Professional GPS

February 1, 2008 6:59 PM

My future father-in-law drives a semi for a national trucking company and currently uses a PDA with GPS capabilities for navigation. He's not entirely satisfied with this.

The main problem is routing. As a truck driver, routes my be limited or have bridges that are too low; personal GPS software doesn't have to deal with these issues. He's noticed a couple of solutions at various truck stops, but they seem very proprietary and cost-prohibitive. Please hive mind, help him get home. (Just kidding...he can do that.)

He's not just looking for a software solution, hardware solutions are welcomed.

posted by bach to travel & transportation (7 comments total)

IANATrucker, but was curious about this, and talked to a couple of guys who do drive (local deliveries mostly, not OTR), one of them had bought one of these solutions and was happy so far. Seems to be one of the few small-scale Truck GPS options out there from my googling, like your FFIL found it looks like there are some heavy-duty fleet based solutions...
posted by pupdog at 8:01 PM on February 1

The circa $300 dash/windscreen mounted GPS systems (available from Fry's, Best Buy and the like. Anywhere electrical, really)usually have a "truck' setting that our driver uses all the time and swears by. I believe it is a Garmin that he has, but most of them have the particular setting for a truck - it avoids sharp u-turns if you go wrong, unsuitable roads, bridges, etc. It's pretty good for what he wants.

I don't have a model number, sadly, but the important thing is the truck option.
posted by Brockles at 8:34 PM on February 1

My friend who is a truck driver swears by his laptop, USB GPS sensor, and Microsoft Streets & Trips.
posted by qvtqht at 8:49 PM on February 1

Garmin announced a cellphone / GPS in the last couple days that could be worth looking at.
posted by jjb at 11:51 PM on February 1

Any Garmin is good. They have just refreshed their model range and you can pick up deals on perfectly good "old" stock - and they will update the maps gratis if you contact Garmin
posted by A189Nut at 4:32 AM on February 2

My father is a trucker and also uses Microsoft Streets and Trips. He has had a couple of times where the maps are out of date, but he relies on it without any problems 99% of the time.
posted by heatherann at 8:47 AM on February 2

I noted that pupdog's linked product uses PC MILER software. A friend works for a logistics company that handles thousands of shipments and that's the software they use.
posted by desjardins at 1:26 PM on February 2