Hi I have recently passed and signed up to a couple of agencies will I need my own sat nav for jobs etc or will I have one supplied by the company I work for many thanks
Depends really two other places I worked for had them but where I am now don’t. You’d be better off buying one anyway.
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Often the ones they supply are either car ones or seriously out of date, if at all. Would recommend your own esp for agency - can be car one but personally I’d go proper truck one. Expensive admittedly, but they are better for new drivers.
Ok great Thankyou for the response !
Any advice on which SatNav to go for would be great thanks … what are the Chinese ones like
Cheers
junior92:
Ok great Thankyou for the response !Any advice on which SatNav to go for would be great thanks … what are the Chinese ones like
Cheers
Fine as long as the bridge heights work…
See this thread: viewtopic.php?f=5&t=128456
Sorry it’s so long! 
The difference between a cheap one and an expensive one is the hardware and ease of use.
i.e. Can you see the screen in bright daylight? How responsive is the touchscreen? etc…
I have both, and you can guess which I use day to day… 
Unless you really know what you’re doing I’d suggest you look for a truck specialised satnav system. They’re not perfect, and they are no substitute for a brain and a pair of eyes, but they do tend to route you safely around bridges and weight restrictions most of the time, and they’ll tend to avoid stupidly small side roads a lot of the time. That makes for a less stressful day which, when you’re first starting out, is probably worth the money. You’ll have enough stress on your plate with everything else… 
junior92:
Ok great Thankyou for the response !Any advice on which SatNav to go for would be great thanks … what are the Chinese ones like
Cheers
The Chinese ones are cheap copies but they do the trick! I just bought an Xgody 886 7" truck SatNav for £40 - spot-on so far but I double check with a Philips Navigator road atlas’s that shows the major restrictions!
I think it is fair to say none are perfect. Even Garmin and TomTom lead you down lanes at times.
I trust the Philip’s trucker Atlas coupled with a Garmin car satnav (as I can update maps to the SDcard which you can’t with TomTom as a Linux PC user) - entering waypoints when I route plan and that approach has worked well.
I also use a phone app called navigator with TomTom maps which so far I have found fine having tested routes out. However, it couldn’t find a couple of postcodes recently which surprised me. Phone apps can 'freeze I have found but I think it is phone software rather than the actual satnav app.
Apart from SAT NAV dedicated for HGV I also use google maps on my phone, which helps a lot with finding delivery points, especially if the address does not contain a house number (because it’s a factory etc). But professional sat nav is a must, otherwise you will end up on a very narrow road with a lot of sharp bens not suitable for HGV as I had done before bought one myself 
Indeed, Google maps, satellite view overlay and streetview are all useful supplements to a dedicated truck satnav system.
Sometimes, for example, you’ll find the delivery address quotes one road (the front entrance where the offices are), but the HGV entrance is round the back, accessible from a completely different road. You can see the truck entry point on satellite view, and it saves you committing (irreversibly in some cases) down the wrong road.
Post codes are also often inaccurate, sometimes hundreds of yards out, so seeing the satellite view can help spot a more likely truck-friendly building down the road which will turn out to be your correct destination. A switch to streetview may confirm it…or otherwise.
A bit of caution is required, though, as Google marking of company locations in particular buildings seems very inaccurate to me.
Very few companies will supply them. Buying your own is an investment and in my opinion; worth its weight in gold. I have a Philips Road Atlas but haven’t even looked at it since buying my satnav (Garmin Dezl 770 lmt). I also use Google Maps for looking at almost every drop i go to, unless I’ve been before.
Luke Vernon, known as Switchlogic on here, came up with a good idea for Google Maps. I’ve started doing it and hopefully other truckers will do so too. Here’s a vid of his Google Maps idea:
Snooper, I’ve had mine over 4 years & it’s still going strong, needs updating because it looks like I’m driving in fields occasionally, but I haven’t got stuck yet ! (but there’s a 1st time for everything [emoji6])
I know I’ve posted on this subject before but I promise I’m not sponsored by any Chinese sat nav manufactures.
I started driving LGV this year and bought a cheapo Xgody 718 off Fleabay for £35.
I didn’t realise at the time but it didn’t have the truck maps on it so I had some right problems with it.
I was also using a Tomtom car sat nav with traffic and all the bells and whistles but was still a car satnav so not a whole lot of use.
I have a Phillips atlas so I scraped by.
When It finally clicked and I got the truck files loaded then it all changed.
I found that the 718 was actually a really good bit of kit.
It can do what a Tomtom can do but at a fraction of the cost which means a lot when your
first starting out.
It won’t do live traffic but for that price I don’t care.
What it will do is allow you to edit routes, set way points, avoid certain roads, save routes, save favourites
and a couple of features that I really like.
The first is to set a profile.
As I’m an agency driver I might work for half a dozen different companies.
I can set up a profile for each one which means I can save truck dimensions, favourites and routes specific to each one
The second is inputting coordinates.
I use this by going onto google maps on my pc and using the street view to find the goods entrance for the company I’m delivering to.
Right clicking gives you a menu option of “Whats Here”.
This gives you the North and West coordinates which you can type into your satnav and name as a favourite.
Very accurate and once done saved for ever.
I’ve since bought the 886 model which has a much better screen (capacitive as opposed to resistive)and is a neater and slimmer unit.
I really don’t think you need to spend £300 on a tomtom.