Pre-dating the dinosaur era of maps and scratching my head, I’ve realised that dragging myself into the modern era is the way to go. ‘Take the first exist left, after one hundred yards turn left’ says my Tom Tom Go mobile app, which I ignore because it’s signposted as a residential cul-de-sac!
Whether we like to admit it or not, knowing your delivery location is 90% of the job done. Time for a trucker sat nav. What could be better than a soothing voice saying ‘Grandpa, your destination is one hundred yards on the right, honestly, I’m not kidding, I wouldn’t lie to you.’
Over the years industrial Parks have sprung up like mushrooms and I’m not really interested in the add-ons of live traffic reports and nearby locations to park, it’s simply a location finder I want. If I buy a used sat nav on the Internet my question is how much do they cost to run? As a techno newbie, do they run on batteries? (Yes seriously, I haven’t got a clue). Is there an expensive data usage charge as in my mobile app? What are the catches, if any?
They run off the cigarette lighter socket, no data costs, no network etc. Some of them you can link to your smartphone (if you have one) & it will provide live traffic information too, but so long as it is truck-specific, you only need to input your wagons dimensions at it’ll sort the routing out for you.
The only other thing you need to regularly do, is to connect it to a computer, to download/update the device’s maps. Ax you say, roads etc are springing up everywhere and the maps can change quite frequently.
Spinonit:
They run off the cigarette lighter socket, no data costs, no network etc. Some of them you can link to your smartphone (if you have one) & it will provide live traffic information too, but so long as it is truck-specific, you only need to input your wagons dimensions at it’ll sort the routing out for you.
The only other thing you need to regularly do, is to connect it to a computer, to download/update the device’s maps. Ax you say, roads etc are springing up everywhere and the maps can change quite frequently.
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Thanks Spinonit, I think it’s the way to go. I’ll start looking for a used one today.
As Said you don’t pay anything extra for using a Sat Nav and it does not run on batteries! Personally I have used them a lot in the past but now hardly comes out of my bag. Now n then still use it when going somewhere new or after an update to make sure it runs okay. Never used a truck specific navigation device just a Tom Tom car one that packed up and now use a Garmin again car Sat Nav.
You must be careful when using a Sat Nav designed for car as the route mapping does not take into account large vehicles, unless of course you buy say TOM TOM GO 6200 Professional. With that one you can input large vehicles as said, it covers Van, Bus and Truck. These can be had off ebay anything up to £200 or you go for these cheaper Chinese ones. I never used em.
I’m actually looking into getting another sat nav soon and will just go for a tom tom go 6200 car one. My work is Royal Mail so basically all the jobs are fixed routes and I don’t drive artics much now. Satellite Navigation devices are amazing pieces of technology but obviously not 100% foolproof, no technology ever is and you still require common sense!
I have used the cheap Chinese ones all over Europe for eight years and not had a problem.
Set them up properly with the vehicle dimensions and weight also the route choices like fastest or shortest , tolls etc and it shouldn’t let you down , add in some common sense and a backup truck map .
A word of warning though , none of them tolerate extreme heat , sitting in the window in 30+deg C for prolonged periods doesn’t do them much good .
Not likely most of the time in the UK but a reality in southern Europe in the summer .
peirre:
Surely the OP is Dozy in disguise and I claim my five ponds
Naw, just new to all the techno stuff. ‘This space has been deliberately left blank as the author writes too much pretentious ■■■■■■■■ as it is.’
Now that I agree with.
I was looking at some of the ‘no name’ ones and they’re a bargain. One specifically from Morecambe, brand new, ad written in bad English though and no (2018) map updating mentioned. Apparently from a guy who imports and sets them up himself for around £80. I’m tempted but if my bank card could talk it would tell me to be careful?
While it is true that a dedicated satnav doesn’t cost anything to run day-to-day for simple navigation purposes, some of the live traffic services are subject to both a paid-for subscription and ongoing mobile data charges (admittedly very little data is used for the traffic functions - but there is some usage). Also updating the maps may cost money - TomTom and Garmin in particular had a history of producing several physically identical models, some of which had “lifetime” (of the device, not the user!) free map updates, some also had “lifetime” free traffic (with no mobile data charges, as it was all included in the purchase price). TomTom also stopped providing any kind of map update for some of their older devices a little while ago (which may well have resulted in a small upsurge in the number of such devices appearing on the used market…).
Buying a used device is a potential minefield if you’re not totally sure what you are looking at - but the cost savings over a new one are potentially very significant.
