CoPilot Truck 11 uses PC Miler Version 21 maps. The new PCM hand-held GPS's use version 23 (as will Co-Pilot Truck 12 in the winter is my assumption.)

 

my guess would be inside the store

 

Or from us.

 

yeah...like everyone has said read reviews. GPS software is only as good and its worst glitch. When you have all the trucker options turned on, give it your weight, length, and whatever else, and it STILL leads you down a road with a 12' bridge, thats a glitch. Now the software is no better than Mapquest.

You still have to cross verify with the rand mcnally and whatever else you can get your hands on to ensure you dont go down a restricted road. Instead of dropping $200-500 on software or GPS, why not go buy Microsoft Streets and Trips for $80-90 at Best Buy. does the same thing, re-routes you when you take a wrong turn, etc. and you can set waypoints to match your fuel route your company gives you. But again, you still have to verify your route with the randy mcnally.

 

I just use my BFT (Blue Force Tracker) over here in Baghdad. Without that you really be screwed. They do have rand mcnally maps, but you count on them. Without GPS over here can mean life or death!!! that's my .02 on GPS. You have to use the tools that are available to you. Technology has come along way.

 

I would recommend that all truck drivers turn the auto-rerouting feature off in Streets & Trips, since every time you deviate from your route, like to go to a rest area or a truck stop, it will automatically recalculate the entire route from that point on. That’s the beauty of Streets & Trips: you can toggle the auto-rerouting feature on and off, which makes it the best overall solution for truck drivers.

Because you can turn the auto-rerouting feature off, you can plan out your entire route, check it to make sure it is legal for 18-wheelers, and then save it. Which means that your saved route will remain the same until you conclude your trip.

However, if you have the auto-rerouting feature turned on, it will recalculate the entire route every time you deviate in any way from the route, like to go to a rest area or stop at a truck stop, and in all probability it will recalculate the route in different ways and if you arbitrarily drive those recalculated routes without checking them first to make sure they are legal for 18-wheelers, then you are in effect playing Russian Roulette with your driving career. Thus, the safest and wisest course of action is to turn the auto-rerouting feature off.

The auto-rerouting feature is a great feature for 4 wheelers, but if you drive a 73 foot long 18-wheeler every time you use that feature you are in effect playing Russian Roulette with your driving career since that feature can reroute you down a residential area, a road with a low clearance or low weight limit bridge, a restricted route road, etc. just as easy as it can route you down a road legal for 18-wheelers. However, you will never know unless you check the recalculated routing beforehand.

This is also why those so-called truck specific GPS devices are so screwed up. Because you can’t turn off the rerouting feature in those devices, you can’t plan out your entire route beforehand, make sure it is legal for 18-wheelers, and then save it. Thus, every time you deviate from your route, like to go to a rest area or stop at a truck stop, the GPS devices recalculates the entire route and every time it recalculates the entire route, which inevitably is several times a day, it’s like playing Russian Roulette with your driving career, since those so-called trucking specific GPS devices can lead you down a restricted route road or a road with a low clearance as easy as they can lead you down roads that are legal for 18-wheelers.

Read the reviews, despite the advertising claims, those so-called truck specific GPS devices do not do truck routing reliably and can and do lead you down restricted route roads and roads with low clearances. Not only that but they are also plagued with tons of bugs, problems, and other issues to top it off, and is it really worth paying a premium $500 price for a feature that takes maybe 2 minutes to do. I mean half the time it doesn’t take me 2 minutes to check my routes and make sure they are legal for 18-wheelers. What’s the big deal and why is it worth paying a premium price?

 

think i agree with you here. More often than not though, it will recalculate from where you went off route, put "current GPS position" as a waypoint and figure from there to the next one. I seldom have just two waypoints (start and finish) on my route. I'll almost always match the entire route with waypoints to match my fuel route. I only use the GPS as a guide anyway. Even though i might know where i'm going, i like to still have it on running just so i know how many more miles to a certian point such as fuel stop or where i planned to stop for the night, or the shipper/cosignee.

its much better than mapquest, and IMO its better than blowing $500+ for a 'trucker' GPS from a truckstop.

 

Hey Glad Hand. I hope the world is treating you well out there.
I just wanted to say that I don't have to read the reviews (what few there are that are accurate) because I WRITE the reviews. I've been testing laptop and hand-held GPS products in (and out) of the cab of a truck for almost a decade and have rejected more of them than I EVER put up on my site or gave a recommendation for. In 2009, the market has EXPLODED with so called "truck GPS's" of the hand-held variety and it has been some serious testing to weed the good, from the mediocre, to the downright dismal. By the end of this month, there will be no less than 6 distinct brands of hand-helds all labeled as "truck route" GPS's (WorldNav, PC Miler, Garmin, Goodyear, Cobra, and Rand McNally.) At this time LAST YEAR, there was one.

Given that all of these name-brand heavy-hitters have jumped into this market, the choices have become confusing. As they are basically ALL NEW, the technology is developing rapidly just as any new technology and the questions I get (and see online) are coming in fast and furious about them. Sometimes the ANSWERS to these questions have changed from even a month ago due to the rapid evolution of some of these units. My point is that it is a very broad and, in some of their cases, inaccurate statement to cast a wide blanket over them, like "are all plagued with tons of bugs" or "pay a premium price of $500" when a couple of the current iterations of them are not "plagued" and the price is down as low as $199 in one case. "Russian Roulette" with your career is not necessary with common sense.

I agree with you as always about reviewing your route at all times. By the way, what should they review their route against? The RM Road Atlas? The same company that is releasing their own GPS next week? I also agree that the MS Streets program is a fine alternative and is less expensive and very configurable (though it does not yet have any actual truck routing efforts from Microsoft to date.) My first DVD player was a piece of junk. Nowadays my Panasonic blu-ray player rocks. Somehow they evolved the technology. Other than the WorldNav, these units are all new for this year and I'll keep testing and reporting as they "grow up" because I already believe that a couple of them are worthwhile already and the market will weed out those that are not.

Cheers.

 

The world has been pretty good. The trips have been easy and the miles pretty good. I hope the world is treating you pretty well out there too.

Okay, then which couple of trucking specific GPS devices out of the bunch have not been plagued with bugs and where the manufacturers didn’t have to come out with bug fixes and other updates that they then charged you an arm and a leg for to fix what should have worked already to begin with, and which couple of ones actually did what they advertised, that is reliable truck routing that you can depend on?

As for as $199 in one case, I can understand why some of the prices dropped so rapidly. Nevertheless, I wouldn’t spend 2 cents for something that doesn’t do the job it advertises much less $199 or $500 in most cases. By the way, how much will this new Rand McNally everybody can’t wait to jump on is going to cost, $500? $500 seems to be the magic number.

New and inexperienced drivers are usually the first ones to jump and rely on this new and very faulty technology and the 130 percent turnover rate for new drivers that has plagued this industry for more years than I can count suggests that there is not that much common sense to go around when it comes to new and inexperienced drivers to begin with.

Older and more experienced drivers, on the other hand, are more accustomed to doing things the tried and true way and are usually more reticent when it comes to jumping on new technology. Thus, they generally wait until the new technology is proven.

Indeed, when I stop by the terminals it is generally the new drivers sharing their latest horror stories regarding their new truck specific GPS devices and pissing in each other’s pockets over the mistake they made with their recent purchase that didn’t quite pan out the way that they had hope. However, it is this very same group that also can’t wait to jump on the next iteration as soon as it comes out. That is if they keep their jobs long enough and most of them won’t. Hell, most of them will lose their careers before they even pay off the trucking schools they went to.

 

Well, with fuel prices rising again and the economy being so shaky, we're all being affected by the large shippers absorbing what used to be "owner-ops" and "independents." The large trucking companies and the brokers have taken on an attitude of "take it or leave it driver, cuz it's a tough industry out there getting your own decent hauls" in many cases over the last 24 months. This has caused a shift in the industry from owner-ops on over to company drivers that we hadn't seen before. Fortunately there are some good companies still out there who treat their drivers decently, but they seem to be fewer and farther in between than ever. I guess we need to keep evolving and being smart, huh.

I agree that they are all charging ($99 in the case of PC Miler and Garmin) a premium amount for "updating" their technology in only the first few months of releasing them. "If I were king" I would not have had that policy on the first update. None of them have come out on the first revision without bugs to fix. I was clarifying your statement about they "ARE" plagued with bugs - not disagreeing with your (correct) statement that they had them in the first releases. The Garmin (new version as long as you don't drive in Canada) and the PC Milers (new version) actually do have worth, though the PCM is a much better price with better truck routing at this time of the two.

The RM TND will be $499 (you are correct about that magic number.) However the features I saw actually at least justify that price (unlike the Garmin 465T.) The routing is still a question mark because there are none to test with our drivers yet.

Couldn't agree more.