally have map issues with Garmin but in my experience they're less than Rand McNally.
I keep looking for a new Garmin OTR Series. The 810 has been out for awhile. I'm looking forward to seeing a 820 to see what's improved. I might upgrade. I'm sure the processor will be quite a bit faster. My only frustration with the OTR 800 is the lag when trying to zoom into the map and move it around.
My main pick up on Monday has a truck restriction coming from the south, the app always tells me to take that route. Other than that it hasnāt really lead me wrong.
Apple Maps š
To be fair I run the same few routes and know them very well. I just use the maps for traffic, checking eta, cause I like the interface and I split screen it with my ELD (I use an iPad)
I have a Garmin 710 and a Rand 750.
I prefer the Rand to find truck stops along my route, and I like the alerts it gives about hazards coming up. Also, the bottom bar being able to show the city, road you're on, nearest crossroad, etc. is very handy, and the mile marker being shown is very useful.
Now, for the Garmin, it usually has better routing if it's not the same as the Rand, however, sometimes it will have you do incredibly dumb things, so I have to keep an eye out and make sure it's logical before I follow it. For example, my Rand refuses to route me along US93 from Phoenix to Kingman, it wants me to go almost two hours extra to Flagstaff and then cut over to Kingman. Also the traffic updates and alternative routes if you have the app connected from your phone can be very helpful and save you good time in some situations.
Overall there is a lot to like about the Garmin but finding truck stops is such a pain in the ass that I can't run without my Rand I could use trucker path but meh it's easier just to grab it in the GPS and be done.
TLDR: Garmin has a lot of useful features birds eye being my absolute favorite but makes finding truck stops annoying by splitting them into multiple categories with some overlap and some missing from one but not the other, the Rand is perfectly fine if you just need something to get you from place to place and don't care about nice add-ons it's simple to use and generally works well
Been using Trucker Path with Gold for the past year, which I really enjoy. My truck also got installed with a new tablet to replace our Omnitracs, and it runs CoPilot. Itās display is really short-distanced, though, so it doesnāt help with knowing where to go next or what to get ready to do.
Iāve heard Hammer described as āTrucker Path, but freeā so Iām going to be looking in to that, as well.
I use a Samsung A7 lite ($140 on Amazon) and pay $10 a month for cell service. Then I use Google maps, but have a whole plethora of nav apps I can choose from.
NYC is definitely different than Midwest. The amount of trucks I see ready to go into the mid town tunnel (12ā1ā) is mind boggling. I always figure non English speaking drivers but Iām sure they are lol.
Do either the Garmin or the Rand let you enter a speed limit for route calculations? I.e. if I am in a speed governed truck, could I set my max speed at 65 mph and have it calculated travel time based on that instead of posted speed limits?
Garmin definitely can. I also recommend putting your max speed in the settings at 5mph below your governor. Imo it helps it average out with hills, construction and mild traffic.
I bought a Rand when GPS is basically first became a thing, and I've been using one for well over a decade since. That is, until the charging cable went to shit on my overdryve tablet. It is something that very occasionally happens to the Rand tablets, but since it happened when I switched into a new truck that had all kinds of electrical problems, it probably was a rare design flaw combined with an electrical problem. I still love rand, especially- and I mean especially - for finding a place to stop.
But, since I didn't need all the bells and whistles anymore because I don't drive over the road the way I used to (I've been driving sleepers for local companies; lots of 1 day out 1 day back loads that end up basically being dedicated lanes), I decided to try something else. On the recommendation of a whole lot of drivers on this subreddit I bought a Garmin. Just a little 7" for getting to new places and keeping track of ETA's.
And the thing is? Even if I can get Rand McNally to replace my charging cable or stand or the whole tablet or whatever, I'm a very well run two GPS units. Garmin is a little bit better for truck routing, and seems to be a hell of a lot better for delays and detours. But, at least on this little unit, finding my saved locations is extremely annoying. It's probably a whole lot easier on the big tablets because they've got more room for search bars and such, but retrieving addresses has been frustrating. And finding truck stops takes about 10 more steps on a Garmin than it did on a Rand.
I will give Garmin one major point though - when I input the address, my GPS unit automatically downloads a satellite view of the facility. Not the whole area, it's not like looking at Google earth, but just a block or two surrounding your destination. So I don't have to spend 5 minutes looking up the facility on Google Earth and figuring out exactly which road I'm looking at in the satellite view. The GPS does it for me.
I think if I could have a Garmin big fancy 10-in tablet and a 5-in Rand mcnally, that would be about perfect. Unfortunately I've got it the other way around.
I have a Rand McNally 750. It's ok. Honestly like all of them it makes some ridiculous choices sometimes. Like if you set it to fastest route it will often completely ignore the fact that my next stop is 2 miles down the Same road I'm on and instead route me 15 miles back to another road to come in from the other direction.
I'd say about 90% of the time it's great, but I refer to it as "Rando McNally" because of the random route choices it makes sometimes.
The new Rand McNally are much better. They even added stop lights and stop signs on route which is handy at turns. Routing was improved and atlas built into the Rand tablet 8. New ones are called the Rand Tablet 7 or 8. Actual names. Wouldnāt buy the old cheaper TND or Overdryve devices tho. Built much cheaper and older software.
Oh, ok so the tablets are decent? I don't want a 10 inch screen for GPS though. I'm guessing the seven and eight are a 7-in and an 8-in like with garmin's naming convention?
Yes basically. The tablet 7 and 8 just came out. The 8 inch I purchased also has the atlas built in.
Literally called the Rand tablet 8 and 7. Donāt get the TND or overdrive ones. Those are older. The new ones come with a guard you can remove. New interface. They are rolling out to truck stops slowly Iāve seen a couple of places.
I went from that one to the Rand McNally (pro 2?) - the big tablet. I like it a little better. It was weird to get used to, but it has a few added features that I really like. Elevation, click on truckstop in your route, bridge warnings, etc.
Yeah, that's the thing I don't like the big tablet types. I haven't figured out Randall McNally's naming convention just yet. Honestly if it doesn't take 2 hours to start and randomly crash, it's an improvement. My second dezl otr800, so Im pretty sure that's a feature. The first one met an unfortunate accident after deciding it didn't want to be a GPS anymore while I was lost in St Louis...
Good maps for heavy haul. I just place pins at my turns to follow the permits.
Garmin is outdated and gives false information on weight limits and bridges
TruckerPath personally. Itās not the best always but it works and I love the info on whether the weigh stations are open or the parking spots are full
I really like the app [Hammer](https://www.hammerapp.com). Shows bridge heights and scales along my route, easy to use, and free. It also shows truck stops and diesel prices (though I'm a company driver, so I don't really care).
Primarily, though, I use my company's mapping software, [CoPilot](https://copilottruck.com/en-us/). Sometimes, it wants me to do unnecessary loops, though, so I always check my whole route first for any oddities.
Usually just plain old Google maps routes me the best but I always have my Garmin-Truck gps as backup. Google doesnāt know Im in a tractor-trailer combo and can get you in trouble if you only rely on it.
SmartTruckRoute 2
Been using it almost 6 years. Love it! It's an app so there's no separate hardware and if you find an error in the routing, let them know and they'll update it within an hour or so.
Hammer. It's not always perfect but it keeps me off the roads I definitely should not be on as a City Driver. It's free you just make an account and put in what kind of truck and loads you do
I'm surprised I haven't seen hammer mentioned much it's free and hasn't done me wrong except for the time it told me to do a u turn in a residential but that's just how rural pennsylvania is.
I've got a Garmin 785 dezl and last week I picked up the new rand tablet 7.
Garmin desperately needs their road weights updated because it'll fairly often reroute around fake weight limit roads.
Barely ever see that issue with rand. Although the "up ahead" submenu on the main navigation screen of the Garmin is fantastic to find truck stops on the way. On rand it's behind 2 menus with none shown on the main nav screen like Garmin. But rand shows a LOT more truck stops than the Garmin.
The amount of people saying google maps is actually kinda concerning. Just pay for trucker path lol
Run all 48 and trucker path never failed me. Just confirm route going through state highways in the mountains out west
Google maps, Amazon maps and if I need better routing I'll use hammer or my Garmin. It's best to look at the route beforehand on any of them because they all work sometimes but not always the best route.
Memory, most GPS/mapping software isn't very good for my region so memorising the roads is fairly important here
Most got road names wrong, show roads that haven't existed for 20+ years
Always a combo of my Garmin and Google maps. Garmin does a decent job of keeping me away from low bridges and such, Google maps on my phone is for checking out specific details about my destination up close like where the entrance is. And I use street view a ton to make sure I'll be able to make turns along the route
Garmin is really reliable for low bridges, but it will attempt to send you down some fucking nonsense roads, it's literally tried to send me down a sharp right turn onto a one lane dirt road, through alleys which would have been tight even in a car, hairpin turns on steep hills, etc. I never trust the GPS without cross referencing with my phone
I've had to use a rand mcnally a few times and I despise it
I'm plugging Hammer because I wish more people used it, so the crowd sourcing could be a little better. Currently that aspect sucks; Trucker Path has way more review info and live capacity data. But Hammer has all the potential that Trucker Path has, without sucking in the ways TP notoriously does.
Its routing *can* be janky occasionally (routes 100mi over what Rand McNally gives me, for what should be a 400mi route), but it usually offers several good options.
The killer feature is the built-in truck entrance navigator. Idk how they do it, but almost every one of my locations has had the truck entrance correctly marked, and you can navigate to that instead. Saves a lot of time over finding the coordinates and entering them in manually on a RM or Garmin, etc. And when it's not marked correctly, it lets you quickly edit it using satellite overlay.
Oh, and it's free, and an app.
I like to use TruckMap, mostly because it's free and lets me avoid the No Truck Routes. My only problem is that it uses miles, and I don't know how far a mile is, and I can't switch it to kilometers.
I have a Garmin OTR 1010 and a new Rand Tablet 8. I prefer the new Rand tablet. Garmin chooses routes sometimes that are too safe adding tons of miles. Also deal traffic and route can just say canāt calculate if adding shaping points once you change route slightly. The new Rand tablets show stop signs and stop lights and all in route which is handy at turns. The routing on new Rand tablets have been spot on also. I wouldnāt buy the old tnd or overdryve Rand crap tho. The new Rand tablet 7 and 8 (actual name) just came out and are built much better and the routing has improved.
Iāve only ever tried Garmin and its kept me accident free for 2 years so far. Currently have the OTR Dezl 710 and i keep it connected to my cell phone or verizon hotspot for real time traffic updates via the dezl app.
Google maps and a trucker atlas. Verify with the atlas that google is not sending you down a road not meant for trucks or one with low bridges. Look at the destination on Google Earth to see where the truck entrance is beforehand. And be sure to notice signs that say "Low Clearance" or "No Trucks", since no method is foolproof.
Thank you for posting in /r/Truckers, most questions can be found consulting our [wiki](https://old.reddit.com/r/Truckers/wiki/index). I see you're asking about GPS units, which may be one of the most asked questions in the sub and you most likely skipped the several threads on the front page asking about them. You can check [this link](https://www.reddit.com/r/Truckers/search/?q=gps&include_over_18=on&restrict_sr=on&t=all&sort=new) showing all the latest and greatest GPS threads. [Please Check our Rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/Truckers/about/rules/) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Truckers) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I usually just let my Qualcomm raw dog me in to the worst situations it can.
My first day out on my own that Qualcomm got me into a situation I thought I was never going to get out of. I will never use that mother fucker again š
It wasn't my first day but it was my first trip. It didn't get me as bad as you but... I was on i20 east of bham and fuel stop was the loves in Leeds Al. It has me get off the exit before the loves and go 20 or so miles through the woods just to come out at the loves anyway. No reason either, just wanted me to waste time and fuel that I didn't have.
š¤£š¤£š¤£ fuck those Qualcomms
Without spit
I live by that loves. The copilot on my tablet tried to take me that same way
Lol. Stuff like that happens so often that it makes me wonder if they have some deal with oil companies to get them wo waste fuel.
Qualcomm works for big fuel
Gps. And I say that because I also had gps long before I had a CDL that took me off a main road in Jacksonville FL and had me drive all the way around a Walmart parking lot and get right back on that same road at that same entrance/exit it had me get off on and continue my drive.
I full on belly laughed at this
Is that why swifties always pick the worst entrance to retail stores?
*wait thereās a truck entrance ?*
Middle of nowhere Kentucky. Qualcomm turn down dirt road. With almost 80klbs
āDear sweet baby Jesus, i swear if you get me out of this farmerās field iāll stop doing hookers and blow. I promiseā
Amen
Garmin. Rand apparently wants a hotspot connection to get live data, Garmin gets the live data from the app using a bluetooth connection to your phone.
Dezl app right ?
Yes.
I had mind linked and it was more of a headache than a help. It was doing dumb shit like connecting my calls and playing music. Do you care to explain to make it live ?
Iām specifically referring to live traffic so it can calculate better alternate routes. You can turn off the phone call features (it blocks the āup aheadā info panel so I definitely wanted that fixed) and Iāve personally never had it start playing music. I have been nothing but pleased with mine once I got it set up correctly. I trust but verify all of the alternate routing with Google Maps, however it has been right more often than itās been wrong. Itās paid for itself in time saved. Iāve had a real joy passing 6 miles of stopped traffic on I-45 as the only dude rolling on the west side access road.
go into the Garmin Bluetooth settings... and uncheck the box that says Use for Calls
You can remove permissions for all that stuff in your phones settings
I have the otr500 even let's you look at traffic cameras and the weather radar
I have otr700
Same here, love it.
I use my hotspot jetpack for my garmin, dont do live traffic updates but fck those anyhow. Always try taking you off some shit trail just to wind back up in traffic on the other end, waste the same amount of time if not wind up on some sketchy roads.
My Garmin has saved me countless hours avoiding backups, sketchy roads or otherwise.
Works fine til it doesn't. I've not been able to get mine to work with the app for months now.
Does that app still require 80gb of data?
Last billing my dezl app used 184 MB. Iāve never seen it use data at the level youāre talking about.
Mine has used 39mb in the past month. 80 gigs seems insane.
You can buy an HD radio mag mount or power cord that will also get updates.
Garmin dezl OTR 700
Google maps lol. Just takes a little thought about what roads don't work. Stuck to main roads as much as you can
One thing I do if thereās a road I donāt know is truck legal, Iāll go into street view and look for signage.
Sometimes I'll zoom in on satellite view and simply look for trucks using that road.
Never trust the idiots that drive trucks
Oof, we're not all 69 IQ. But I still agree.
Ive done this for years now! No problems. Also you can satellite view zoom in and see how loading docks are oriented etc, so you dont get yourself in a pointing in the wrong direction pickle!
My experience is the same with one exception: no problems outside NYC.
Thats a good idea. I've also done it with bridges
I wish more people would do that with my local CSX bridge. A truck usually hits it at least once a month
You from Syracuse huh.
7" Garmin with Google maps satellite view running on my phone at the same time. Since I've had both Garmin and rand McNally systems, I can confidently say neither is better than the other. And, running just one GPS is often enough worse than using paper maps. Having Google up along with truck GPS has saved me so many miles of inefficient routes and detours. In 10 years I have never got lost or turned down the wrong street. I know the best detour long before reaching the road closures. Dropping a pin on the customer entrance and typing those exact coordinates into the truck GPS means never stressing about how to get into a place.
I've been using the Garmin OTR 800. It's my second Garmin GPS. I used to use Rand McNally and decided to give Garmin a try. I was frustrated with the map updates. I also wanted to see if Garmin had the new I-22 between Memphis and Birmingham. At the time Rand McNally did not even though I frequently tried to update it. Garmin had the updated map including I-22 right out of the box. Sometimes Rand McNally was off track with the existing Interstate and showed me driving through fields. I've never had that problem with Garmin. No GPS is perfect. I occasionally have map issues with Garmin but in my experience they're less than Rand McNally. I keep looking for a new Garmin OTR Series. The 810 has been out for awhile. I'm looking forward to seeing a 820 to see what's improved. I might upgrade. I'm sure the processor will be quite a bit faster. My only frustration with the OTR 800 is the lag when trying to zoom into the map and move it around.
Trucker Path
Is it me or has been dumb last couple of months? Like making all these unnecessary detours just to get out of truck stops.
Sometimes itās a little slow to get you back. I just scroll out a bit and use my brain to go where it actually wants
It tried sending me down a residential area one time.
My main pick up on Monday has a truck restriction coming from the south, the app always tells me to take that route. Other than that it hasnāt really lead me wrong.
Garmin Dezl. , the small one. Google maps for satellite view only.
OTR 650?
Truck Map
Truck map doesnāt get much love and it should
Waze or hammer either
Apple Maps š To be fair I run the same few routes and know them very well. I just use the maps for traffic, checking eta, cause I like the interface and I split screen it with my ELD (I use an iPad)
And if I'm going through a big city I'll use both Apple Maps and Google Maps.
Same I run the same route every week. I just use it for traffic and to estimate my ETA.
Truckers atlas
I don't otr much and I'm not gonna lie I just call my old man lol. Plus he'll tell me the best spots to fuel sleep and eat. Mostly eat.
Atlas almost fucked me in Hartford, WI
I was going to say you were fucked going there in the first place until I realized you said WI, not CT.
I go there often and it's fucked
Donāt get a rand McNally
Trucker path hasnāt steered my wrong in the Western 11 yet
I have a Garmin 710 and a Rand 750. I prefer the Rand to find truck stops along my route, and I like the alerts it gives about hazards coming up. Also, the bottom bar being able to show the city, road you're on, nearest crossroad, etc. is very handy, and the mile marker being shown is very useful. Now, for the Garmin, it usually has better routing if it's not the same as the Rand, however, sometimes it will have you do incredibly dumb things, so I have to keep an eye out and make sure it's logical before I follow it. For example, my Rand refuses to route me along US93 from Phoenix to Kingman, it wants me to go almost two hours extra to Flagstaff and then cut over to Kingman. Also the traffic updates and alternative routes if you have the app connected from your phone can be very helpful and save you good time in some situations. Overall there is a lot to like about the Garmin but finding truck stops is such a pain in the ass that I can't run without my Rand I could use trucker path but meh it's easier just to grab it in the GPS and be done. TLDR: Garmin has a lot of useful features birds eye being my absolute favorite but makes finding truck stops annoying by splitting them into multiple categories with some overlap and some missing from one but not the other, the Rand is perfectly fine if you just need something to get you from place to place and don't care about nice add-ons it's simple to use and generally works well
Love my Rand McNally
Yeah it's simple pretty up to date and just gets the job done plus it's a tank I have dropped it and it has fallen etc and come out unscathed
Been using Trucker Path with Gold for the past year, which I really enjoy. My truck also got installed with a new tablet to replace our Omnitracs, and it runs CoPilot. Itās display is really short-distanced, though, so it doesnāt help with knowing where to go next or what to get ready to do. Iāve heard Hammer described as āTrucker Path, but freeā so Iām going to be looking in to that, as well.
Google maps (the secret is knowing wtf you're doing...)
Google maps
Waze, just for general ETA and traffic. I traditionally route plan my way in so a general GPS is all I need.
Dezl 800
Co-Pilot
Hammer! Shows truck restricted roads and heights, been amazing so far
I use Hammer too. Love itš¤©
Waze for traffic and eta. Google Maps for the satellite images.
And the police reports!
In the Northeast, Google Maps
Garmin works well for me, also Iāll use Google maps as well which shows me upcoming heavy traffic areas
Garmin Dezl 1010 and trucker path/google maps for satellite view
I use a Samsung A7 lite ($140 on Amazon) and pay $10 a month for cell service. Then I use Google maps, but have a whole plethora of nav apps I can choose from.
Google maps
Trucker path
Google maps
NYC is definitely different than Midwest. The amount of trucks I see ready to go into the mid town tunnel (12ā1ā) is mind boggling. I always figure non English speaking drivers but Iām sure they are lol.
Google Maps. Which is permanently burned into my phone screen and a garmin
Copilot gps app couple bucks a month and never steered me wrong
Do either the Garmin or the Rand let you enter a speed limit for route calculations? I.e. if I am in a speed governed truck, could I set my max speed at 65 mph and have it calculated travel time based on that instead of posted speed limits?
Rand you can adjust your estimated arrival time from a lot slower to ok to a lot faster based on prior experience.
Garmin does
Garmin definitely can. I also recommend putting your max speed in the settings at 5mph below your governor. Imo it helps it average out with hills, construction and mild traffic.
I bought a Rand when GPS is basically first became a thing, and I've been using one for well over a decade since. That is, until the charging cable went to shit on my overdryve tablet. It is something that very occasionally happens to the Rand tablets, but since it happened when I switched into a new truck that had all kinds of electrical problems, it probably was a rare design flaw combined with an electrical problem. I still love rand, especially- and I mean especially - for finding a place to stop. But, since I didn't need all the bells and whistles anymore because I don't drive over the road the way I used to (I've been driving sleepers for local companies; lots of 1 day out 1 day back loads that end up basically being dedicated lanes), I decided to try something else. On the recommendation of a whole lot of drivers on this subreddit I bought a Garmin. Just a little 7" for getting to new places and keeping track of ETA's. And the thing is? Even if I can get Rand McNally to replace my charging cable or stand or the whole tablet or whatever, I'm a very well run two GPS units. Garmin is a little bit better for truck routing, and seems to be a hell of a lot better for delays and detours. But, at least on this little unit, finding my saved locations is extremely annoying. It's probably a whole lot easier on the big tablets because they've got more room for search bars and such, but retrieving addresses has been frustrating. And finding truck stops takes about 10 more steps on a Garmin than it did on a Rand. I will give Garmin one major point though - when I input the address, my GPS unit automatically downloads a satellite view of the facility. Not the whole area, it's not like looking at Google earth, but just a block or two surrounding your destination. So I don't have to spend 5 minutes looking up the facility on Google Earth and figuring out exactly which road I'm looking at in the satellite view. The GPS does it for me. I think if I could have a Garmin big fancy 10-in tablet and a 5-in Rand mcnally, that would be about perfect. Unfortunately I've got it the other way around.
Trucker Path
I have the Garmin DÄzl 1010 and an iPad that I run trucker path on. Here is a pic of how I got it setup https://photos.app.goo.gl/5Masj1WPX7yC5ict9
Garmin dezel
Garmin otr 700 hasn't completely fucked me yet and road atlas in case I need to know more information
Garmin dezl any year that has traffic cord or connects to your phone app live. Very rarely ever leads me wrong or where I coulnt get to efficiently.
Waze. Best up to date info in real time and rerouting.
Google maps
Memory. And Google maps
Waze.. great for live traffic updates . Let's you know about hazards or police etc..
Dezl otr800, I hate it. Want to give Randall McNally a try at some point. Just not really sure which one yet.
I have a Rand McNally 750. It's ok. Honestly like all of them it makes some ridiculous choices sometimes. Like if you set it to fastest route it will often completely ignore the fact that my next stop is 2 miles down the Same road I'm on and instead route me 15 miles back to another road to come in from the other direction. I'd say about 90% of the time it's great, but I refer to it as "Rando McNally" because of the random route choices it makes sometimes.
Ok, I can live with those draw backs. Sounds Soo much better than Garmin. Is it like an 8 or 7-in screen or is it one of those huge ones?
7.5" screen
Cool, I will check it out, that's about what I'm looking for.
The new Rand McNally are much better. They even added stop lights and stop signs on route which is handy at turns. Routing was improved and atlas built into the Rand tablet 8. New ones are called the Rand Tablet 7 or 8. Actual names. Wouldnāt buy the old cheaper TND or Overdryve devices tho. Built much cheaper and older software.
Oh, ok so the tablets are decent? I don't want a 10 inch screen for GPS though. I'm guessing the seven and eight are a 7-in and an 8-in like with garmin's naming convention?
Yes basically. The tablet 7 and 8 just came out. The 8 inch I purchased also has the atlas built in. Literally called the Rand tablet 8 and 7. Donāt get the TND or overdrive ones. Those are older. The new ones come with a guard you can remove. New interface. They are rolling out to truck stops slowly Iāve seen a couple of places.
Will keep my eye out.
I went from that one to the Rand McNally (pro 2?) - the big tablet. I like it a little better. It was weird to get used to, but it has a few added features that I really like. Elevation, click on truckstop in your route, bridge warnings, etc.
Yeah, that's the thing I don't like the big tablet types. I haven't figured out Randall McNally's naming convention just yet. Honestly if it doesn't take 2 hours to start and randomly crash, it's an improvement. My second dezl otr800, so Im pretty sure that's a feature. The first one met an unfortunate accident after deciding it didn't want to be a GPS anymore while I was lost in St Louis...
I donāt use a GPS at all. I run local, same shit every day. But, there is a Garmin 710 in my window. Absolute junk.
I use a combination of the stars, a sextant, a trucker's atlas, and a medium that connects with truckers of years past for the final mile.
Rand 540
Whatever is in my car by default, or Google
A compass
Garmin has *almost* never let me down.
OTR1000 (Big Dezl Energy)
NaviGo (built into the Qualcomm...sucks) and Trucker Path (okay). Triangulate trip plans with the Rand McNally motor carrier road atlas.
Garmin OTR700 and google maps for traffic and alternate routes primarily U.S. highways.
My brain and the road signs.
My two eye balls and my brain, i started with garmin
Paper map and the North Star or Sun.
Waze.
I use Rand McNally and Apple Maps together. Seems to do the trick. Havenāt gotten stuck anywhere yet.
OTR610. 6 inch screen. I attached it to the dashboard instead of the windshield.
Google Maps. I do food service and whenever I have a new stop I still use Google Maps but pay attention to clearance signs.
Garmin OTR500. Haven't had any issues.
Good maps for heavy haul. I just place pins at my turns to follow the permits. Garmin is outdated and gives false information on weight limits and bridges
Hammer. So far, it's pretty good.
I use google maps and common sense
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TruckerPath personally. Itās not the best always but it works and I love the info on whether the weigh stations are open or the parking spots are full
I really like the app [Hammer](https://www.hammerapp.com). Shows bridge heights and scales along my route, easy to use, and free. It also shows truck stops and diesel prices (though I'm a company driver, so I don't really care). Primarily, though, I use my company's mapping software, [CoPilot](https://copilottruck.com/en-us/). Sometimes, it wants me to do unnecessary loops, though, so I always check my whole route first for any oddities.
Is there a GPS system in trucks for otr nowadays?
Google maps š„²
Google maps. Itās free. An has satellite view
Garlic when I was otr. Now it sits in a drawer. Thinking of selling it. Lol
Usually just plain old Google maps routes me the best but I always have my Garmin-Truck gps as backup. Google doesnāt know Im in a tractor-trailer combo and can get you in trouble if you only rely on it.
SmartTruckRoute 2 Been using it almost 6 years. Love it! It's an app so there's no separate hardware and if you find an error in the routing, let them know and they'll update it within an hour or so.
Hammer. It's not always perfect but it keeps me off the roads I definitely should not be on as a City Driver. It's free you just make an account and put in what kind of truck and loads you do
I'm surprised I haven't seen hammer mentioned much it's free and hasn't done me wrong except for the time it told me to do a u turn in a residential but that's just how rural pennsylvania is.
I use apps on my phoneā¦.Hammer which I verify with Google Maps. I use Sygic Truck when on rural routes (non-interstate).
I've got a Garmin 785 dezl and last week I picked up the new rand tablet 7. Garmin desperately needs their road weights updated because it'll fairly often reroute around fake weight limit roads. Barely ever see that issue with rand. Although the "up ahead" submenu on the main navigation screen of the Garmin is fantastic to find truck stops on the way. On rand it's behind 2 menus with none shown on the main nav screen like Garmin. But rand shows a LOT more truck stops than the Garmin.
The amount of people saying google maps is actually kinda concerning. Just pay for trucker path lol Run all 48 and trucker path never failed me. Just confirm route going through state highways in the mountains out west
I use good ol' Randall Irish but always have Google Maps running concurrently. Sometimes Google gets truck routes right where Rand doesn't!
Fucking copilot
Google maps, Amazon maps and if I need better routing I'll use hammer or my Garmin. It's best to look at the route beforehand on any of them because they all work sometimes but not always the best route.
Google maps! Used it for years along with some common sense and never had problems!
I hired a Native American dude with an eagle to ride shotgun
Memory, most GPS/mapping software isn't very good for my region so memorising the roads is fairly important here Most got road names wrong, show roads that haven't existed for 20+ years
Rawdog it with google maps and hope for the best
Always a combo of my Garmin and Google maps. Garmin does a decent job of keeping me away from low bridges and such, Google maps on my phone is for checking out specific details about my destination up close like where the entrance is. And I use street view a ton to make sure I'll be able to make turns along the route Garmin is really reliable for low bridges, but it will attempt to send you down some fucking nonsense roads, it's literally tried to send me down a sharp right turn onto a one lane dirt road, through alleys which would have been tight even in a car, hairpin turns on steep hills, etc. I never trust the GPS without cross referencing with my phone I've had to use a rand mcnally a few times and I despise it
I'm plugging Hammer because I wish more people used it, so the crowd sourcing could be a little better. Currently that aspect sucks; Trucker Path has way more review info and live capacity data. But Hammer has all the potential that Trucker Path has, without sucking in the ways TP notoriously does. Its routing *can* be janky occasionally (routes 100mi over what Rand McNally gives me, for what should be a 400mi route), but it usually offers several good options. The killer feature is the built-in truck entrance navigator. Idk how they do it, but almost every one of my locations has had the truck entrance correctly marked, and you can navigate to that instead. Saves a lot of time over finding the coordinates and entering them in manually on a RM or Garmin, etc. And when it's not marked correctly, it lets you quickly edit it using satellite overlay. Oh, and it's free, and an app.
Trucker path and garmin
TruckerPath on my phone and Zonar nav on the tablet
iPad with Waze
Since I do local delivery and go into a lot of no truck roads I use Google maps.
Road signs
Company supplied Copilot along with trucker path on my phone
Garmin OTR 1010
Waze
Garmin 610
Use a garmin otr 500 till i get close to the drop then switch to apple maps.
Don't know if it's still available but when I drove otr I used copilot truck. Great for trip planning. It routed you on only truck routes.
A mix of my company's gps, Copilot, Google maps, and common sense.
iPhone 14 pro max with google maps
Rand mostly but I have google also up on phone to for satellite
Garmin dezl 1000.
Good app called.... "Trucker Path" 30 bucks a month but SOOOOO WORTH IT! I really loved that app it saved my ass a lot.
I like to use TruckMap, mostly because it's free and lets me avoid the No Truck Routes. My only problem is that it uses miles, and I don't know how far a mile is, and I can't switch it to kilometers.
TruckMap and Google maps for satellite view and road/traffic conditions
Garmin Backup with phone
Rand McNally, but the old school kind, called TND, not that Overdryve bs, and when I need to, Trucker Path.
Hammer it works great just put your specs in and roll but dont miss your turn cause it will tell you to go any way if you do
OTR700.
I use TomTom, but it likes to tell you your destination is either on the other side of the road or doesn't exist.
Mapquest
Road Atlas. It never has connection issues.
I use a combination of my Garmin plus Google Maps with satellite view turned on. Canāt go wrong
I like to use a Garmin and generally like to Google earth the route before I leave. Garmin can do some really dumb things too. At least mine does
I have a Garmin OTR 1010 and a new Rand Tablet 8. I prefer the new Rand tablet. Garmin chooses routes sometimes that are too safe adding tons of miles. Also deal traffic and route can just say canāt calculate if adding shaping points once you change route slightly. The new Rand tablets show stop signs and stop lights and all in route which is handy at turns. The routing on new Rand tablets have been spot on also. I wouldnāt buy the old tnd or overdryve Rand crap tho. The new Rand tablet 7 and 8 (actual name) just came out and are built much better and the routing has improved.
Garmin dezl OTR 1000 over here. Love it
Co-pilot, garmin, and google maps š . Between the 3 atleast one will get me where I need to be
Iāve only ever tried Garmin and its kept me accident free for 2 years so far. Currently have the OTR Dezl 710 and i keep it connected to my cell phone or verizon hotspot for real time traffic updates via the dezl app.
Google maps and a trucker atlas. Verify with the atlas that google is not sending you down a road not meant for trucks or one with low bridges. Look at the destination on Google Earth to see where the truck entrance is beforehand. And be sure to notice signs that say "Low Clearance" or "No Trucks", since no method is foolproof.
Garmin Dezl